Tuppen: Fair Pint damaging whole industry
Anti-beer tie Fair Pint campaigners are "damaging the whole industry in pursuit of their own self interest" — that's the broadside fired by Enterprise chief Ted Tuppen just days before the publication of the Parliamentary report into pubco power.
Tuppen has written to all MPs expressing his concern over the activities of the Fair Pint campaign and "others" ahead of the Business and Enterprise Committee's report on Wednesday.
"Their behaviour is in danger of creating misunderstandings about the pub industry as a whole and the generally very positive interaction between producers, pub owners, licensees and consumers," he said.
"Such misunderstandings then divert attention from the real issues that require urgent action now to avoid increasing business failures, job losses and falling tax revenues."
The boss of Britain's second biggest pubco re-iterated that the tied model provided a low cost entry to the industry, supported by the resources and expertise of a large company.
"As with any commercial relationship, there will always be stresses and these will inevitably be exacerbated in times of economic difficulty.
"However, given the nature of our relationship with our licensees, it is demonstrably in our interest to see them succeed.
"Many of you will know that we will spend over £20m this year, on an entirely discretionary basis, to help deserving licensees trade through this recession, giving them financial support that simply wouldn't be available from a bank manager or a free of tie landlord."
He added: "This letter is not an attempt in any way to influence the conclusions of the report which has, I understand, already been finalised.
"I am however seeking to get some sense of balance into the debate and ask that you take the time to understand the other side of the argument and at least challenge some of the wilder claims made by those who I believe are damaging the whole industry in pursuit of their own self interest."
