AROUND 300 pubs in Hampshire are set to be put up for sale.

The sell-off could net owners, leisure giant Whitbread, more than £1.6 billion.

The leisure group says that a total of 3,000 pubs are to be sold nationwide in a move which will see the company concentrate on its core hotels, food and leisure division - under the banner of Future Whitbread.

City centre pubs such as the Hogshead, The Old Farmhouse in Totton and the Forest Inn at Ashurst are all set to be disposed of under the new plans.

Also set for new ownership will be the likes of the Windsor Castle in Shirley and the Coach and Horses at Cadnam.

Pub managers were today tight-lipped about the plans but Whitbread says there are already potential buyers waiting in the wings to buy all or part of the pub business.

In Hampshire Whitbread has 299 pubs which will be affected by the sale - the majority run as Whitbread Pub Partnerships and Pubs Inn-Line.

Following the pub shake-up, the group will return around 75 per cent of the net proceeds to shareholders, and use the remainder to repay existing Whitbread debt.

Chairman Sir John Banham said: "This is a radical plan to focus Whitbread, generate fast earnings growth and improve shareholder returns.

"The restructuring creates the opportunity and the momentum to manage Whitbread's brands and property assets more aggressively and to take full advantage of Whitbread's leading positions in growth segments of the UK leisure market.''