Licensee's fury over beer delivery dispute

An angry licensee is being forced to carry his own beer kegs to his cellar because of an on-going safety dispute between his landlord and Carlsberg.

For the past six weeks, tenant Matt Taylor has only been getting deliveries on the pavement outside his pub, the Unicorn Inn, in Hanley, Staffordshire.

Taylor had a similar situation last year with Carlsberg over fears a gas pipe was causing a hazard.

The latest situation arose after a hole appeared in the alley by the side of the pub which Taylor's landlord, Punch Taverns, have now fixed.

But ever since Taylor has been waiting for a health and safety officer from Carlsberg to come and check it is safe to deliver.

"I can't believe I'm in the same predicament again," said Taylor. "Every time the draymen come they say they can't go down until someone from health and safety has ok-ed it.

"We're a small pub but we do about 25 barrels a week.

"I am powerless because Carlsberg will not speak to me, as a tenant, directly, and will only deal with Punch."

However, as The Publican went to press, Carlsberg and Punch were promising to meet to resolve the situation.

A spokesman for Carlsberg said: "Health and safety is at the core of everything we do for our customers and our staff at Carlsberg UK. So it is important this issue is fully and satisfactorily resolved."

A spokeswoman for Punch Taverns said: "We recognise that this is not an acceptable situation for our partner and have been working closely with Carlsberg to resolve the issue.

"Our team is meeting Carlsberg on site with a risk assessor and we hope to be able to restore normal deliveries."