Relief agencies are struggling to find qualified licensees to take over Britain's growing stock of empty pubs.
Increasing numbers of tenants "throwing in the keys" means agencies are being put under extra pressure to find temporary hosts to keep pubs open.
One agency says demand for relief licensees is 50% up over the past nine months, but it cannot find enough people of the right calibre to take over pubs.
Desmond White, managing director of Buckinghamshire-based Project 90, said: "Pub operators assume we have a ready bank of people with the right qualifications but nothing could be further from the truth.
"They think we have all the answers, but extra demand as more pubs become empty has made it difficult for us to find relief people with the right skills," he added.
The recruitment problem could explain why operators are now choosing to board up pubs rather than seek temporary licensees to run them.
Roger Clutterbuck, director of Pub Locums of Shrewsbury, said business is steady, but more pubs are now being mothballed.
"When licensees throw in the keys, pub companies do not always try and keep them open with temporary management," he revealed.
"It probably explains why we are not getting as much new business as we had hoped.
"You will find operators are now looking to sell more pubs for alternative use than they did before," he added.
Len Clayman of the London-based Marc Clayman agency said the economic slowdown meant managed operators were cutting back on recruitment.
"After 40 years in this job, I have seen several recessions and with trade slowing down managed pub companies are simply not recruiting in the same numbers so our business is down on last year," he said.