Greene King announces rent concessions for tied tenants

Greene King Pub Partners has announced a further £6m of financial support for its leased and tenanted partners, as they work to rebuild their businesses following the Covid-19 closure.

The current rent concessions from Greene King Pub Partners are due to come to an end eight weeks after reopening.

The company’s managing director Wayne Shurvinton has now written to all its tied pub tenants to confirm that a 40% rent concession will be in place for all tied pubs for a further four weeks after the current support comes to an end, then a 30% rent concession for the four weeks after that, taking support through until October.

Trade support for tied tenants buying barrels of beer or cider from Greene King will also continue through to 2021, with tied tenants receiving a trade credit of £35 per barrel.

This brings Greene King’s total financial support for its 975 tied tenants since lockdown to an estimated £21m, in addition to government support that was available earlier in lockdown for hospitality businesses.

Greene King tied pub tenants benefited from a 90% rent concession from 11 June up until four weeks after they could legally reopen. This was followed by a 50% discount for the next four weeks, with the new 40% concession coming into place once the 50% discount time period comes to an end.

Shurvinton said: “Our partners have put amazing effort into rebuilding their businesses after being closed for more than 100 days.

“From the outset we have always said we will provide as much support for our tenants as possible and would make decisions in a fair and transparent way using all the available information.”

He added: “I’m delighted that we now have around 95% of our pubs trading again and our partners are currently trading well, thanks to making use of outside space and good weather.

“However, we recognise that the next few months will be challenging as we head towards autumn and winter and that more support is required, particularly as once outside spaces become less usable then the number of customers will be significantly reduced to maintain social distancing.”