Scammed licensee comes up trumps
Paul St. John Campbell, who runs the Queen Edith pub in Cambridge, said he had been left in limbo with no support or communication when rogue recruitment company Greyfriars Taverns went into receivership.
The pub was still in the hands of the liquidators in May last year when but he argued that Punch should be taking more responsibility after it leased the pub to a rogue recruitment firm.
Greyfriars Taverns, along with its parent company Barber Lettings, was one of a raft of companies which have taken up to £5,000 from potential licensees and failed to find them a suitable pub.
Those who were given a placement found themselves on a tenancy at will with no job security, or placed in disreputable boozers.
Pub companies had come under scrutiny for leasing their pubs to these disreputable operators and promised to clean up their act.
The liquidators came into the pub last week and made Mr St. John Campbell redundant but Punch has stepped in and offered him a tenancy. He had been continuing to operate the pub which had been in the hands of the liquidators.
Mr St. John Campbell says he is relieved that he has finally been able to get the pub he wanted even despite being ripped off.
He said: "Punch are looking after me. 27 months I have been here and its been quite a long time but I will be my own boss. I negotiated with Punch and they have given me a good deal.
"Now I am officially a tenant and I am very chuffed with that. I am happy with the result, At least I am able to move forward now.
"I have the opportunity to bring in food once the kitchen is done."
Punch Taverns customer services director Francis Patton said: "We are delighted the Queen Edith in Cambridge is finally back in our control and we have been able to offer Paul St John Campbell a short-term agreement.
"Over the last few months we have worked closely with Paul and helped him through this difficult period and hopefully we will be able to offer a longer term lease following further discussions.
"We do not condone the practices of rogue recruitment companies who give the industry a bad name. At Punch we have introduced a number of safeguards to ensure we don't offer leases to such firms which include individual checks on company directors and senior managers.
"We also ensure we get a copy of the employment contracts for each manager. We are now urging the industry to pull together and agree to a code of conduct which will make it even harder for these small number of rogue companies to operate and ultimately stamp them out of existence."
