Vince Power is Fair Pint benefactor
Mean Fiddler founder Vince Power is the mystery benefactor behind the anti-pubco Fair Pint campaign, the MA can reveal.
The revelation of such a high-profile benefactor gives the Fair Pint group further credibility following its recent success in Westminster with MPs.
Power, dubbed the godfather of gigs, has supplied the necessary funding for the Fair Pint group to push for another pubco inquiry.
Vince Power venues have staged some of the biggest music events in the world for the past quarter of a century.
The Mean Fiddler, the club Power started in 1982, grew into a £60m music empire overseeing the world's leading summer festivals, concert halls, clubs, restaurants and bars.
Power sold his stake in Mean Fiddler in July 2005 and set up Vince Power Music Group (VPMG).
Break the tie
The Fair Pint campaign wants the tie removed from all pubs, except those owned by brewers with fewer than 500 sites.
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.
"Vince is 100% behind our campaign and he does want to get involved further than just financially," said Fair Pint's Mike Bell.
"He is a powerful man with powerful friends. We are hoping to get a few celebrities involved with the campaign.
"We all know Madonna likes a pint of Timothy Taylors and loves the British pub - so that is one option."
So far, 49 MPs have signed Tim Farron's early day motion calling for the competition commission to investigate pubco power.
