Pub agent Caldicott Payne ceases trading

Somerset-based licensed leisure property agent Caldicott Payne has ceased trading, due to tough market conditions.

Sales director Richard Payne said: "The market is extremely tough. There are more leaseholders looking to hand back their keys than there are trying to sell lease assignments. Which of course means less business for us. We just ran out of cashflow. Everyone's struggling in this market."

Graham Allman, managing director of GA-Select, said Payne was a prolific operator, and suggested that the firm's expansion, it opened offices in London and Manchester earlier this year, was simply "bad timing" in current market conditions.

The agency, which was founded in 2006, had also started to expand into property sales abroad.

Allman added: "I imagine the bigger, but less well-funded, agents with multiple offices will be struggling to pay rent at the moment. I think there will be a few hibernating right now, which makes sense if they're not getting the business."