Marston's rent rebel surrenders lease

A Marston's tenant who went on a rent strike has surrendered his lease.

Malcolm Johnson, of the Old Crown, Wigginton, near Tamworth, had traded without beer supplies since the New Year after starting his rent strike.

Johnson claimed the weekly rental charge of £1,000 had led to him piling up debts of ten of thousands of pounds during his 18-month tenure of the pub.

He told the local newspaper:

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"We were running at losses of £500 a week. The rent was too high - our total weekly expenditure to the brewery, including rent, service charges and insurance, was £1,110.96. It was horrendous."

"We had other factors like the smoking ban, last year¹s bad summer, cheap alcohol in supermarkets and the general economic climate to deal with."

"At the end of the day, there weren't enough customers."

"I have been on rent strike since the New Year because I couldn¹t tolerate any more losses."

Johnson said his weekly takings of between £3,000 and £4,000 were insufficient to meet his overheads.

It is reported that Marston's plan to refurbish the pub in the wake of the surrender.