The Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) has announced the results of the annual Tied Tenants survey, highlighting pub tenant sentiment about regulated pub companies in England and Wales.
Pubs Code Adjudicator Fiona Dickie at the launch of the survey results, with event compère Martin Hilton
The pubcos that fall under the auspices of the adjudicator are Admiral, Greene King, Marston’s, Punch Pubs, Star Pubs, and Stonegate.
Tied tenants of Admiral and Greene King are the most satisfied in their relationship with their pub company, with ratings of 79% and 78% respectively.
Star Pubs has the most improved level of satisfaction for the second year in a row, from 55% in 2023 to 70% this year. At 72%, Marston’s satisfaction level represents the second successive decrease, totalling 13 points in two years. At the bottom of the table, Stonegate tenants’ satisfaction level dropped four points to 43%. Punch stayed at 61%.
This year’s results reveal that overall average pub company satisfaction has remained stable, with six in ten (61%) tied pub tenants saying they are satisfied with the relationship with their pub company.
More than 1,200 tied pub tenants were interviewed on a range of topics, including rent, business development managers (BDMs), and awareness of Pubs Code rights.
Just over half (59%) of tied pub tenants were satisfied with their current tenancy arrangement. This was a drop of nine points from last year, with tenants of Marston’s and Stonegate seeing statistically significant drops of 14 and 11 points respectively. However, there was no significant change in the type of agreements cited within the study, with 44% under a traditional tied tenancy and 35% a tied lease.
This year’s survey included a focus on tenants’ experiences of tied rent negotiations with their pub company. The Pubs Code requires that tied tenants are provided with information to support the pub company’s rental offer.
A clear majority of tenants that had negotiated or renegotiated their rent in the past two years, were satisfied with the information they received, though around one in five were not. Half found this information useful to them in negotiations, and nearly two-thirds thought their pub company handled rent negotiations fairly.
When asked about responsibilities for repairs, most tied pub tenants understood the process for how their pub company should deal with these, with the exception of Stonegate tenants, where fewer than half (47%) agreed they understood the process well. Stonegate tenants were also largely dissatisfied (62%) with how the company dealt with repairs at their pub.
Overall awareness of the code is high
There were high satisfaction levels with BDMs, with more than 80% of tenants of Admiral, Greene King, and Star satisfied in that relationship. Only 55% of Stonegate tenants were satisfied in their BDM relationship, and 22% were dissatisfied.
The research also revealed that visibility of code compliance officers (CCOs) with tied pub tenants has increased for another year, with 58% of tenants saying they know how to contact their CCO if they want to raise a Pubs Code matter. The leader here was Greene King, with 78% of their tenants knowing how to make contact with their CCO. Every pub-owning business subject to the Pubs Code is obliged to have a CCO, whose role is to verify its compliance with the code.
Overall awareness of the Pubs Code is now at 84%, also highest among Greene King tenants at 91%, and there has been a big jump in awareness of Pubs Code rights around rent negotiations, insurance price matching, and the market rent only option, where eligible tenants can ask their pub company for an offer of a free-of-tie tenancy.
Looking at attitudes to the PCA, 62% of tenants trust the adjudicator to regulate the industry, independently of government, and 65% trust the PCA to be independent of pub companies.
“Our annual survey delivers an incredibly useful view on how tied pub tenants experience their business relationship with their pub company, as well as their understanding of the Pubs Code, and it is positive to see tied tenant awareness of Pubs Code rights going up this year,” said Pubs Code Adjudicator Fiona Dickie.
“The results enable the industry to compare the attitudes of tied tenants of the six regulated pub companies across key areas of the tied relationship. This data provides the pub companies with the opportunity to reflect on the findings and the relationships they have with their tenants.
“I am particularly pleased to see ongoing consistently high satisfaction results from Admiral and Greene King tenants, and I would like to congratulate Star for another year of improved satisfaction levels. Stonegate has not yet succeeded in moving the dial on tenant satisfaction in the PCA’s survey. I am sure that it will be disappointed with this year’s results.”
She added: “As regulator, the PCA will use the survey results to help us to understand priorities for our resources and where we need to look to understand how pub companies are complying with their duties under the Pubs Code.”
