Enterprise licensee to speak at pubco power inquiry

A Enterprise Inns lessee and anti-pubco group Fair Pint will be among the first to speak to MPs when a long-awaited review of pubco power starts later this month.

Paul Daly, who owns two East London bars, one freehold and one leasehold, will appear before the Business and Enterprise Committee (BEC) on Tuesday, November 18.

He has had an Enterprise lease at the Roadtrip bar on Old Street since April, and owns the freehold of the Zigfrid on Hoxton Square.

Daly said he was inspired to write to the committee after he read The Publican's ​front-page story (September 8) - in which Enterprise and Punch Taverns' chiefs defended the pubco model.

"I read that article in The Publican​ and it just made me so angry," said Daly. "The letter I wrote to the committee was not emotive, it was based on facts and figures.

"But I think it's a very sinister model. They pretend to be pub companies, but they are just property companies."

The review is investigating whether pubcos have held firm on the recommendations made during the 2004 Trade and Industry Select Committee (TISC) inquiry into the relationship between pubcos and their tenants - including the beer tie.

Brian Jacobs, an accountant and founder member of Fair Pint who gave evidence at the TISC inquiry, will also speak during the first half of the BEC session.

He said the TISC inquiry had made "sensible recommendations", but he claimed: "Over the last four years the pubcos have sought to virtually ignore every recommendation".

Clive Davenport, the Federation of Small Businesses chairman for trade and industry, will also appear at the start of the review.

Three surveyors will then give evidence on the issue of valuations and rent reviews.

Martin Willis, chairman of the Valuations Group, David Morgan, managing director of chartered surveyors Cooksey DMP, and Simon Clark, also a licensee at the Eagle Ale House in Battersea, South-West London, will all present to the committee.

The panel will hear the pubco's side of the story at a second evidence session on December 9.

Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inn are most likely to be called to be grilled by MPs.

Simon Townsend, Enterprise Inns' chief operating officer, defended the model previously, saying it was the "best possible way to continue to operate the majority of pubs in the UK".

He also rebuked claims the TISC recommendations had not been met, saying he was satisfied Enterprise had made a "formal response".

And Giles Thorley, chief executive of Punch Taverns, said since TISC the company had spent £300m on its pub estate and £15m on smoking ban solutions.

What will MPs be looking at?

In response to the recommendations made by the 2004 TISC inquiry, the British Beer & Pub Association updated its guide to code of practices for pubcos on tenancies and leases - in an effort to make it clearer what tied agreements meant for prospective licensees. The key questions the BEC review will ask are:

• Has the Licensing Act 2003 had an effect on competition within the market?

• To what extent have revisions to the framework codes of practice met the committee's concerns?

• To what extent are the codes applied by the pubcos?

• Is there a need for further regulation of the industry?