Darby: let's get back to business

Now is the time to draw a line under the pubco-tenant divide and work together to improve the trade — that's the plea from Marston's Pub Company boss Alastair Darby.

Darby said he was "pleased" with the Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) decision not to take any further action on the beer tie but stressed he was in "no way triumphant".

He praised the "enormously thorough" job the OFT had done but pleaded for the opportunity for the industry to now get back to business free of the threat of further intervention.

"I think the OFT did a good job. They asked us for huge amounts of data and went to strenuous efforts to investigate this super-complaint very hard.

"We were put under enormous pressure to provide data at short notice and in no way did they take this lightly."

Darby said the key statement had been from OFT senior director Simon Williams, who said: "Any strategy by a pub-owning company which compromises the competitive position of its tied pubs would not be sustainable, as this would result in a loss of sales."

Darby said: "This is a fundamental point. We are not the evil and robbing landlords we have been portrayed as. If we were, our business would have imploded.

"I am tired of making this point. It is time to draw a line under our differences and get back to business."

Darby said the new British Beer and Pub Association's new Framework Code of Practice on the Granting of Tenancies and Leases provided a "significant step forward", which the BII would police.

"The OFT has said the tie is not to the detriment of the consumer in terms of choice or cost. We now need to get back out in the trade and to doing business with tenants and lessees who need our help.

"We can't do that if we are continually stuck in meeting rooms."

• Read Alistair Darby's full view on mediation: Pub mediation achieved a lot​​.