Farron to host Fair Pint launch
Anti-pubco MP Timothy Farron will host the official launch of the Fair Pint campaign at the Houses of Parliament next Tuesday.
The Fair Pint campaign wants the tie removed from all pubs, except those owned by brewers with fewer than 500 sites.
It is understood that the group has financial backing from a well-known benefactor.
The campaign calls for the voluntary recommendations of the 2004 Trade & Industry Select Committee (TISC) report into pubco power, relating to how tenants are treated, to be made mandatory.
And the group wants the Government to ask for a Competition Commission probe into pubcos.
Fair Pint is headed by well-known anti-pubco campaigners — accountant Brian Jacobs, Freedom for Pubs Association founder Mike Bell and surveyor David Morgan of Cookseys DMP, alongside pubco tenants Mark Dodds and Steve Corbett.
Liberal Democrat MP Farron launched a petition calling for Government action to curb the power of pubcos earlier this year.
Farron's 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".
So far, 30 MPs have signed the EDM.
