‘The billionaires have won’: English pubs forced to close after owners demand full rent for lockdown

A pub landlord company owned by billionaire Tory donors has been accused of pushing pubs into bankruptcy after demanding tenants pay full rent owed from the months during the Covid lockdowns.

The Wellington Pub Company, owned by David and Simon Reuben, offered its estimated 850 tenants a Covid discount on condition that they extended their leases for five years.

To take on Wellington, about 250 tenants formed a pressure group led by Nick Holden and Kate Ahrens of the Geese and Fountain pub in Croxton Kerrial near Grantham in Lincolnshire. These tenants refused the company’s deal, and arbitrators have now ruled that many of them will have to pay rent in full.