Anti-pubco petition for MPs launched
Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron has launched a petition calling for Government action to curb the power of pubcos.
Farron's new Early Day Motion (EDM) says the 1989 Beer Orders "failed" to increase competition in brewing - "and indeed have instead concentrated ownership of British pubs in the hands of pub companies or pubcos".
The EDM notes that pubs are closing at a rate of 27 a week "and that from 2006 to 2007 bankruptcies amongst pub landlords increased seven-fold and is set to get worse".
The EDM "notes with concern that pubcos have failed to adopt the recommendations of the Trade and Industry Select Committee, namely that rents should be sustainable".
It "further notes that tied tenants should not be financially worse off than if they were free of tie, that upward only rent reviews and the gaming machine tie must cease, and that utmost transparency in all rents and reviews is paramount."
Competition Commission
The petition "calls upon the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to refer the matter of the supply tie and rent formulation to the Competition Commission with a view to addressing the dominance of the big pubcos in the pub market".
Three MPs have signed the EDM, number 1328, to date.
The action follows meetings between Farron and Mike Bell of the Freedom for Pubs Association and David Morgan, Cookseys DMP managing director.
The MA revealed there were plans for the EDM at the start of the year.
Read the full EDM here.
