Admiral Taverns announce further rental support measures
In a letter dated 8th June shared with the Publican’s Post (shown in full below) Admiral CEO Chris Jowsey has written to his tenants setting out the rental support measures being put in place to assist tenants during the Coronavirus re-opening phase.
Amongst the ‘big six’ pub owning businesses subject to the Pubs Code, Admiral have very much lead from the front – and continue to do so in seeking to ensure that their tenants have a fighting chance of emerging from the Covid closures unscathed.
Within his letter Mr Jowsey pays tribute to the many “inspirational’ stories from across the Admiral estate of pubs offering support to their local communities, with many “providing essential food and drink to the elderly and vulnerable in their neighbourhood”.
The support on offers assumes that pubs will begin to reopen from 4th July, as per the governments earlier announcement.
Leading from the front
As reported earlier Admiral were quick to cancel all rents from 21st March to 30th April – much to the relief of their tenants.
Rents were resumed from May with caps in place to ensure affordability, taking account of the government support that was made available.
Mr Jowsey said ‘we have been more proactive than many because we want you to emerge from this crisis energised and motivated to re-establish great community pubs, not weighed down by debt and fear about the future’.
If only more Landlords had followed this example – as we believe it’s in everyone’s interest for pubs to survive the crisis. This admirable approach is in stark contrast to Heineken owned Star Pubs & Bar sites fundraising for survival. Or the Ei Group MRO (free of tie) sites being offered no rental support whatsoever, in contradiction of the government’s upcoming code of practice.
Re-opening support
Admiral announce they are reducing rents to 50% of their current agreement amounts, subject to a floor rent of £100/week. This significant reduction will remain in place for the first two months of trading and will increase to 60% for September and October.
Thereafter rents will gradually increase each month, until they return to contractural levels in April 2021.
This will be subject to regular review, and the letter confirms that BDM’s will be in touch from 15th June to offer support.
