Britain’s biggest pub landlord is under formal investigation over suspicions it mistreated the thousands of small business owners who run its tied pubs, an inquiry that could end in a fine of up to £16 million.
The Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) has launched a statutory investigation into Stonegate, which has more than 4,500 sites across the UK, only the second such inquiry since the regulator was created a decade ago.
Fiona Dickie, the adjudicator, said she has reasonable grounds to suspect the company failed to comply with its duties “to provide accurate and transparent information to both its existing and prospective tied pub tenants” in a number of respects. The investigation covers a five-year period from July 2021 to July this year.
For the tenants at the sharp end, the stakes could hardly be higher. Tied publicans are small business owners in their own right, and the inquiry will examine concerns that some feel they were misled into taking on pubs that may never have been viable.
Dickie is looking at four core issues: the condition of pubs taken on by tenants, the accuracy of financial projections given to prospective tenants, whether Stonegate’s business development managers treated tenants within the rules, and whether the group reported actual or alleged breaches of the code to the regulator as required.
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