PUB operator Amber Taverns has secured an additional £5m in funding to enable further expansion in the region.

The company has a strategy of taking on struggling community pubs and investing in turning them around. Included in the 70-strong chain are the Last Orders and the Pig Iron pubs in Middlesborough and the Castle and Anchor in Stockton on Tees.

The company is close to agreeing deals for two more pubs in the North-East and unveiled ambitious plans to open thirty outlets over the next three years. About 10 jobs are created in each pub the company opens.

It is funding the expansion programme with a £4m credit facility from Lloyds Bank and a £1m loan from LGV Capital, the company's majority shareholders.

Amber Taverns was founded in 2005 and purchased in October 2010 by LGV, who backed the existing management team led by Chairman Clive Preston.

An estimated 14 pubs in the UK close each week, equivalent to more than over 700 a year, with many closures blamed on the stranglehold large pub companies have on landlords.

Mr Preston explained how his company was managing to buck the national trend.

"We focus on two areas: price and a quality fit. Most of our beers and lagers are priced below £2 a pint and we spend a lot of time and money making sure the inside of the pub is given a quality finish. It is proving to be a winning combination." Tim Rigg of Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets said: "We have been working with the Amber Taverns team for a number of years. Their ongoing success and growth is impressive, not least in the current economic climate. Their business success will undoubtedly have a ripple effect on the supply chain within the areas they operate in which is good news for the North of England."