Eight pubs look destined to close forever as their billionaire Tory donors demanded the tenants pay full rent owed from the months during the coronavirus lockdowns.
The Wellington Pub Company offered its estimated 850 landlords a Covid discount on condition they extended their leases for five years.
Around 250 of these tenants formed a pressure group, led by Nick Holden and Kate Ahrens of the Geese and Fountain pub in Croxton Kerrial, Lincolnshire, to take on Wellington Pub Company.