Scottish pub giant cuts rents to help tenants weather the coronavirus storm

ONE of Scotland’s biggest pub landlords has offered a temporary rent cut to its tenants to help them through the coronavirus lockdown.

Belhaven Pub Partners, which leases around 120 outlets across Scotland, said it will reduce rents by 90 per cent for all tied pubs from

June 11 until they can legally reopen. It described the moved as a multi-millionpound investment.

The 90% concession will remain in place for the first four weeks after reopening, before being reduced to 50% relief for the four weeks after that.

Scotland’s roadmap out of lockdown, which was unveiled last week, could see pubs and restaurants open outdoor spaces from the end of June. The four-step plan then envisages pubs and restaurants reopening their indoor spaces from around the middle of July, before a full reopening in early August, depending on scientific guidance.

The Belhaven move comes after the landlord launched a Partner Support Fund, which it said it has so far provided about £4 million of rent concessions.

Wayne Shurvinton, managing director of Belhaven Pub Partners, said: “From the outset balancing as much support for our tenants as we possibly could alongside ensuring the longterm survival of Belhaven has been our priority.

“By deferring rents before pubs were ordered to close, we removed any immediate cashflow concerns for our partners and since then have reassured them that we would support them in every way possible when it came to rent and I’m very pleased to announce these latest measures. None of us are immune to the financial implications of pubs closing and we all have to work together to survive this existential threat to our industry.

“I am grateful to every single one of our tenants who has worked with us and trusted that we were doing all we could to look after them.”