Wells & Co. have announced they will be providing a 10% rent concession to all of its leased and tenanted pubs across its 130 strong estate, this decision came from a difficult December following additional COVID-19 restrictions being put in place across the country. Although these restrictions didn’t include hospitality, the general feeling amongst the population was to more vigilant, with the Government suggesting the public should spend less time in social settings and reduce the number of people they are seeing. Throw on top of that cancellations of Christmas parties for two years now and businesses started to feel the stretch.
Shirley Couchman, Retail Board Director, Wells & Co. said, “We were essentially sent into a lockdown by proxy. The Omicron variant meant guests wished to stay at home more during, what is normally, a very busy trading period. Our pubs, as well as others, make the majority of their money during the festive season which helps to see them through the colder, darker and less busy times of trading during the first few months of 2022. Whilst the £6,000 grant is of course welcomed, it doesn’t reflect the true statistic of what our businesses lost during the month of December.”
Wells & Co. also provided bumper support to London pubs who struggled very early on in December with footfall and number diminishing by the day. These pubs received extra support due to the London crisis where numbers drastically fell after Government briefings bringing in Plan B. Shirley also reflected on the decision to reduce rent, saying “Plan B and the lockdown by proxy was the reason we gave our pub partners a 10% rent concession for the start of the New Year. We hope this concession will help our partners and we have had very appreciative feedback from our partners so far.”
This 2022 concession was on top of the support Wells & Co. provided throughout 2021. For the last financial year, Wells supported partners by discounting 8 months of rent (Oct-May) by 66% meaning partners paid just 34%.
Learn more about Wells & Co Pub Partners here: https://bit.ly/3rDF5ph
ENDS
Wells & Co. note to the editors:
Wells & Co. was founded in 1876 and is an independent, family-owned business with an estate of 190 pubs in the UK and 17 in France. In June 2017, Wells & Co. sold its brewery on Havelock Street and most of its brands to Marston’s PLC.
Press release from Wells & Co
Contact: georgia.bell@stormcom.co.uk