Licensee wins rent paid for a year

A lucky licensee will have his rent paid a year after winning £30,000 in a competition run by brewers Shepherd Neame.

Geoff Mountain, licensee of Punch Taverns pub the Three Horseshoes in Leabrooks, Derbyshire, was the delighted winner at the live draw at brewery in Faversham, Kent, last week.

The competition was part of Shepherd Neame's 'Operation Landlord' campaign which aimed 'help landlords in the battle for sales', and was open to all pubs stocking Spitfire ale. Licensees entered by texting a unique code on the back of Spitfire casks and the finalists were invited to the brewery for lunch and the draw.

The prize money more than covers the £23,000 Geoff and his wife Gina currently landlord Punch Taverns.

Gina said the remainder would be spent on "holidays, handbags and shoes" while Geoff was keen to put it towards his retirement fund.

He added that the win would be a massive boost to the business he took on four years ago.

"Out of the 12 pubs in the area, five have closed over the past few years," he said.

Spitfire has been on for six months as a guest ale but Geoff said he "won't be changing it now".

Jonathan Neame, chief executive of Shepherd Neame said the competition was designed to give something back to the hard-working pubs in the country.

"So much that we hear about nowadays is negative news about the trade," he said. "But people like Geoff are working very hard for themselves, for their families and communities - it's brilliant for them."

Neame said they would hope to run a similar competition in the future.

Eighteen finalists from across the country visited the brewery for the draw last Monday.

All runners up went home with £250 each, as well as Spitfire t-shirts.

One runner up, Phil MacAree the Cock and Woolpack in the City in London, wasn't too disheartened: "I'll keep selling Spitfire anyway - it's our best seller!"