Hi Andy, as I don't own a pub, I cannot advise you on anything specific about the running of it. But I did buy my own sandwich business and going on my own experience, (and from what I can gather from your stated intention, apologies if I am wrong) would not advise anyone to simply stick a manager in and let them get on with it, at least not without attempting to learn anything yourself about it, that would be the fastest way to bankrupt yourself! When I first opened the sandwich bar, I worked in it from morning to night and learnt everything about the trade, then I started to slowly hand over responsibility to other people who I trusted. The problem I found with hiring others with previous experience was that their experience was not always as good as I was hoping for, so I would advise trying to promote trusted staff from within.
Loosehead I cannot see who you are responding to in your last response! But I presume they have been pretty insulting in what they have said! But (and I may get this wrong as I don't know what context it has been said in) you normally form a company before buying a any business and this is what Andy would have to do.