Pubcos failing lessees, says former Restaurant Association boss

The former chief executive of the Restaurant Association has slammed the relationships pub companies foster with their tenants.

Ian McKerracher, speaking at last week's Publican Conference, said the association between lessees and pub groups was based on mistrust and a history of confrontation.

Mr McKerracher, who took on the lease at the Helyar Arms in Yeovil, Somerset, seven months ago, blamed his pub company for failing to give him support. He said he was staggered at the unhelpful, unco-operative and suspicious stance the company - one of the biggest in the country - had adopted.

He said: "I had to make some changes to the building, changes that were a result of long-term neglect and therefore not my fault. Initially it offered me no help. I spent five months trying to speak to someone who was empowered to make a decision.

"It had a very defensive attitude. There was an in-built assumption that the tenant was the enemy and was going to try and not pay the rent and rip off the pub company."

Simon Townsend, customer services director of Enterprise Inns, said while this individual example was not the responsibility of Enterprise it nonetheless was an eye-opener for all pub companies. "It clearly isn't in the best interests of the industry to have bad relationships with licensees. They are the life-blood of our business. I am not saying we get it right every time but we try to."

Francis Patton, customer services director for Punch Pub Company, also not connected with this case, said: "Communications and relationships with our retailers are essential and we have launched our retailer charter so our licensees know what to expect from us. We also have a procedure by which complaints come directly through to me."

Mr McKerracher concluded his address at the conference by saying: "It sounds immodest but pub companies cannot afford to lose people like me. They need to improve their communications and the way they do business."