Greg Mulholland: We need a real manifesto for pubs

I was lucky enough to see both Elvis and the Beatles. Well okay, not the real ones, but the pubs and beer certainly were.

First 'Elvis Forever' at the Fruiterer's Arms in Uphampton, Worcestshire. Run for many years by Ted and Doreen.

The Fruiterers is a rare, real, unadorned country pub.

Then the evening was one of my oldest school friends Sean's (Beatles themed) 40th birthday at the Black Eagle in Hockley, Birmingham. Run with aplomb by Tony (who apparently starred in that iconic Turkish Delight advert with the chap with the sword) it really is a perfect pub. Separate rooms, great beer and great atmosphere.

Unsurprisingly, both of these pubs are freehouses and the freedom to run the place as the landlords choose is evident in their uniqueness and their quintessential pub character.

No BDMs telling them what to sell, no marketing people telling them how to merchandise. These two pubs, one town, one country, are exactly what pubs should be.

The British Beer & Pub Association has just launched its new 'manifesto' for the pub, but one of the several stark omissions is that there is nothing in there to return more pubs to landlord ownership, which any real pub lover would support and more likely to preserve pub gems.

No surprise either that despite 2009 being the year 'the tie' hit the political agenda; this doesn't even warrant a mention.

Even more notably, there is no mention of the urgent need to reform planning law to protect the pub.

A casual mention of the Sustainable Communities Act but not in terms of its real purpose - to give communities a say over the closure of local amenities including pubs.

In truth, the new 'manifesto' seems to be little more than 'Axe the Tax' with bells on, just without Mr Pinty.

We do need a real manifesto that takes on all the key issues facing the pub. What we don't need is one that is more about trying to avoid the responsibilities of some who are part of the problem.

I look forward to more weekends in great pubs like the Fruiterer's and the Black Eagle. But such places will become rarer if we are not serious about tackling all the key issues.

If 2010 is to be the year the pub fights back, we need a real manifesto and real reform both to law and the industry.

Greg Mulholland is MP for Leeds North West, and chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group​