Breaking the tie not the answer, says experienced host

A senior licensee and trade representative believes removing the tie will seal the fate of hundreds of community pubs.

Dennis Griffiths, Enterprise lessee of the Miners Rest in Barnsley and a senior vice president of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations, said he believed a fair deal could be had within the current system.

"In my personal view, it is great that we have lots of MPs now taking up the cause of the pubs but we need to educate them," said Griffiths. "Removing the tie will spark a rent review and undoubtedly the rent will go up.

"If you expect the pubco to lose 60% of their take from a pub — well, that is pie in the sky. Pubcos are no angels, they get what they can but I think they are realising they have gone too far. It is similar to the Innterpreneur situation in the 1990s and we need to get back on track.

"We need to regroup as an industry together — pubcos and tenants together."

He added that he believed those pubs selling less than 200-barrels a year would struggle with even a slightly higher rent if they went free-of-tie because they would not necessarily sell enough beer to benefit from bigger discounts from the brewers.

"I don't think going free of tie is the answer," he said. "It's fine if you do 600 barrels a year but the small community pubs will suffer.

"The answer is to get a fairer deal for tenants under the present system.

"There are bigger problems than the tie, like the Government's duty rises and the supermarkets."

The Fair Pint campaign has previously stated its belief that pub rents would not necessarily rise if the tie is removed because it believes the majority of pubs are already over-rented.