THE pub group Marston’s – which owns some of Weymouth and Dorchester's best-known watering holes – has sold 137 sites.

The £44.9milion deal with rival Admiral Taverns covers mainly smaller tenanted and franchised pubs which are drinks-led.

No list has yet been issued but a statement on behalf of Admiral Taverns said the deal included five Dorset pubs.

Marston’s pubs in Weymouth include the Wellington Arms, the Boot Inn, the Admiral Hardy and Nothe Tavern. In Dorchester, its pubs include the Baker’s Arms, Goldies and the Old Ship Inn. However, none of those have been confirmed as having been included in the deal.

Marston’s chief executive Ralph Findlay said: “We are making good progress with our plans to reduce our net debt by £200m by 2023, in part through the disposal of non-core assets.

“We are encouraged by the level of market interest that this portfolio of pubs has attracted. This further underpins our confidence in achieving the accelerated £70m disposal proceeds target that we have set ourselves for the current year.”

He added that the pubs being sold are primarily smaller tenanted and franchise sites which are drinks- or “wet-led”, generating £4.8m of underlying pre-tax profits.

But Marston’s insisted the deal would help average profit per pub increase by around seven per cent as it pushes towards a more premium offer.

Admiral said the deal is part of its strategy to integrate and develop “sustainable tenanted pub businesses”, coming just weeks after snapping up 150 pubs from the Heineken-owned Star Pubs & Bars business.