CAMRA to talk to OFT about beer tie
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) says it will consider making a fast-track "super complaint" to the Office of Fair Trading about the beer tie, after the current parliamentary inquiry reports.
Chief executive Mike Benner has responded to a request from MP John Grogan, who is urging CAMRA to use its special complainant status given to it by the government.
Under the Enterprise Act, CAMRA has the status of a "super-complainant", meaning the OFT must say within 90 how it intends to deal with any complaint it lodges.
Benner said: "It is CAMRA's view, as expressed last September in evidence to the Business and Enterprise Select Committee (BEC), that a "market study" conducted by the Office of Fair Trading is necessary to assess whether the current operation of the "beer tie" is in the consumer interest and whether reform is necessary."
Grogan had written to Benner saying he feared "many months of uncertainty" as the government is not likely to respond to the BEC inquiry until the autumn.
In the letter, Grogan acknowledges the issue of the beer tie is a "complex one" and there is a "lack of clarity" among ministers over whether it is a problem.
"I am concerned that if ministers consider the report for many months they may be less inclined to take action soon on supermarket pricing, tax, rates or red tape," he states.
"Pubs cannot really afford a summer of indecision."
But he adds: "As for the tie itself, I observe that CAMRA in their evidence to the select committee said that the beer tie is important in: providing a low-cost entry into pub ownership; ensuring the survival of the medium sized family brewers; ensuring that the financial loss associated with any fall in beer sales is shared by the pub company; and preventing domination of the UK pub market by the four global brewers."
However Grogan also recognises CAMRA's claim that "the consumer has been faced with above inflation increases in the price of beer sold in pubs partly as a result of pub companies earning a large margin on their beer sales", and that "the consumer has also lost out on greater consumer choice as the beer tie restricts the choice of products available to lessees."
Grogan concludes by saying: "I think it is only by CAMRA taking this step that we are likely to see significant progress in 2009 in dealing not only with this issue but also the many others which affect the industry."
