Irwin Mitchell has been appointed to carry out debt recovery work for brewing giant Heineken's UK pub management arm.

The firm's Manchester office has won a three-year appointment to advise Scottish & Newcastle Pub Company on debt recovery work. The appointment marks a first instruction from the pub company for Irwin Mitchell, which has acted for Heineken in the UK since the mid 1990s.

Meanwhile, London firm Sprecher Grier Halberstam (SGH) will advise Scottish & Newcastle on most of its dispute resolution and litigation work across England and Wales, including landlord and tenancy disputes.

SGH, which specialises in the brewery and leisure sector, has acted for the company for seven years. The relationship is led by joint managing partner Carmela Inguanta.

Irwin Mitchell commercial litigation partner Julien Luke commented: "It is a big win and it's good to be able to extend our offering with Heineken. Increasingly we're finding that our longstanding clients are giving us more high-value instructions, as this win demonstrates."

He added: "It is a good sector for us. Everybody knows that it is tough out there, with a lot of pubs closing down due to the economy, but if you have good pubs and good processes in place there is no reason they shouldn't be able to do well."

The company has not reviewed its advisers for mainstream corporate work, which is handled by law firms working with Heineken. Heineken and Carlsberg jointly acquired Scottish & Newcastle in 2008 for around £7.5bn, with all but the pub management arm rebranded as Heineken UK the following year.

The acquisition saw Allen & Overy advising Heineken, Linklaters advising Scottish & Newcastle and Norton Rose acting for Carlsberg.