Two prestigious North Yorkshire watering holes are among a dozen pubs and hotels which have been acquired by a brewery giant.

Punch Taverns have bought 12 pubs from Honeycombe Leisure, including Steeton Hall at Steeton, near Keigh-ley, and the Devonshire at Grass-ington, in an £11.7 million deal.

Under the terms of the agreement the pubs, which are situated in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire, will be leased back to Honeycombe, which will continue to manage them.

Punch is already the UK's second largest pub owner, and the deal takes its total number of pubs to 4,490. The new acquisitions are all non-branded character pubs, and two also include small hotels.

Punch chief executive Giles Thorley said: "We have admired the quality of Honeycombe's operation for some time and have been discussing with them ways of developing a mutually beneficial relationship.

"This transaction brings together the finance and capital capability of Punch with the retailing skills of Honeycombe."

Honeycombe, which is based in Preston, said it would use the money to reduce its bank borrowings, and hinted that there could be further deals in the pipeline.