A PUB landlady says she had been forced out of the trade by unaffordable rent and other ‘unreasonable’ financial demands made by a pub company.

Caroline Allton, landlady of the Royal Oak at Leigh Sinton near Malvern, has decided to leave the pub on August 1 - 17 months before her contract was due to expire.

The 56-year-old said the rent of £24,000 per year was unaffordable despite having persuaded the company not to impose a price hike of £1,000 a year.

So far Marston’s has not found anyone else to run the pub in her place, she said.

Mrs Allton, who informed the pub company she was leaving last month, said: “I have worked here for two-and-a-half years effectively for nothing.

“They have not acknowledged the work we have done to transform this pub.

“The more money you make the more they want from you. I’m frustrated by the amount of work we have to do for little or no reward.

“But I worry about the customers and feel guilty about leaving them because we’re leaving early.”

She said she would miss the ‘nice’ customers and believes they would buy the village’s only pub if they were able to.

Mrs Allton estimates trade has trebled since she took over the pub in March 2014 and the pub was busy with good beer sales.

But she says she has been forced to take this decision because of Marston’s, which has also hit her with a £2,600 dilapidations bill for problems she said had not been resolved by previous managers.

Marston’s has asked she paints the cellar and replace the upholstered cover on a seat inside the pub which she says was worn through before she took over.

Her plan to leave early has already resulted in Marston’s taking her £6,000 deposit but she insists the company has to meet her halfway on some of the other demands they have made.

She has already painted the hallway and fixed a toilet door handle.

Mrs Allton said the bill came despite all the work she and her family had completed on the pub since they took over from the previous tenants, including demolishing three rotten sheds removing rusty railings and other rubbish from the top garden and levelling it.

The work was completed by her family with the only contribution from Marston’s being the provision of two skips she said.

She added: “We have really looked after the place – the locals will back me up. This beer garden was full of dog muck and the top of the garden was full of old railings and rubble.

“When we took over people saw the mess, turned their cars around and drove off. We tidied it up so that didn’t happen anymore.

“They (Marston’s) told me if I leave any personal items they will charge me £300 for a skip on top of the dilapidation costs. They should have paid for the skips that took all the previous tenants’ rubbish away.”

A Marston’s spokesman said: “We value the points raised and we are seeking to work through these with the tenant. This is a contractual issue that we will deal with the tenant directly.”