I cried for 7days when my most favourite ever t'pub landlord gave up when they doubled his rent. He wasn't just good, he was damn good, he came in after a succession of brain dead no hopers had almost destroyed the place & built it back just like a village t'pub should be & more.
The Co' sold the freehold shortly after. It was bought by a married male couple . . . & that fact spread thru t'village faster than a fire in a hay barn . . . . . They are brilliant, it took some yokels awhile to come to terms with it, but gradually they all crept back & discovered for themselves just how charismatic this couple are. Chef made the stake money by working in top class restaurants, on board super yachts & doing the odd private dinner party for the glitterati (for which he charged approx £5k a time), t'other 'un was a Maitre' d in a London Michelin star restaurant, but is willing & able to lower himself to serving us muddy boots 10x pints gob in the fire types
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So when you ask them the QUestion of "WTF is thay 2 doing here" they reply . . . . "Theese., theese is paradeese".
Back in the heydays, when pub landlords drove Jaguars & sent their kids to public schools, the brewery's could take their pick of the creme' to run their establishments. Then they started what was basically the stealing of ordinary folks money & labour by promising them they could run a t'pub. They couldn't & they never could have, even with a concise instruction manual.
Why? Because it was all down to greed.