Kent's pubs are closing at the second highest rate in the South East.

A new study shows 31 so-called 'tied' pubs, where the pub landlord is a tenant and rents the buildings from a property developer, have shut in the last three years.

Now union GMB is calling on the government to break up pub company cartels which charge tenants up to 80 pence over the wholesale price of a pint of beer.

Leaders claim it is driving some landlords out of business.

The study showed 149 pubs in the South East, with freeholds owned by just seven ‘pubcos’, have closed since December 2005.

Steve Corbett has been a pub landlord for almost 30 years and is part of the Fair Pint Campaign.

He said landlords who are tenants are getting a raw deal.

Speaking to kmfm's Sarah Marshall, he said a pubco “can make £1.40 clear profit on every single pint sold across the bars in this country – and they’re just a property company.”

He said untied pubs can pay around £60 to £70 a keg, whereas in the tied sector a keg can cost £140 to £150.

He added: “Publicans tied to ‘pubcos’ are suffering badly from a combination of high rents and outrageous wholesale prices charge by ‘pubcos’.

“This is causing pubs to close and jobs to be lost at a rate that is totally unacceptable.”

Half of all the country’s pubs now come under these property companies.