Grogan: Spotlight on pubcos needs to be focused

When a constituent comes to see me at my surgery with a problem, I always like to end the conversation with a realistic plan of action.

My strong advice to the Fair Pint campaign aimed at pubcos is that they need to get a similar sense of focus.

The top line implication of the campaign's prospectus is that the main reason for pub closures is the existence of the tie.

There is a danger that this assertion distracts attention from the other issues of taxation and supermarket pricing, letting the Government off the hook.

Moreover, there seems to be a lack of statistical evidence to back the claim up, with managed and free-trade pubs apparently closing at a significantly faster rate than leased/tenanted pubs (although some of the disparity may be explained by a difference in the quality of the estates).

The campaign avowedly aims to make the tie illegal.

Beer orders​

Perhaps there is a danger of romanticising the situation prior to the Beer Orders, when tenants of the brewers generally had no chance of sharing in the growth of value of a business by being able to sell on the leases as can happen now.

Besides, since the Office of Fair Trading has not been slow to mount dawn raids in other sectors in recent weeks, their conclusion that pubcos' lease management does not cause them competition concerns cannot be just dismissed as an inconvenient truth.

It is perfectly right and proper, of course, to raise allegations of unfair treatment by pub companies as well as bread and butter issues like machine income and rent reviews.

The Trade and Industry Select Committee Report in 2004 is a good reference point.

Concrete case studies​

If the Fair Pint campaign is to bring results it needs to produce more concrete case studies (if necessary maintaining confidentiality) and concentrate on persuading the now Business and Enterprise Select Committee that it should follow the advice of its predecessor committee and, in this Parliament, review the implementation of the 2004 recommendations.

Those who have significant corporate power in our society — like pubcos — deserve to have the spotlight shone on them from time to time.

For example, it was right last year that Punch had to publicly justify why it had the biggest pay gap between the boardroom and the shop floor of all FTSE 100 companies.

It is crucial though that the spotlight is sharp and clear rather than blurry and distorted.