Fair Pint gets FSB backing

The Federation of Small Business (FSB) has given its backing to the anti-pubco Fair Pint campaign.

Evidence from the FSB, which counts several thousand pubco tenants as members, led to the 2004 Trade & Industry Select Committee Inquiry into how pub companies treat licensees.

This week FSB trade and industry chairman Clive Davenport said the group "fully supports" Fair Pint, adding: "We are very pleased to see the Business and Enterprise Select Committee inquiry into pubcos re-opened.

"It is a well-known fact that the recommendations that came out of the 2004 inquiry, triggered by the FSB, have largely been ignored and pubs tied to pubcos are still suffering as a result."

Meanwhile, Fair Pint has revealed plans for a recruitment drive this summer. It is to email a number of licensees this week in a bid to boost membership, which the group said currently stands at around 500.

"So far we've been concentrating on the political side to ensure the Inquiry happened," said a spokesman.

"We are now looking to ensure we are a powerful voice in this debate and the way to do that is to increase membership."