Newcomers: Legal eagles

In those times, legal input would have been minimal.

Nowadays, in an ever growing litigious society, carrying out business like that would soon lose you the shirt off your back, especially in the licensed trade, so we decided that the sooner that we sought legal advice on starting a pub the better.

I personally find dealing with lawyers a bit daunting. Like distant relatives it's normally only in times of extreme happiness, sadness or crisis that contact with them occurs and I hadn't really a clue where to start to find the correct person for the job. I remembered that a few weeks earlier I had been in communication with a senior member of one of the large high street banks and he had recommended a large firm of lawyers nearby that had staff who specialised in pubco leases.

A meeting was set up and the lawyer went over how pubcos work and told us the ins and outs of leases etc. The message came over loud and clear that Pubco's don't do anyone any favours as the leases are heavily weighted in their favour and there is normally very little in the way of negotiation over the terms of the lease. Even though we had done a lot of research into the subject and had read all about how pubcos treat their leasees it was quite galling to hear it from someone who's job it was to conduct legal proceedings with these very large and powerful companies.

Having informed us of the peculiarities and hazards of owning a lease the lawyer went on to state that there is no reason a well-run establishment, with the right personnel and a lot of hard work shouldn't be able to make a bit of money.

It was at that point he brought up the subject of his fee. It wasn't cheap, which only reminds me the next meeting is with the bank manager...