Dave Mountford is 'controversial' because he stands up for his basic
rights as a tenant while THOUSANDS of others are being rolled over and
duffed up by pubco thugs in the background.When ONE tenant out of THOUSANDS returns a rent review result that he 'can live with' it's done in private, outside of any 'guidelines' which are routinely trampled over by pubcos with carts and horses. It's only because Dave fought every last step of the way; spent years standing his ground; learning how to deal with obstructive, belligerent and recalcitrant freeholder, getting involved with national campaigns; trades unions and personal representations to government. Wow. Is that all you need to do as a pubco tenant to survive? Become a nationally recognised 'controversial' tenant?. What is going on?
Look at the state of the nation's pubs. What's left of them. It's staring everyone in the face and has been for decades. And there's no end in sight; it's just getting worse. Pubco's continue to return £millions of profits while their estates become more and more dilapidated as their tenants cannot afford to invest in their own businesses.
In spite of all the hoo ha following Select Committee after Select Committee the whitewash is splashed around everywhere. There is no scrutiny, policing or oversight in the pub sector in any way shape or form. Pubco's get away with routine abuse of tied publicans everywhere because they can.
12 pubs a week closing nationally. Where does that figure come from? BBPA? Thin Air? PAH! One national agent alone had SEVEN 'new to market' pubs 'suitable for alternative use' just yesterday. It's a scam.
Pub companies use non disclosure agreements whenever a tenant manages to negotiate a commercial position which allows their own business to be viable ie. where there is an equitable distribution of profit between the leaseholder and the freeholder; where the leaseholder can make a living rather than go bust satisfying the untenable financial demands of the freeholder.
ReplyDeleteThe pubco model is simply predicated upon the extraction of the maximum amount of cash possible from thousands of pubs with the minimum investment they can possibly manage to skate by on. This ethos directly drives the Churn of the tied estates and forces serial business failure throughout the national pub stock while the pubs that are churned suffer perennially from chronic underinvestment. This in turn leads to the majority of Britain's entire pub estate falling into severe dilapidation and the point of inevitable 'suitable for alternative use subject to planning' where the pubs are picked off as betting shops, convenience stores, churches or residential. Business failure of individual pubs is simply the collateral damage of an industry run by corporations - ie: the people who run them - to get the greatest possible financial return with the least possible effort. The pub sector is run by bean counters and pen pushers whose last care in the world is pubs.
We are witnessing the deliberate systematic dismantling of the national pub estate by short term profit driven private equity scammers who blame government, the world economic downturn, changing consumer habits and, finally, the incompetent tenants who generate all their profits, for all their own wrongdoings. And with this shameful state of affairs that is sanctioned, encouraged even, by the Business Innovation and Skills department of our 'democratic' government, Britain's heritage, our very sense of place and cultural identity, is being kicked over, beaten up and tossed into the dustbin of history.