Ex-Brakspear tenant vows to continue beer tie fight

An ex-Brakspear licensee has vowed to continue her case against the beer tie despite being evicted from her pub.

Mira Bateman, of Plowden Arms in Henley, Oxfordshire, has threatened Brakspear with a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading​ (OFT) on the grounds that it is "abusing" its local market dominance to charge tenants too much for beer. She is also seeking compensation for personal injury.

Last week, Brakspear took proceedings for posession as Bateman had terminated her tenancy but was illegally squatting in the private accommodation. A judge has now given her 28 days to leave.

The complaint to the OFT is yet to go ahead, according to Bateman's solicitor Rupert Croft, who famously handled the Bernie Crehan case against Inntrepreneur.

But Bateman is also planning to take further action. "I am going to go to the European Court of Human Rights and wherever I have to go to get the vertical beer tie abolished," she said. "They abolished fox hunting because of animal rights, so there must be rights for tied tenants on human rights grounds."

In regard to the personal injury claim, Brakspear said its tenant at the pub was JMB Inns who employed Bateman.