Shropshire is in danger of losing dozens of pubs because of the hard-nosed approach of the UK’s biggest pub company, it was claimed today.
Licensees leader Eddie Main said landlords were struggling to make ends meet because they were being squeezed so hard by Punch Taverns.
But Punch insisted it was investing millions of pounds to transform “tatty, tired and dated” pubs in the county. And it said it had plenty of would-be tenants queuing to take them over.
It follows the closure this week of The Swan at Waters Upton, near Telford.
Licensee Steve Ralph left his keys at the local post office and plastered The Swan with notices blaming “greedy” Punch for driving him out of business.
Mr Main, Telford Licensed Victuallers’ Association secretary, claimed it was the tip of the iceberg.
“This has been going on for 10 years,” he said. “I fear there are a lot more pub closures to come.
“I can think of three Punch tenants in Telford who did a moonlight flit within a few months. They had had enough of high rents and beer prices.”
Mr Main said he was in contact with several Punch tenants who were struggling but did not want to go public for fear of spoiling their relationship with the company.
“Some time ago I did try to set up a group of Punch tenants, but unfortunately all the people I spoke to have left the trade,” he said. “It might be time to try to set up such a group again.
“Punch is such a big employer even councils are scared of them.”
Andy Hodgson, Punch Taverns regional operations director, said he wanted to give bright, ambitious people the chance to make a success of the pub trade.
“Our aim is to help them grow the business,” he said. “It’s not in my interests at all for businesses to fail. If a landlord fails, we fail.
“Unfortunately, some people come into the business thinking it will be a bit of fun as they have always wanted a pub.
“But it’s going to be hard work and it’s important for people to talk to us if they are having problems so we can help them.”
He said customers were no longer prepared to put up with second-rate service and products - and successful tenants understood this.
By Peter Johnson
2 Comments
Being a Publican is not a Job … it is a way of life not just for the Licencee but for the whole family. Brewery Companies have never enjoyed a reputation for being considerate of their front line people and The Regional Operations Director would do well to walk a mile or two in other peoples shoes before operating his Cackling Gear.
I ran a Punch pub in Herefordshire with my wife for nine months and did pretty well and had a great time. Thankfully though, we had the good sense to never sign a contract with Punch as it soon became clear that they wanted to move the goalposats as soon as they saw we were starting to make money. Beers prices up - rent set to rise more often etc…..
We were the sixth tenant the pub had had in five years and another couple have left since we did last June too. It’s ridiculous - they make a lot of promises but our experience was that they were worth nothing in the end. We were asked to invest £15k of our own money in the business to put towards the refurb they were going to do for us, but they couldn’t then tell us what the money was going to be spent on.
Eventually, after we refused to give them the cash unless we had a complete breadown of what it was to be spent on, Punch came back to us and said: “We don’t completely know what it’s to be spent on yet to be honest but that’s what it’s going to cost you.”
At this point we said thanks but no thanks. We’d gained nine months of valuable experience and decided we were better off leaving with the money we had rather than going into business with a company who we felt we could not trust to come good with anything they promised.