Nimble pubco Punch has set aside £80m to pump into its estate over three years to improve various aspects of its venues, chief executive Clive Chesser has said.
An online petition calling on Punch to offer John Pybus of the Blue Bell pub in York a new tenancy agreement has passed 2,500 signatures in less than a day.
Punch has become the latest pubco to join the war against plastic straws by eliminating their use across its 70-strong retail pub estate, while encouraging its circa 1,200 leased and tenanted pubs to follow suit.
Paul Crossman, licensee of the Swan, on Bishopthorpe Road, York, said that it took a year of negotiation before the deal for the free-of-tie deal was finalised.
