Guinness Group Sales got its timing right last week when it sold three Dublin pubs for £12.55 million - easily a record in the Dublin market. City publicans showed an exceptional level of interest in the three bars because of the buoyancy of the business in recent years and the fact that few high-profile bars have come on the market for a considerable time. The £4.75 million paid by Malahide Road publican Hugh Grainger for The Sheaf o' Wheat in Coolock set a new record in the city. The business had a turnover, including VAT, of £1.97 million last year. The Clonsilla Inn, with a turnover of £1.66 million, was bought for £4.4 million by Dermot Bonner of The Bell bar in Blanchardstown. The third bar, The Cherry Tree in Walkinstown, with a turnover of £1.205 million, was sold for £3.4 million to Ted McGill.

Agents John Younge and Edward J Bohan handled the sales for Murtagh Properties, a subsidiary of Guinness.