Beerflow battle won by licensee

A Fulham licensee has blocked legal moves by Punch to repair beerflow monitors in the cellar of his pub.

Host Paddy Maguire successfully contested a high court injunction by the giant pub company who wanted to restore the Brulines equipment to proper working order.

A judge at the high court in Leeds refused Punch's application in a case which Maguire described as the "Lion versus The Mouse."

Maguire said he decided to fight Punch because there was no reference to beerflow equipment in his lease agreement.

He bought the lease on the Wellington pub 18 months ago when he discovered the monitors were inactive.

"I read the lease carefully and found no reference to beer monitors so I refused Punch permission to come in and sort them out," Maguire said.

"I was surprised when they took out the injunction and travelled up to Leeds to defend myself because I could not afford fancy barristers.

"If something is not written down in an agreement then I do not want anything to do with it."

Maguire said the judge had refused Punch leave to appeal and indicated costs would be awarded to him.

"I didn't want to go to court because I was nervous about all the expense if I had lost but I feel totally vindicated now," he added. Punch said that although it had applied for an interim injunction to enable it to maintain the Brulines equipment at the pub, prior to a final judgement on the case, it would now review its position.