Most Wadworth hosts say rent is fair

Six out of 10 Wadworth tenants agree their rent is fair, according to survey commissioned by the Wiltshire brewer and pub operator.

The news follows the damning results of the survey of lessees and tenants as part of the Business and Enterprise Committee (Bec) probe into pubcos. Wadworth's survey was carried out before the Bec survey results were published, said marketing and PR agency Elliott People, which carried out the brewer's poll.

Elliott People received replies from 107 of Wadworth's estate of more than 200 tenanted pubs.

Sixty per cent agreed with the statement "I believe my rent is fair for the business I do".

When asked why they chose Wadworth over other brewers or pubcos, 91% said they liked the agreement, whilst 90% said they respected the company enough to want to run one of their pubs.

Wadworth undertook a similar survey in 2007.

Jo Lynch, account manager for Elliott People, said: "For us, the most surprising results were found in the reasons why tenants chose to work for Wadworth, as usually it is the pub itself that is the pull and not the company. This serves to demonstrate the strength of Wadworth as a respected tenanted estate operator.

"The results seem to belie the findings of the recent Bec report into the tie, and show on the whole that Wadworth does perform as required and expected by its tenants."

Lloyd Stephens, tenanted trade director at Wadworth, said: "The two key areas of improvement on 2007's results were in the service performed by our tenanted trade managers - where we have a ratio of approximately 55 pubs per TTM - and in the quality of our own cask ale range, which is hugely pleasing for us as a brewer.

"There are further areas for improvement that have been identified from this survey, and we have already commenced work with heads of department to improve communication between our tenants and Wadworth.

"Overall, we are delighted with these results, however appreciate that we still have much to do to support our tenants through these challenging times."

Last week the MA revealed that Enterprise Inns' own survey of its licensees found 51% rate their relationship with the pubco as "good" and 31% as ok.

CGA surveyed 1,000 licensees for Bec and found 67% earned less than £15,000 per year.