Ha! At last. Touching on reality.

Compare the real rotas, wages bills and staff costs of a real pub with those calculated for a 'hypothetical tenant' at rent review by a RICS trained 'trade expert' chartered surveyor (who couldn't draw up a weekly rota for a busy pub if their life depended on it). ONE may well find a fairly hefty discrepancy.

Considering the divisible balance of profit is what decides the future rent than ask yourself why the hypothetical tenant always runs their business on a skeleton rota with overheads pared to the bone - one that, if you analyse how the hypothetical wages spread out across 52 weeks, often has no one on the bar to serve hypothetical customers who are pushing tight wads of monkeys into the tills and pouring their own beer. This is while the real tenant of course is actually paying real people to serve real customers.

IN my rent review case the difference between the RICS estimation of what the hypothetical tenant's wages bill would be and what my real wages bill IS was about 100K a year.

Oh and the hypothetical tenant's business was 18% busier than mine. And the arbitrator deemed my real accounts - you know the ones sent into companies' house - as inadmissable while accepting the RICS fantasy accounts as material to base the rent review on.

Hey Ho Hey Ho Industrial tribunals here we come.