The hope and ambition of the great British pub industry remains undaunted, Greene King Pub Partners can reveal, as the leased and tenanted pub company recorded its highest ever number of new applications across June, July and August.
Despite the challenging times faced by pubs following the required 100-day closure due to Covid-19, Greene King Pub Partners received a record number of applications between mid-June and mid-August, with 254 people getting in touch wanting to run their own pub.
Even at the height of lockdown, there were 108 new, unique applications from people wanting to run their own pub between 24 March and 22 June.
From 22 June to 16 August this number rocketed to 254 new applications, more than double the same period in 2019.
This comes after Greene King Pub Partners has provided £21m of support to its leased and tenanted partners during lockdown and beyond, with the majority of financial support coming in the form of rent concessions, with rent reduced by 90% from 11 June until four weeks after pubs could legally reopen, and rent concessions all the way through to October. There is also a package of discounts on kegs and casks running through to 2021.
Greene King Pub Partners has also launched a new recruitment website – www.greenekingpubs.co.uk – that will help meet the increased demand. The website’s new live chat function has been extremely popular and allowed for quick conversations with would-be licensees to get questions answered.
New virtual recruitment events are also being launched to allow anyone with an interest in running a Greene King pub to find out more information.
Chris Thorogood, Greene King Pub Partners recruitment manager, said, “It’s really uplifting to see that people’s passion for running their own pub has not been daunted by recent events.
“We have recently invested in updating and relaunching our Pub Partners recruitment website so we can showcase a wide range of pubs to potential licensees looking to run their own business.
“We’re delighted with the number of enquiries we’re receiving and are working through them all now, we continue to be inspired by the passion people are showing in having the opportunity to run a Greene King tenanted pub.”