Punch slashes rent to £5 to save pub

Punch Taverns has slashed the rent at one of its Leicester pubs to just £5 a week in a bid to help it continue trading.

John Griffin, who suffered a stroke earlier this year, said takings at the Queen Victoria Inn in Southampton Street, Leicester, had plummeted to just £100 a week following the closure of nearby factories and the smoke ban.

"It is the worst I have ever known it in 20 years at the pub," Griffin said. "All the factories have closed and the whole area is one big building site. It's all turning into flats - and the same will probably happen to the pub.

"The introduction of the smoking ban has also cut trade in half almost overnight. I think it's finished here now. The pub is done."

Griffin used to take an average of £400 a day before the decline. His situation came to a head when his wife Sandra fell ill and he had to shut the pub for a week, leading him to fall behind on the rent.

After initially sending in bailiffs to recover money owed, Punch put together a rescue package in May which more than halved Griffin's £447 rent for 12 weeks. That has now been cut to just £5 a week until 1 January 2008.

"I am happy enough with the deal Punch has offered," he said. "But I don't think it will ever pick up here again."

A Punch spokesman said it did not discuss details of its retailers' rents, adding: "We can confirm we have extended the offer of support to Mr Griffin to help the business to continue trading."