The Golden Ball, Bishophill, York

A Rent Review Notice Triggers Successful Request for MRO Lease

A fantastic example of the work we do with pub tenants is The Golden Ball in York. The Golden Ball is a community pub in York, run as a cooperative, which was previously under a tied-lease agreement. The POB served a rent review notice on the tenants, who decided to treat the notice as a trigger event, and they requested an MRO lease agreement. Rob Cooke, one of the Partners at Lupton Fawcett LLP, advised the tenants throughout the process.

The POB’s MRO offer would have increased the existing rent payable by approximately 300%. We advised the tenants to seek an independent assessment through the Pubs Code Adjudicator, which determined that the MRO rent should be only half of the amount in the initial MRO offer.

The POB appealed the independent assessment, but, aside from a small mathematical adjustment, the Pubs Code Adjudicator upheld the decision.

The Golden Ball is now a thriving community pub, enjoying the increased freedom of an MRO lease.