A PUB landlady has broken her silence on her sudden departure from a Worcester pub.

Maxine Bosdyk, former landlady of the New Chequers Inn, off Astwood Road, Worcester, has defended her decision to leave, forcing a distraught mum-of-three to move out of the flat above.

She said a combination of the price of barrels of beer, the smoking ban and personal problems had prompted her move.

The pub has been closed since Tuesday, June 19, and covered by metal shutters by Punch Taverns.

The shutters are designed to prevent vandalism until the pub's scheduled re-opening in mid-August under new management following a 100,000 refurbishment.

As we reported last month, Miss Bosdyk's departure means her tenant, mother-of-three Sharon Beddows, who rents the flat above the pub, has to find a new place to live with the help of Worcester City Council which pays her rent.

Miss Bosdyk, aged 49, said: "I was good to Sharon and I tried to help her. I hope she gets rehoused and this is the final move she has to make. Her children are lovely and if I thought she would be on the streets I would have stayed."

Miss Bosdyk, discussing her reasons for leaving, said had left without giving the pub company the six months notice it had asked for because she "could not stay for another six months".

She said her reasons for leaving were 60 per cent personal and 40 per cent to do with pub company Punch Taverns but refused to say what her personal problems were.

She said she had to pay about 109 for a barrel of beer because she was tied to the company which she says is 40 to 45 more expensive than if the pub was a free house.

She added: "It's also going to be hard with the smoking ban to pay that vast difference. About 80 per cent of the people at my bar were smokers. Smokers have had their rights taken away.

"It's part of the reason for my leaving."

She also says her staff were fully briefed about her decision to leave over drinks at the pub.

A spokesman for Punch Taverns said: "We do believe our prices are competitive and that licensees are able to trade effectively off the pricing structure we offer . The terms of the licence do stipulate very clearly that beer products do need to be bought from the pub company."