Steve Haslam blog: What the pubco report will mean

Having watched in the main from the sidelines with the odd contribution shot down in flames from the hard left, and amid accusations that my blog is merely a front for a spin doctor or even just somebody more literate than myself, this is how I see it.

If as many from the left hope the tie goes, what is going to replace it? Nothing is not an option, it won't happen. The rose coloured glasses are becoming somewhat steamed up. Rent is the most likely option.

Great campaigning, if this happens we go from beer being a variable cost to rent being a fixed cost. Ab fab, now anybody who struggles in quieter months is burdened with a cost that cannot be altered. There is no buying less rent each week but you can buy less beer as your trade dictates. Not for me, thank you.

If this is the case and the tie dies and rents are increased, the hard left will have just put the last nail in many a coffin. Congratulations. Now let's chamois off the glasses and go the other way. The tie is outlawed, no conditions, happy days. The left win, champagne corks are popping. Not for long me thinks. Enterprise, Punch and others become unsustainable. Let the fire sale commence. Top end pubs no problem, they'll find a new home, maybe private investors maybe another pubco and some will achieve the holy grail and end up owning their pubs. But for some in the mid and bottom end of the market, many are going to find themselves without a life vest as the Titanic starts to sink. Nobody wants them, nobody can afford them, nobody can borrow the money to buy them.

So, party over if you are in a struggling pub. Will you be the beautiful swan or the ugly duckling? It will be game over for many pubs will close in wholesale numbers. So despite what many think, I try to think rationally and outside of the box to protect and preserve the masses and not the few, in what is still a great industry.

So before we lobby, march and cast aspersions, we need both parties to unite, discuss and plan the future sustainability of the great British pub, before we become the masters of our own demise. Or just one last thought, maybe the government will step in and save us with a supermarket special. Buy three local pubs for the price of two, all bills paid, on your parliamentary expense account of course.