Bradford pubs are being forced to close because their landlords are being “held over a barrel” by pub companies, a licensee has warned.

Cheap supermarket booze has also been blamed for a drop in custom at the city’s pubs.

Michael Halsworth, of the Brewery Tap, Idle, has written to his MP, David Ward, to ask for support as pubs in his constituency continue to close.

The White Hart, Eccleshill, and the Shoulder of Mutton, Thackley – both Enterprise Inns pubs – have closed since September last year.

Punch Taverns pub The Junction, at Bolton Junction, has also closed.

Mr Halsworth said: “The pub companies are driving the industry out and so are the supermarkets.

“The supermarkets are selling at such low prices people won’t come to the pub to spend their money, they’d rather spend it on cheap beer and drink at home and it is killing the trade.

“At the Brewery Tap we took a dip of 25 per cent during the World Cup purely because there were such cheap deals in the supermarkets.

“But it is also the pub companies – you have to pay your rent through them every month and most of them you have to buy all your beers, wines and spirits through them.

“The pubcos should be more flexible in allowing free-of-tie arrangements and having a better hands-on understanding of the local market.

“Flexibility of free-of-tie or even free-of-tie arrangements will bring more customer choice, better prices and ease the financial burdens of landlords.”

Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East David Ward wants to hear from publicans to discuss the situation.

He said: “There is a Parliamentary group which supports pubs and I’d be quite interested in working with them as well. Many pubs are the centre of their community and I think there’s been quite a bit of legislation certainly not supportive of the licence trade.

“I would like to hear from landlords and licensees to see if we can put together a plan and see what we can do.”

A spokesman for Punch Taverns said: “Our focus is always to provide the right support to help our licensees build successful, sustainable businesses. It is not in our interests to see our businesses fail. In this challenging trading environment, we continue to invest £2 million every month in financial support.”

Enterprise Inns said it was looking to recruit a new licensee at the Shoulder of Mutton. Anyone interested can phone (0800) 9530072.