When Robert Tchenguiz turned his sights on the high street pub market in 2004, he must have thought that he was buying in at a low point.

The sector was reeling from a period of mushrooming competition and a fierce price war. This, in turn, had fuelled accusations that operators were fostering a binge-drinking culture.

In theory, his move to consolidate the high street was a sensible move. The post-Beer Orders free-for-all that followed the break-up of the big brewing companies spawned a host of small pub operators, each with its own head office.

Crunching them together - as Mr Tchenguiz did with Laurel Pub Company, Yates Group and part of SFI - allowed him to remove a huge amount of cost and centralise purchasing.

The problem for Mr Tchenguiz is that high street bars have continued to face huge challenges. Younger drinkers tend to fuel up on cheap booze from supermarkets before going to the pub, while the smoking ban has accelerated the decline of drink sales.

The acquisition last year of La Tasca, coupled with the rapid conversion of many pub sites to the Slug and Lettuce brand, has allowed Laurel to cash in on the casual dining boom.

Yet although both concepts continue to deliver good growth, the consumer spending downturn is already having an impact on some rivals.

Integrating so many disparate businesses under a single umbrella in so short a period has also posed difficulties. Paul Symonds, who joined as chief executive of Laurel in September 2006, admitted last year that the attraction of the job was “to come and fix something that was broken”.

Given the number of acquisitions that Laurel has made in its brief existence, it is hardly surprising that, along with a lot of very good pubs, it has swallowed a small number of very poor ones with onerous leases.

Administration may sound like a drastic move, but in the context of Laurel, it could prove to be a turning point in its fortunes.

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