9.00am – 10.00am: Registration

10.00am – 10.30am: Stephen Owens, managing director – pubs and restaurants at Christie & Co, sets the scene for the market, with an update on sector valuations, price expectations, market sentiment, who the buyers and sellers are, and what’s in store for the year ahead.

10.30am – 11.00am: Mark Bentley, business development director at HDI, talks about the areas where the pub sector is and has been performing strongly and where the opportunities are for the sector to drive growth.

11.00am – 11.30am: Jonathan Lawson, chief executive of Liberation Group, discusses how the award-winning business has maintained its high standards whilst continuing to grow its mainland estate, the development of its bedrooms business as its targets a 700-bedrooms division, and the integration of the Cirrus Inns business, including its entry into the London market.

11.30am – 12:00pm: Oisin Rogers talks about the creation and running of The Devonshire, the Soho-based pub that incorporates three-metre-long bespoke wood ember grill, the first of its kind in the UK; an on-site aging chamber that is the biggest in central London; its own bakery; three dining rooms; and the extraordinary lengths they have gone to deliver the perfect pint of Guinness.

12.00pm – 1.00pm: Lunch

1.00pm – 1.30pm: Peter Borg-Neal, founder of the Oakman Group, talks about maintain the company’s award-winning standards against the backdrop of a volatile trading environment, his return as chief executive and the sector must remain agile and respond quickly to the extraneous pressures it is facing.

1.30pm – 2.00pm: Susan Chappell, divisional director at Mitchells & Butlers, who is responsible for the All Bar One, Browns, Nicholson’s and Castle estates, which have an annual turnover of £500m, highlights how M&B is evolving its business to stay abreast of trends in digital and premiumisation, and how its business transformational programme Ignite is delivering ongoing improvements.

2.00pm – 2.30pm: Andy Spencer, chief operating officer and Robin Belither, managing director at Punch Pubs & Co, talk about the building the company’s managed partnerships division from scratch, the journey the division has been on, its successes, learnings and what comes next.

2.30pm – 3.00pm: Coffee Break

3.00pm – 3.30pm: James Brown, chief executive of BrewDog Bars, discusses the company’s growth so far in the UK and internationally, and its plans for the future.

3.30pm – 4.00pm: Chris Stagg, who heads up the Revolution Bars Group-owned Peach Pubs, speaks about the evolving and growing the business under new ownership, standing out in the premium pub market, and creating an award-winning culture.

4.00pm – 4.30pm: Philip Turner, managing director of Chestnut Inns, talks about creating sustainable rural managed pubs and diversifying the business, such as acquiring a wine merchant, as part of its growth strategy.

4.30pm – 5.15pm: Shepherd Neame managing director Jonathon Swaine, Greene King managing director Clair Preston-Beer, City Pub Group founder Clive Watson, Debbie Whittingham, employee director at JD Wetherspoon, and sector investor Luke Johnson talk about the challenge the sector faces in ensuring it maximises the performance of its pub assets in an era of declining alcohol sales