Greene King Pub Partners has continued its rent support for tenants during the Covid-19 crisis by confirming that all tied tenants in tiers two and three will receive a 90% rent concession from 2 December.
Meanwhile, tied tenants in tier one will receive a 40% rent concession. As it stands, however, out of Greene King’s 875 pubs in England there are none in a tier one area.
This mirrors support in Scotland where pubs in levels two to four are receiving a 90% rent concession and those in levels zero to one are receiving a 40% rent concession.
Greene King Pub Partners’ financial support for its tenants stands at £25m.
The move follows confirmation by the government that 99% of the country will initially be in either tier two or tier three areas from 2 December, and that the restrictions in both tiers will see pubs severely curtailed during what would usually be the most important month of the year.
Greene King Pub Partners Managing Director Wayne Shurvinton said: “We supported our tied partners through the recent November lockdown with a 90% rent concession and that will remain in place as the tier system is a lockdown in all but name for the majority of pubs.
“Despite investing hundreds of thousands of pounds over the summer to install safety measures like Perspex screens and hand sanitiser, plus taking on extra staff to increase cleaning frequency and allow table service, our tenants have still been closed down for Christmas by the government, even though they have done everything that was asked of them.
“We are providing this rent concession to do what we can to help what are profitable and viable businesses get through winter so they can begin rebuilding in 2021.
“Unfortunately for some, rent concessions may not be enough and without further government support, such as increasing grants, extending the VAT hospitality cut to include alcohol and bringing back the Job Retention Bonus, thousands of pubs remain at risk across the country.”
Alongside the rent concessions, Greene King Pub Partners can also benefit from a discount on barrels purchased from Greene King until the end of March 2021, with tied tenants receiving a trade credit of £35 per barrel.
Greene King Pub Partners will review the level of rent support every four weeks.
Greene King tied tenants have received the following support to date:
- All pub rents were immediately deferred for the entirety of the period pubs were first closed in March 2020.
- From 20 March to 10 June (first 12 weeks of closure) a Partner Support Fund was launched. One-to-one discussions took place with all tied pubs to understand their immediate financial situation so rent concessions could be targeted at pubs that had not been eligible for any government grants. Pubs with a rateable value under £51,000 were eligible for a government grant up to £25,000 to allow businesses to continue paying fixed costs, such as rent.
- From 11 June all tied pub tenants received a 90% rent concession that ran until four weeks after a pub was legally able to reopen, at which time a 50% rent concession continued for another four weeks.
- All the unopened kegs and casks that were out of date and unsaleable in pubs while they were closed during the first lockdown were replaced for free with fresh stock on reopening in July, at a total cost of approximately £1.3m + VAT.
- Following the end of the 50% rent concession around the end of August, rent concessions were extended for another four weeks at 40%.
- At the end of September, rent concessions returned to 50% for four weeks in the wake of tightening restrictions and rising Covid-19 case numbers.
- When the circuit break was introduced in Scotland in October all pubs were given a 90% rent concession.
- When Scottish pubs emerged from the circuit break into a tier system, pubs in levels two to four were given a 90% rent concession while pubs in levels zero to one received a 40% rent concession.
- From the date of the national lockdown in England from 5 November all tied pubs in England received a 90% rent credit.
