Pub tenant campaigner faces eviction
High profile tenant rights campaigner Inez Ward faces eviction from her pub after breaching the terms of her lease by closing.
But Ward, who runs the Justice for Licensees campaign group and was the brains behind the Pubco Protest march, has vowed to carry on the fight for fairness for tied tenants across the country.
She has been at Mavericks in Newquay, Cornwall for seven years but was forced to shut two weeks ago after bailiffs cut off the electricity over an £11,500 bill. The pub and living quarters currently have no lighting, heating or hot water.
Enterprise has served a section 146 notice on Ward informing her that she has breached the terms of her lease by not being open.
She has until 20 May to rectify the problem or the pubco will start forfeiture proceedings. However, Ward is likely to be declared bankrupt at a hearing on 7 May. If declared bankrupt, the premises licence would lapse.
She also owes Enterprise almost £11,000 in costs after a failed bid to take out an interim injunction against the pubco in May last year (Enterprise host fails in injunction bid) and around £6,000 in back rent.
A recent campaign to raise money to help Ward has so far raised £664, despite early pledges of closer to £3,000.
"I think I would need around £25,000 to be back up and running," she said. "But this is no longer about me. The debts are too high here.
"I want to make it absolutely clear that even when I leave my pub I will continue the fight for fairness for licensees.
"I am going to devote my time to the campaign. I am not going away and will have more time to devote to the battle for transparency and fairness.
"I get calls from tenants every single day about the problems they are facing with their pubcos. I just can't give up on what I have started.
"I will have more time to spend campaigning for all those suffering out there."
Ward is already in high demand. On Tuesday she spoke to MPs at the inaugural meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group and she will also appear on controversial Respect MP George Galloway's chat show on TalkSPORT this evening between 10pm and 1am. She will be speaking on the causes of pub closures.
