Enterprise licensee gets rent reduction after sales advert affects pub trade

Simon Munro, lessee at the West Park pub in South Shields, claims he has been offered a £100-per-week rent reduction after taking issue with an article that appeared in regional newspaper The Chronicle on 25 April.

In the article, headlined Last orders for old pub?, Mark Worley, who is handling the sale for agents Christie+Co, was quoted as saying: “The West Park is well-presented and could trade well under new ownership.”

Munro claimed sales had dipped following the article’s publication, and his usually lucrative function-room trade had fallen away.

“People have been coming in surprised that I’m still trading,” he explained. “Also, I’ve had people who have pre-booked wedding functions ring up, hysterical, thinking that we won’t be able to accommodate them.

“Usually, we are booked up with christenings at this time of year — this year we hardly have any. It has to be because of the article.”

Munro said his business development manager was initially dismissive.

“I pestered him for weeks, and made it perfectly clear that if nothing happened, I would be taking it further.

“I never asked for Enterprise to sell the pub, but I’ve accepted that this is the way things are. On the other hand, I could easily hand Enterprise the keys and tell them I’m off.

“They would pay water, gas, electric, council tax, business rates — all on an empty premises with no rent coming in. I think that would cost a lot more to them.”

While recognising the rent reduction as a positive step, Munro felt that it didn’t fully cover the loss of trade.

He added: “I’m not after claiming thousands of pounds of compensation, but I want something off them.”

Enterprise remained tight-lipped on the rent reduction, but acknowledged that the pub “no longer has a long-term future in our estate”.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Christie+Co said: “The pub is still very much trading for business, and it would continue to trade well under new ownership.
“But there is development potential — with planning permission — for any prospective investors.