Enterprise tenant of the Pattenmakers Arms quits pub
Claire Muldoon, who fought off a 42% rent increase in March, left the pub today (20 October).
She said Enterprise kept sending Brulines technicians into the pub to check whether she was buying outside the tie, resulting in a £2,500 fine, and she decided she could no longer stand the “intimidation”.
'Scared'
“They accused me of tampering with the beer lines – I wouldn’t even know how to do that,” she told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser.
“I just couldn’t handle this for five more years. I felt intimidated and scared. They’ve wanted me out and now they’ve got me out. I’m just concerned about my customers and who this new local entrepreneur they have taking over the pub.”
She added: “I’m not looking to run another pub, but if I did it would be a freehouse. I’m never going to work with a pubco again.”
'Disappointed'
Enterprise Inns said a “successful local entrepreneur” will reopen the pub tomorrow (21 October).
A spokesman said: “We are extremely disappointed that, having successfully negotiated a new five-year agreement on terms which were largely unchanged for both Enterprise and our publican, Mrs Muldoon has subsequently and wilfully breached the terms of her contract.
“Despite admitting such breaches, and compensating Enterprise for its losses, Mrs Muldoon has now expressed her wish to terminate the new agreement, and we have complied with that request. We have always been committed to the future of The Pattenmakers Arms, and this remains the case.”
