Bars and nightclubs owner Stefan King is involved in craft brewer Innis & Gunn’s new pubs business, it emerged last night.

King’s G1 company owns the former strip club in Lothian Road which has been leased to Innis & Gunn and converted into the company’s first Beer Kitchen.

The brewer’s chief executive Dougal Sharp, who hosted a launch party last night, was unable to say whether King would play a part in the roll-out of the concept.

Innis & Gunn is looking at the Ashton Lane and Merchant City areas of Glasgow, King’s home turf, as locations for the next Beer Kitchen. It is also considering an outlet in St Andrews.

The company is expected to announce next week which of two locations around Edinburgh will be the site of its new brewery.

A crowdfunding campaign to raise £3 million closed on 16 July and the expected announcement on the chosen site effectively confirms the money has been raised.

King owns a number of Edinburgh pubs including Biddy Mulligan’s in the Grassmarket, Bank in the Royal Mile, the Murrayfield Hotel and the Three Sisters in Cowgate.

Photo: Dougal Sharp at the launch of the Beer Kitchen (by Terry Murden)