Nine more pubs in Coventry and Warwickshire facing axe

Nine pubs in Coventry and Warwickshire could face the axe in a huge national sell-off of traditional boozers.



Landlords at four Coventry pubs and five in Warwickshire are now fearing for their livelihoods after pub company giant Punch Taverns announced it will sell around half its pubs.

According to a letter from Britain’s second-largest pub chain, leaked to the Telegraph, this means half its 6,770 venues will go.

The bombshell decision has left drinkers fearing for the future of the venues.

The decision leaves the axe hanging over city boozers the Rose and Crown in Walsgrave, the Coventry Oak in Wyken, the Cocked Hat in Binley Woods and the Bear Inn at Berkswell.

Others at risk are the Old Mill in Baginton, the Bermuda Park and Chase Hotel both in Nuneaton, and two Leamington pubs the Rugby Tavern and the White Lion.

All nine licensees have been sent letters telling them of the planned mass sell-off.

An eighth of Britain’s licensed houses are owned by Punch Taverns but the pub empire is crumbling under a £3 billion mountain of debt.

The letter reveals Punch plans to reduce its estate down to a “core division” of about 3,000 pubs over the next five years.

The letter from managing director Roger Whiteside to tenant licensees said: “I appreciate this may be unsettling and would like to stress this does not mean any change in our commitment to work in partnership with you.”

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