This use of "landlords" is somewhat alien to me and I suspect our North American friends will call it a Britishism. I'm unsure of a suitable substitute.
A 'landlord' is a term for the owner/proprietor of a pub. The guy who what owns the place you're making use of to get drunk in.
I feel it more traditionally refers to places where the village pub's a feature of the village, rather than a convient storefront some folks are renting to set up shop in.