Licensee hits out at 'dirty tricks' of nearby pub

Shaun Hobson, who runs the Rising Sun in Hampton Hill, said staff at the nearby and recently-opened Refectory, owned by Faucet Inn, had distributed its Christmas menus inside his menus and its flyers on every table in his pub during the recent Christmas Parade night, the biggest event in his pub’s calendar.

'The whole thing stinks'​

Hobson said he was shocked to find the leaflets in his pub and the “whole thing stinks quite bad”.

“It’s not something I expect from a multiple operator – it’s not something you see generally in the industry,” he told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser.

“Their offer is very similar to ours - we do traditional British and always have done. It’s dirty tricks from a multiple. You go and do your research in other pubs, which is fine, but you don’t go and leave your advertising in them.”

'Miffed'​

He said he phoned the London-based pub company, which owns 22 venues, last week and was told someone would ring him back, but he is “miffed” that he has still had no response. An employee at the Refectory visited the pub when Hobson was out and left her number on a piece of paper, but Hobson said it is “not good enough” and he still expects a personal apology.

Apology​

Amber Wood, area manager at the Refectory, said: “We saw this last week and the manager went over to apologise. It’s not happened again.

“We hired a flyer team through a different company and obviously it didn’t follow the brief properly. It’s not how we do business. We’re a pub for the community and are certainly not here to steal other people’s business or customers.”