My mates local

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Kennyboy66 wrote: »

"one in three tied publicans have been running their pub for less than 3 years"

So 2 out of 3 have been running their pub for more than 3 years.

Which in this day and age, with credit restricted and creditors cracking down on bad debts, would indicate those businesses are managing to stay afloat just fine.

If you're "gullible" and being "conned out of your savings", you won't last 1 year in these times, let alone 3....

The 'Beer Orders' legislation under the tories in the 1990's whilst well meaning has been an unmitigated disaster

I'd agree with that.

It seems daft that a successful local brewer can't expand the number of pubs it takes on nationwide. Artificial limits on pub ownership just penalizes the successful.

The Pub Co model relies on churning gullible people out of their savings with the dream of running a pub.
Its closest equivalent is timeshares sales.

My local is a pubco tied pub, and the landlord has been there for 15 years.

I've chatted to him about this topic before, and he reckons you can still make a good living from a tied pub, but that there are simply too many traditional boozers (ie, that don't do food) for a much reduced customer base after the smoking ban, recession, etc.

He does as much money from food as he does from booze these days, and if he hadn't been able to adapt to a changing world, he'd be out of business.

I kind of miss the old character pubs with sawdust on the floor and smokers propping up the bar, but the reality is those places were never going to be viable in these changed times no matter what.

Makes no difference if it's pubco owned, brewer owned, or a freehold.

Reverse the smoking ban and reverse the 40% increase in the price of a pint thanks to the beer duty escalator and traditional boozers might have a chance.

Without that, I can't see many surviving regardless of whether they're owned or leased.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

cotleigh wrote: »

where you see a former pub for sale, way cheaper than a similar-sized house, what would happen if someone bought it, lived in the living accommodation upstairs, and just never actually re-opened for business? And just had a very large and cool living room downstairs?

Its not a clear-cut breach of planning rules, like, for example, converting a barn into a house without permission, because a pub is also residential accommodation already.

Be brilliant for having parties!

That's absolute genius!!!!

I'd have loved to live in a pub when I was younger!