Punch sends BRMs to supervise multiple lessees

Punch is to introduce regular business retail manager (BRM) visits to pubs leased by separate companies and multiple lessees.

The company admits BRM visits have not normally been made to these sites, which have fallen under the jurisdiction of an area manager who liaised direct with the main lessee.

Customer services director Francis Patton says it is part of a series of stricter checks and vetting procedures Punch is now making to stop cowboy operators slipping through the net.

"Our BRMs have tended not to visit these pubs but we are now adopting a more hands-on approach and all sites will get regular visits," he said.

"We will monitor them more closely and it means we have changed our model slightly to allow for this. Part of the new scrutiny will be to ensure letting companies are not changing individual trading agreements because we do not allow them to sublet our pubs."

Patton stressed, however, that rogue operators were in the minority and there were many good multiple lessees who ran excellent pubs. "There are a lot of talented people out there who successfully lease blocks of pubs and I would not like to see them tarnished with the same brush," Patton added.

Punch has revealed it has taken back all 47 pubs leased to Barber Lettings which went into administration in February.

A number of licensees have chosen to stay on and run their pubs under Punch, although some others have decided to walk away.