Pub leases: Licensees urged to take legal advice on pub property deals

It comes after a Shoreditch licensee accused his landlord of trying to “frighten” him out of his pub by stripping him of his barrelage discount and asking for three months’ worth of rent in advance.

Alan Willis, of the Nelson’s Retreat, has now had his beer discount and monthly rent agreement restored by property firm Max Barney LLP after his solicitor found that the company couldn’t withdraw either under the terms of his lease.

Willis added that he was given no notice of the pub’s sale by former landlord Enterprise Inns, with the only letter he received coming on 14 September, after the deal had been finalised for a reported £1.7m.

Pub management firm County Estate Pubs is managing the pub on behalf of Max Barney, and Willis has advised other licensees to “get a solicitor to read your lease properly” when their pub is sold.

“What they are trying to do is to frighten people,” said Willis, who has eight years left on his lease. “The pressure they have put on me makes it very difficult to trade.

“I am having to pay for my beer a week in advance, which is something I have never been asked to do to before. I am quite lucky that I can get quite a good price [for beer] where I am but it has still knocked my margins down immensely.”

A spokesperson from Enterprise Inns said: “Enterprise confirms that the Nelson’s Retreat in Shoreditch was sold as an investment, subject to the publican’s lease. The publican’s rights under that lease were unaffected by the sale.”

The PMA recently highlighted the case of Sheila Gavigan of the Cock Tavern in Somers Town, who was made subject to the same conditions by property developers Flamestrike.

Despite repeated calls, Max Barney LLP was unwilling to comment. County Estate Pubs also declined to comment.