A CONTROVERSIAL pub leasing company has been axed by a brewery after a Lancashire Evening Telegraph investigation into the firm.

And today, Oak Leaf Inns owner Marcus Hyslop was being threatened with court action over the money landlords say is owed to them.

Publicans had revealed how they were owed thousands of pounds in wages after taking over pubs run by Oak Leaf Inns.

One of the licensees affected, Steven Burns, who ran the White Hart, Church Street, Burnley, said: "I'm glad the Evening Telegraph had the guts to take this on. It's excellent news that Thwaites has stepped in and hopefully this will put a stop to this ever happening again."

Mr Burns has written to Mr Hyslop demanding within seven days the £1,400 he says is owed or he will pursue the matter through the county court.

Another licensee Barbara Bush, of the Brownhill Arms, Whalley New Road, Blackburn, said today: "Well done the Evening Telegraph. Without the paper bringing this to the public's attention there could have been countless others who may have suffered."

Mr Hyslop took over the leases of around ten pubs in Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley from Daniel Thwaites and the Clog and Spindle, Yorkshire Street, Burnley, from Pubmaster, before advertising for people to run them. Managers handed over bonds ranging from £500 to £2,200 to Mr Hyslop and paid in pub takings to an account in the name of Oak Leaf Inns.

But they did not receive wages after Mr Hyslop said there had been "deficiencies" in stock - a claim all the publicans denied.

Today, following the exclusive investigation by the Evening Telegraph, Thwaites sales and marketing director Paul Winter said: "Daniel Thwaites no longer has an association with Oak Leaf Inns.

"We have taken possession of all the leases involved and are now in the process of re-letting them.

"We have already come to the assistance of some managers involved and will continue to help wherever and whenever we can."

But there were calls for the company to review how it deals with firms like Oak Leaf Inns in the future as the Thwaites Tenants' Association hit out at the way the whole affair had been handled.

A spokesman said: "We now hope proper vetting procedures are put in place to ensure this unhappy saga does not occur again."

Mrs Bush, who has now been made a licensee at the Brownhill by Thwaites after being owed several thousand pounds by Oak Leaf Inns, said: "We went through hell for 11 weeks and if it hadn't have been for the Evening Telegraph many others would have ended up in the same boat." The couple, and other landlords, face their own legal battle to retrieve the cash they say is owed by Mr Hyslop.

Margaret Whittle, of the Craven Heifer, Whalley New Road, Blackburn, said: "Thwaites have given me the tenancy for the pub and I'm delighted with that. But I'm pursuing this through the courts until I get my money back."

Mr Hyslop, who ran the private firm from a house in Whitebirk Road, Blackburn, was due to attend a licensing court this week to apply to take over as licensee of the Fleece Hotel, Penny Street, Blackburn.

But he failed to turn up and the application was withdrawn.

Despite attempts to contact him at his address and by phone, Mr Hyslop has been unavailable for comment.

He had earlier told the Evening Telegraph he was deliberately withholding wages because of discrepancies in stock.

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