It'll be a very different operation I'd imagine. Both the Salmon and the Star benefit from being located in affluent areas, where as Barrack Street is essentially a student infested working class slum
I think the guy knows how to run a decent pub properly. He'll change things that need to be changed and hold his nerve while the potential customers might take time to see the benefit. I'll be surprised if he doesn't make a good fist of it tbh.