Fears over future of new Admiral tenants

Fears have been raised over the future of licensees affected by the sale of 869 pubs from Punch to Admiral Taverns.

Punch sold the tenanted and leasehold outlets to Admiral last month for £326m ­ an average of £375,000 a pub.

But some licensees are concerned about what this means for them.

Danny Scott, licensee at Rick¹s Bar, Greenwich, London, is worried about his future and would have liked to have had the chance to buy the freehold of his pub.

"It should be made law that as a sitting tenant you, have the right to buy the freehold," he said.

"I've got no control over my own future and should not have been put in that position."

Commenting on thepublican.com Mandy Leigh, licensee at the Hanbury Hotel, said: "My only hope is Admiral helps small, struggling publicans like myself."

However, Lynne D'Arcy, chief operating officer at Admiral, said: "Admiral is extremely pleased about buying the pub estate of 869 pubs from Punch Taverns and we look forward to working with our new licensees.

"However, the acquisition does not complete until later this month and, therefore, we are not able to confirm future plans about individual pubs until after this date.

"We fully appreciate that, for many licensees, this is a period of uncertainty and we intend to communicate with each licensee to explain what will be happening going forward."