Hundreds of Brit pubs face last call as landlords demand full rent from Covid
Hundreds of Brit pubs could be facing their last orders as a landlord company are set to demand rent from the Covid years when businesses were closed.
The pub landlord company, owned by billionaire Tory donors, was accused of pulling the plug on hundreds of pubs and pushing them into bankruptcy.
The Wellington Pub Company is reportedly demanding they receive their full rent owed for the months of the Covid lockdown, with some 850 pubs to be affected by the order.
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Tenants received discount from the company on the condition they extended their lease by five years, and now some tenants have been left "devastated".
A pressure group against the Wellington Pub Company, founded by pub owners Nick Holden and Kate Ahrens of the Geese and Fountain pub, have since released a statement, The Guardian reported.
They said: "To say we are devastated is an understatement. The Geese and Fountain has been our home, our business, our whole lives for the past eight years.
"We have poured thousands of pounds of our own money, and that of our families, into this place, because we loved it, and we wanted it to succeed.
"But another fight with Wellington, coming on top of three of the most difficult years in the pub trade and with rising energy costs and inflation running rampant, is one we cannot hope to win. We have to accept defeat. The billionaires have won."
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Another protective group for struggling pubs, aptly named the Protect Pubs campaign, has blasted the actions of Wellington Pub Company owners David and Simon Reuben.
Representative Gareth Epps said: "Businesses are continuing to fail as court judgments find in favour of absentee, super-rich landlords. The government simply looks the other way.
"A fast investigation is needed to put the legislation back on track and stop people like the Reuben brothers exploiting the pandemic."
A representitive for the Pubs Advisory Service has since said the Wellington groups actions are "nonsensical".
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