Crehan case on course for resurrection?

A former Inntrepreneur lessee is attempting to resurrect the 13 year-long challenge to the beer tie that effectively ended three years ago in the House of Lords.

Under the perhaps aptly named moniker, Project Lazarus, former Inntrepreneur lessee Rick Knowles is trying to drum up support for a barrister's opinion that would assess whether the findings of the Appeal Court in the Crehan case, which found in Inntrepreneur's favour, were suspect.

Bernie Crehan was an Inntrepreneur lessee in the 1980s and challenged the pubco over its beer tie arrangements, a situation he claimed left him out of pocket to the tune of £1.3m and with a collapsed business.

Knowles, who used to run 12 pubs, says he has had 40 replies to letters he sent ex-Inntrepreneur lessees in which he sounded out views on whether resurrecting the case was worthwhile.

The Appeal Court judgement was "flawed", Knowles said in his letter. "We have decided that we must explore whether there is any possibility of addressing the flaws, and thereby ultimately allowing for a genuinely equitable resolution of this case," he went on.

In July 2006 the Appeal Court found in favour of the Nomura-owned pubco, rejecting an earlier court decision whereby its beer tie arrangements had been found to breach European competition law.

Knowles said he believed the findings of the Appeal Court were politically motivated, and not based on a commercial rationale.

Crehan became a cause celebre​ among disgruntled tied lessees in the late 1990s, revolving as it did around the terms of the tie imposed by Inntrepreneur in the late 1980s.

Asked why Project Lazarus might get off the ground three years after the House of Lords threw out the case, Knowles said the original legal team fighting the lessee's position "went down some wrong roads", although he declined to elaborate.

Knowles, who no longer runs pubs, recognised it was a long shot, but said the process "gets me up in the morning".

He said he was writing to as many former Inntrepreneur lessees as possible, and hoped for 140 people to come on board in order to be able to afford to seek a barrister's opinion, depending on donated support.

Anyone wishing to contact Project Lazarus can email lazarus1900@googlemail.com or write to Box 624, 12, St Patrick's Way, Doncaster, DN5 8PL.