PUB landlords are still being asked to pay rent despite making no money over the last few months while they have been closed during the coronavirus crisis.

Thwaites, which owns several pubs in Bolton, suspended rent collections for April, but has still sent invoices to its tenanted pubs for the months since.

Other brewers continued to charge landlords for rent throughout the pandemic despite the government forcing pubs to stay shut since March.

Sean Hornby, landlord of The Queens in Bradley Fold, made a payment of nearly £2,000 to Thwaites on Friday.

He said: “My rent is £376 per week plus VAT. For a building you can’t trade in, it’s a lot.”

“I’ve just paid May’s invoice which has broken my heart because there’s no income whatsoever.

“There’s also gas, electric, water. There’s commercial payments, domestic payments. But we’ll survive. We’ve got to survive it.”

The publican, who is also a councillor for Little Lever and Darcy Lever, called on the government to step in, but said the freeze on business rates has helped.

Some landlords have been luckier though.

Andrew Bowling, whose wife is the landlord at The Within’s Bar in Breightmet, said the pub has not paid a penny in rent or bills since the lockdown started.

Although brewer Enterprise is still collecting rents, management company 365 which holds the pub lease has not passed any costs on to the landlords.

He said: “They’ve been fantastic with us. Although we’ve not had an income, they’ve not taken a penny off us. That’s rent and bills. We’ve not paid a penny.

“They’ve invested in all the staff for training. He’s put all my staff through the health and hygiene courses and drug awareness.”

The biggest concern for Withins now is planning for the pub to reopen.

The government’s current planning assumption is that pubs, restaurants and hotels will open no earlier than July 4 as long as they can do so safely.

Mr Bowling said: “We plan for every possible outcome. Until the government gives us the guidance, it seems pointless.

“But we’ve basically gone through every scenario – one metre distancing, we’ve planned what would happen if we’re not allowed entertainment.

“The best case would be if we can open with no restrictions, just social distancing.

“The worst one for me would be a sterile environment with no atmosphere. It will take the whole pub environment away.

“But hopefully we can open up with a bit of common sense.

Andrew Buchanan, director of pubs and brewing at Thwaites said every case is different so the brewer is discussing rent collections with each of its tenants.

He said: “The overwhelming majority of our pubs are eligible to receive business grants from the government, which were specifically granted in part to allow them to pay all or some of their rent.

“Furthermore they have access to bounce back loans to help them through this difficult period.

“We have looked at every case individually based upon affordability.

“We have also agreed to replenish out of date beer stocks when pubs re-open at no cost to them which will allow them to get up and running quickly and avoid having to invest in new stock.

“The relationship we have with our pubs is confidential and we are not prepared to discuss individual cases however we do believe that the approach we have taken is fair and reasonable.”