Fair Pint campaign launches today
The anti-pubco Fair Pint campaign will be officially launched at the Houses of Parliament today.
Anti-pubco MP Timothy Farron is to host the launch for the campaign group, which 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.
"We have been heartened by the level of support we have received from publicans around the country, Parliamentarians and trade bodies," said Jacobs.
"Even though we are only at the beginning of our campaign - we are confident that fairness, and a need for a level playing field, will win through in the end.
"It is time for the pubco model to be reviewed to reflect what is really going on in 2008.
"It is clear that so many tied publicans are struggling, not just because of the smoking ban, beer duty or cut price booze in supermarkets, but because they are tied."
The MA will bring you more news on the Fair Pint launch later today.
