I'm having this same issues in all of my custom styles (which are all just "recolors" of one custom style). In the FORUMHOME template, there is only three <br /> tags. I've removed each one and nothing changed. So, it's either not the brake tags or it's in another template. Any thoughts?
My site is www.wingsofwar.org and here is my FORUMHOME code for the custom style(s)...
$stylevar[htmldoctype]
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="$stylevar[textdirection]" lang="$stylevar[languagecode]">
<head>
<!-- no cache headers -->
<meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache" />
<meta http-equiv="Expires" content="-1" />
<meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="no-cache" />
<!-- end no cache headers -->
<title><phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[x_powered_by_vbulletin]</phrase></title>
<meta name="keywords" content="$vboptions[keywords]" />
<meta name="description" content="$vboptions[description]" />
$headinclude
$headinclude
</head>
<body>
$header
$navbar
<!-- main -->
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<thead>
</thead>
$forumbits
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="tfoot" align="center" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">6<else />5</if>"><div class="smallfont"><strong>
<a href="forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]do=markread" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[mark_forums_read]</a>
<if condition="$vboptions['forumleaders']">
<a href="showgroups.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[view_forum_leaders]</a></if>
</strong></div></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
$forumhome_markread_script
<!-- /main -->
<br />
$ad_location[ad_forumhome_afterforums]
<br />
<!-- what's going on box -->
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<thead>
<tr>
<td class="tcat" colspan="2">$vbphrase[whats_going_on]</td>
</tr>
</thead>
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos1]
<if condition="$show['loggedinusers']">
<!-- logged-in users -->
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="thead" colspan="2">
<a style="float:$stylevar[right]" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('forumhome_activeusers')"><img id="collapseimg_forumhome_activeusers" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_thead$vbcollapse[collapseimg_forumhome_activeusers].jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>
<a href="online.php$session[sessionurl_q]">$vbphrase[currently_active_users]</a>: $totalonline (<phrase 1="$numberregistered" 2="$numberguest">$vbphrase[x_members_and_y_guests]</phrase>)
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tbody id="collapseobj_forumhome_activeusers" style="$vbcollapse[collapseobj_forumhome_activeusers]">
<tr>
<td class="alt2"><a href="online.php$session[sessionurl_q]"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/whos_online.gif" alt="$vbphrase[view_whos_online]" border="0" /></a></td>
<td class="alt1" width="100%">
<div class="smallfont">
<div style="white-space: nowrap"><phrase 1="$recordusers" 2="$recorddate" 3="$recordtime">$vbphrase[most_users_ever_online_was_x_y_at_z]</phrase></div>
<div>$activeusers</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<!-- end logged-in users -->
</if>
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos2]
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="thead" colspan="2">
<a style="float:$stylevar[right]" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('forumhome_stats')"><img id="collapseimg_forumhome_stats" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_thead$vbcollapse[collapseimg_forumhome_stats].jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>
<phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[x_statistics]</phrase>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tbody id="collapseobj_forumhome_stats" style="$vbcollapse[collapseobj_forumhome_stats]">
<tr>
<td class="alt2"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/stats.gif" alt="<phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[x_statistics]</phrase>" border="0" /></td>
<td class="alt1" width="100%">
<div class="smallfont">
<div>
$vbphrase[threads]: $totalthreads,
$vbphrase[posts]: $totalposts,
$vbphrase[members]: $numbermembers<if condition="$show['activemembers']">,
<span title="<phrase 1="$vboptions[activememberdays]">$vbphrase[within_the_last_x_days]</phrase>">$vbphrase[active_members]: $activemembers</span>
</if>
</div>
<div><phrase 1="member.php?$session[sessionurl]u=$newuserid" 2="$newusername">$vbphrase[welcome_to_our_newest_member_x]</phrase></div>
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_stats]
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos3]
<if condition="$show['birthdays']">
<!-- today's birthdays -->
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="thead" colspan="2">
<a style="float:$stylevar[right]" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('forumhome_birthdays')"><img id="collapseimg_forumhome_birthdays" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_thead$vbcollapse[collapseimg_forumhome_birthdays].jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>
$vbphrase[todays_birthdays]
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tbody id="collapseobj_forumhome_birthdays" style="$vbcollapse[collapseobj_forumhome_birthdays]">
<tr>
<td class="alt2"><a href="calendar.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getday&day=$today&sb=1"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/birthday.gif" alt="$vbphrase[view_birthdays]" border="0" /></a></td>
<td class="alt1" width="100%"><div class="smallfont">$birthdays</div></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<!-- end today's birthdays -->
</if>
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos4]
<if condition="$show['upcomingevents']">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="thead" colspan="2">
<a style="float:$stylevar[right]" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('forumhome_events')"><img id="collapseimg_forumhome_events" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_thead$vbcollapse[collapseimg_forumhome_events].jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>
<if condition="$show['todaysevents']">$vbphrase[todays_events]<else /><phrase 1="$vboptions[showevents]">$vbphrase[upcoming_events_for_the_next_x_days]</phrase></if>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tbody id="collapseobj_forumhome_events" style="$vbcollapse[collapseobj_forumhome_events]">
<tr>
<td class="alt2"><a href="calendar.php$session[sessionurl_q]"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_misc]/calendar.gif" alt="$vbphrase[calendar]" border="0" /></a></td>
<td class="alt1" width="100%"><div class="smallfont">$upcomingevents</div></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</if>
$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos5]
</table>
<br />
<!-- end what's going on box -->
<!-- icons and login code -->
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" border="0" width="100%">
<tr valign="bottom">
<td>
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr>
<td><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/forum_new.gif" alt="$vbphrase[contains_new_posts]" border="0" /></td>
<td class="smallfont"> $vbphrase[forum_contains_new_posts]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/jammedcounter.png" alt="$vbphrase[contains_no_new_posts]" border="0" /></td>
<td class="smallfont"> $vbphrase[forum_contains_no_new_posts]</td>
</tr>
<if condition="$vboptions['showlocks']">
<tr>
<td><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_statusicon]/forum_old_lock.gif" alt="$vbphrase[a_closed_forum]" border="0" /></td>
<td class="smallfont"> $vbphrase[forum_is_closed_for_posting]</td>
</tr>
</if>
</table>
</td>
<if condition="!$show['guest']">
<!-- member logout -->
<td align="$stylevar[right]"><a href="login.php?$session[sessionurl]do=logout&logouthash=$bbuserinfo[logouthash]" onclick="return log_out('$vbphrase[sure_you_want_to_log_out]')"><phrase 1="$bbuserinfo[username]">$vbphrase[log_out_x]</phrase></a></td>
<!-- end member logout -->
</if>
</tr>
</table>
<!-- / icons and login code -->
$footer
</body>
</html>