Fair Pint condemns Marston's deal
Fair Pint has condemned a new freetrade prices deal from Marston's for not including a reform of the way in which rents are calculated.
It has claimed the scheme will still leave tenants worse off than if they were fully free of tie.
Marston's is triallng a scheme that allows tenant to earn freetrade discounts in return for a higher rent. The rent increase is discounted by the amount by which beer volumes are expected to decline over the next three years, leaving tenants around £5,000 per annum better off straight away.
But Steve Corbett of Fair Pint said: "Marston's recognition that the prices they are currently charging are unsustainable is a step in the right direction.
"However lowering prices for beer but then putting up rents for tied tenants, most of whom are already paying rents which are higher than many free of tie pubs, is hardly a fair deal.
"The Business and Enterprise Committee made it clear that a fairer balance or risk and reward between tied tenants and their landlords was needed, Maston's offer seems to be simply giving with one hand but taking away with the other.
"In 2004 the Trade and Industry Select Committee recommend that there needed to be greater transparency and fairness in the rent review process. This year, the Business and Enterprise Committee re-emphasised the imbalance in bargaining power between landlords and tenants in the pub sector.
"The Committee called for reforms which would ensure that rents were set at a fair level and that the profit assessment meant that rents could fall when trading was difficult.
"A fair rent calculation would lead to many Marston's tenants seeing their rents fall, even if they were free of tie.
"Marson's offer will only be a fair one if tenants are able to buy beer at genuine free of tie prices, rather than an artificial discount set by the company, and it is accompanied by reforms which ensure that their tenants' rents are calculated in a transparent way and set at a level which allow a fair share of income from the pub."
