Pub company gets rating value reduced

Pub company Brunning & Price has triumphed in a test case bid to reduce the rating value of one of its pubs on the basis that its high turnover is a result of its "exceptional ability".

Brunning & Price won a ruling from the Lands Tribunal reducing the rating value of the Glasfryn 'destination pub' in Mold, North Wales, from £70,000 to £62,500.

This was still much higher than the £31,500 that the company argued was the true value, but considerably less than the assessment made of the premises by a valuation officer.

An expert from the North Wales Valuation Office had assessed the value at £83,000, but had then not seek to raise the £70,000 figure set by the North Wales Valuation Tribunal.

In part, the company's argument was based on the fact that the very high turnovers in its pubs were not the result of their situation in prime locations.

Brunning & Price said its pubs are in secondary or tertiary locations, and have high turnovers because the company is an exceptional operator, with high quality food, wines and beers and an emphasis on atmosphere.

They claimed they had taken over many pubs that had failed repeatedly under several different operators and had gone on to make resounding successes of them, not because of their locations or facilities, but because of the company's particular expertise.

Giving the Lands Tribunal decision in a ruling, which could have important implications for other licensed premises, the chairman, N J Rose, said that Brunning & Price, a small family company of fourteen pubs, based in the North West, had been named pub group of the year by the Good Pub Guide in 1997, 2004 and 2007.

He concluded: "In the light of these repeated accolades, I am satisfied that the appellant is an operator of exceptional ability."

Taking that factor into account and on the basis of their arguments he ruled that the rating value of the property should be reduced to £62,500 with effect from 1 April 2004.

Rose, who visited the pub, said Glasfryn is a converted farmhouse, dating from the 1920s, which was bought by Brunning & Price in 1997 and converted from dilapidated student flats into a 'destination' food pub with a comprehensive wine-list, large selection of cask beers primarily public house sourced from local independent or regional brewers, and more than 100 malt whiskies.