Anti-pubco campaigner loses rent case
Anti-pubco campaigner and Enterprise licensee Mike Bell has failed to get leave to appeal against an arbitration ruling that saw his rent increase by 27.5%.
Judge Simon Brown at Birmingham High Court ruled that rent at Bell's Portobello Gold in London's Notting Hill should rise from £60,000 to £76,500, representing 51.25% of the divisible balance.
Cookseys DMP managing director David Morgan, representing Bell, asked for rent to fall 47%, from £60,000 to £31,000.
An Enterprise spokesman said this proposal was "unrealistic" and the case was "an example of a rent review which should never have gone to arbitration, or subsequent appeal".
"This is a great pub, in a prime location, and we certainly have no criticism of the way it is run by Mike Bell.
"We do not regard this as a victory, merely the confirmation of the correct rent for the pub."
Bell, who has been ordered to pay undetermined costs, said he had "no choice" but to challenge the rent.
That's because he made a "six figure" investment to convert the upper part of the pub into a hotel and his lease says increases in rental value gained through the tenants' own improvement should be disregarded.
"The Judge ruled that the Arbitrator's chosen method was a valid one, not that this was the only valid method to calculate a disregard of tenants' improvements or that the valuation was a correct one."
He called the valuation "inaccurate" — it "significantly underestimates" his investments and "way overestimates the profits gained from the pub".
In response to Enterprise saying the Portobello Gold is "a great pub, in a prime location", Bell said it's wet-led and land-locked, while beer sales fell 70% since the late 1980s following the recession and smoking ban.
He added: "Since the rent review date is two years old and the recession has hit, we shall be looking to Enterprise to reduce the rent to a realistic level, one that reflects today's trading environment."
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