Age is indeed a factor in at least one potentially important CGT relief (retirement relief) but only in the context of a range of conditions, some of which can be complex. For the sale of an asset as valuable as a pub licence your friend needs proper professional advice to determine eligibility or otherwise for this relief and/or others and to quantify his liability. It would be very foolish of him to depend on the "expertise" of informal friends or acquaintances to do so.