KITCHENER - The owners of the Rum Runner pub in the historic Walper Hotel have announced they will close the pub at the end of February.

Liz Howie, who co-owns the pub with her husband, chef Darryl Howie, blamed high rents imposed by the new owners of the Walper Hotel, 20 Queen St. S.

A new ownership group, made up of Perimeter Development Corp., Zehr Group and investor David Strucke, bought the hotel in August for $4.65 million and announced it planned millions of dollars in upgrades to the iconic red-brick hotel.

"We just can't afford the rent. Basically, they jacked the rent really high, to the point of almost triple," Liz Howie said in an interview. The huge rent increase "is meant to not negotiate," she said. "It's meant to push (us) out."

The pub, which is licensed for 300 people, employs 18 people full and part time. The Howies hope to reopen at another downtown site, she said, and would like to hire as many of the current employees as they can.

"It's really sad. Business has grown every year by at least 20 per cent," she added, noting that new events, such as monthly Nerd Nights for high-tech workers, were quite popular. The pub also hosts Yuk Yuk's comedy club on Friday and Saturday nights.

The pub's landlords, the new owners of the Walper, wouldn't comment on specific dealings with a tenant.

But in an email, Craig Beattie, a partner at Perimeter Development, said, "We are committed to having the Rum Runner space and the Yuk Yuk's Comedy Club continue to play an important role for the hotel moving forward as it has for many years.

"We are currently focused on improving the operations of the hotel and we are in the process of master planning improvements, which we will begin work on in mid-late 2014. The entire ownership group is excited about the direction of downtown and about restoring the lustre of the Walper Hotel."