My son was once a tenant in the last pub in the village. He soon realised that the intention of the brewery seemed to be to make sure that the pub did not flourish, even with all the effort Andy was putting into it. They just made life very difficult and very expensive for him.

He exlpained to me that, if there is only one pub left in the village, the brewery have to prove that it is not a viable going concern before they are allowed to sell it off. They managed that with Andy's pub by charging him high prices for the beer they supplied which meant that he couldn't compete with the local cricket club or the pubs in the nearest town, about three miles away. He just had no way to be competitive, although the locals praised the way he looked after the cellar. When he left the pub closed and, I believe, the building was demolished.

At his next pub he was the only publican in town who got a cask marque from CAMRA, so he couldn't have been doing too badly!