Where is the business sense in punishing licensees who are turning a profit at their pub?

“Well, sort of,” I mumble.

“So is there anything that you still find difficult to comprehend after all these decades?”

“Yes, I’ll never understand why companies allow good licensees to leave then close the pub or offer it to a novice at half the previous rent,” is my reply.

I found an old Morning Advertiser (29 June 1992) article regarding Brian McSkane, formerly of the Crown, Balsall Heath. The Crown traded in excess of a 1,000 barrels and the relationship with Bass Mitchells & Butlers was super.

Then along came the Bass lease offer of a new rent (from £15,000 up to £42,000) and the guarantee to Brian that the catering kitchen he’d always wanted could now be built as long as he paid for it. Brian said: “It’s time I did build something — a house in Ireland!” He left the pub. It closed a few months later.

Then there is the case of William Campbell. Now Campbell is a born again fundamentalist, though his religion is Glasgow Rangers FC. He has a reputation for running the sort of difficult outlets you find located between railway stations and football grounds. He traded the Farmer’s Boy, in Kidderminster, in excess of 800 beer barrels until one day Vanguard Leasing made him an offer he felt he had to refuse — a doubling of his rent and a full repairing lease.

“Phil, yer man is off his ******g heed,” Bill informed me.

Vanguard’s response was that the rent increase was more than reasonable and one they would easily achieve in the open market where, incidentally, there was already interest from potential applicants. The Campbells left. There followed a succession of failures, although it has been a very profitable business for the past decade — as a vet’s surgery!

Campbell then took the Railway Belle 300 yards away, a Wolverhampton & Dudley/Marston’s pub. It did not have any catering facilities, but for 15 years he traded it well. Then came the recession. Marston’s offered him a new agreement, but with a 25% increase in rent.
“Phil, yer man is off his ******g heed,” he informed me.

Marston’s response was that the rent increase was more than reasonable and one they would easily achieve in the open market where, incidentally, there was already interest from potential applicants.

He left and an agency had to take over. Eighteen months later the company had to make a substantial investment in what was once an immaculate pub to try to restore trade.

When I was five I had an imaginary friend (Robert). If I reintroduced him now I would probably be sent for psychiatric help. Yet business developments managers and estates department reps have hundreds of imaginary potential applicants who, when the sitting tenant leaves, seem to miraculously disappear.
Now, I do love Marston’s and was privileged to chair their awards for five years. One licensee who always impressed the judges was Paul Skitt at the Thorns in Quarry Bank. It had a superb carvery, great live music and value offers that created a loyal customer base. In 2007 it was taking £20,000 to £35,000 a week (gross) selling around 1,000 composite barrels, and won company, Publican, Morning Advertiser and local media awards. The British Beer & Pub Association, no less, chose it as the place to undertake outside broadcasts to highlight the importance of a pub to the community.

Then came the three Rs: RPI rent, the recession and rates, with a staggering increase in the rateable value from £18,000 to £63,000! Paul began to get into difficulties. Don’t worry, I told him, Marston’s know how good you are. They’ll never let someone who has been making them close to £150,000+ a year walk away, but they did.

Perhaps it was a fear of rising debt. Would their jewel in the crown become a crown of Thorns? The local media was in a state of shock. “Landmark pub is forced to close” (7 February 2011) reported the Express & Star. Marston’s boldly stated the following day their intention to keep it trading.

They did not and the pub today is in such a poor condition that it’s the only one of Marston’s vacancies I can see where they have removed the photo and replaced it with an artist’s impression.

“There are few businesses in the West Midlands to rival the success of the Thorns in recent months. Carvery tended to by chefs who have a passion for delivering excellence,” said the advert.

The pub has been closed for a year and a half! Does sponsoring the England Cricket team give you immunity from the Trades Description Act?

Amazingly the pub was offered on a full repairing lease with no discounts and a rent around the same level at which the award winner
got into difficulty (£45,000 in year two). So I made a phone call and sent the odd email. A week later, and I should stress purely by coincidence, the Thorns was offered on a five-year tenancy with a £75 a barrel discount and reduced rent; years one to three at £18,400, £27,600 and £36,000.

The question someone has to ask at Marstons is: “Had we given more aid to our multi-award winner would we still be receiving a six figure-plus return from the Thorns instead of now making a loss, paying £28,854 in annual business rates plus security and insurance liabilities?”  

What’s more, a community would not have lost a great pub and 15 people would not have lost their jobs.   

For me there is a simple lesson to be learnt: quality licensees should be given preservation orders and supported at all times.

• The PMA contacted Marston’s for a response and it said it totally rejects the claims made by Phil Dixon.​