How zombie pubco Punch is destroying pubs

An excellent video on the Guardian website explaining how zombie pubco Punch is destroying pubs.

Punch is a zombie company saddled with debts that it has no hope of paying off.

Punch went on a massive pub buying spree, using borrowed money, money that it can no longer repay. It can barely meet the interest payments. It does so by squeezing pub landlords, jacking up the rent, over charging for beer and other drinks. When all else fails, and the pub landlord is driven out of business, losing everything, the pub is put up for sale for redevelopment.

As a result, we are losing 18 pubs a week. One such pub is The Tumbledown Dick a c 1720s coaching inn under threat of demolition for a Drive-Thru McDonald’s.

Local councils are required by national planning to have in place a pub protection policy, but few have. A model pub protection policy is that introduced by Cambridge.

• Last orders? How councils can protect local pubs from closure
• Cambridge: Protection of public houses
• Pub closures: why ‘pubcos’ leave landlords Punch drunk – video

Tags: pubcos, pubs, The Tumbledown Dick