TV show Xposes rogue

pub recruitment firms

by John Harrington

The shocking tactics used by rogue pub recruitment firms were laid bare in a TV documentary broadcast last week.

The programme, Xposed, which was screened on ITV in the Yorkshire region, showed how would-be licensees were duped out of large sums of money for pubs that failed to live up to expectations.

It also revealed that at least two rogue firms were linked to one man.

The show focused on Simon and Alison Robinson, who paid £5,000 to a company called Greyfriars, which is linked to collapsed Barber Letting, to find them a pub of their dreams.

The Robinsons were told they would get two weeks training before choosing a pub from a list within 'about a month. They were told they would make 'a large amount of money, Simon Robinson said.

But Robinson said the training was 'an absolute joke. They were made to run a bar on their own from day-one a busy Bank Holiday while the owners did nothing.

Robinson said only one pub they were offered had any potential, and it was in a 'rough area, with smashed and boarded up windows. The couple had still not found a decent pub six months later, at which point they discovered that Greyfriars had gone bust.

Out of curiosity, Robinson responded to the advert for another pub recruitment company Inn Direct, under a false name. The man who met him was called Doug Tappin the same person he had met from Greyfriars. Tappin even arranged to meet Simon in the same pub, the Board Inn at Knaresborough, and gave him 'exactly the same spiel.

The show also revealed that Tappin had been director of another recruitment firm, Tudor Inns. Both Greyfriars and Tudor Inns has been closed down by the Department of Trade and Industry for operating illegally.

The show also included Ian Stewart, who was offered a pub after training via Inn Direct. Stewart said he was made to work like 'an unpaid skivvy during training, and the pubs he was offered were all sub-standard. Some had smashed toilets and battered furniture.

Inn Direct told the show it had 'no connection with the rogue recruitment companies. The firm said it did not realise that Tappin was connected to Tudor and has since terminated his contract.