A HAMPSHIRE pub company which owns licensed houses across the UK is planning a major expansion in Southampton, backed by £10m of investment.

Totton based Celtic Inns owns 60 pubs nationwide - but none in Hampshire - and is looking to buy locally as part of a push to take its tally of pubs to 100 in the next three years.

Despite operating for two years from Calmore Industrial Estate, Celtic Inns has been busily acquiring individual and groups of pubs further afield, mainly in Wales and the south west.

The company's two directors, Duncan Murray and Clive Williams, have a long association with Southampton, having run several companies in the area, including John Labatt Retail, Maritime Taverns and Alehouse.

The plan to take on 100 tenanted pubs was hatched off the back of £10m funding from Sand Aire Private Equity and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Mr Williams said the company would be using its investment capital to build a holding of high quality community pubs in the Southampton area.

"This is an exciting time for us," he said. "Duncan and I set Celtic Inns up in Southampton, a place we know well, and are looking forward to investing here. Now that the other areas in which our business operates are stable, it is time to look in our own back yard for opportunities.

"Hypothetically, if we could acquire a portfolio of pubs in Southampton to the value of £10m we would love to do that but, in my experience, we won't find them.

"My view is that we will buy ones or twos and will build from there." He said Celtic was only interested in buying small 'community based boozers'.