Fair Pint: 'more time for pubcos means misery for tenants'

Anti-beer tie campaign group Fair Pint fears the BISC report's decision to give pubcos more time to self-regulate will only deliver "further misery" to the trade.

The group vowed to continue to lobby minsters for an urgent referral to the Competition Commission, as "regulatory intervention is the only way to ensure fairness in the relationship between tied tenants and pubcos".

The group labelled the report "another condemnation of the structure of the industry and the behaviour of the pub companies".

It added that the decision to grant more time "will deliver nothing but further misery for the industry".

A spokesman said: "The BBPA and their members have been taken to task and been publicly damned.

"The Committee has made it clear that they stand behind their criticisms of the industry in last year's report and they have 'grave doubts about the industry's willingness to do enough voluntarily to prevent statutory or regulatory intervention'."

"Although the committee makes it clear that this is not a reprieve for the pubcos and it expects significant changes to the way in which they run their businesses, we are concerned by the decision to give them another 14 months to put their house in order.

"Pub companies were given time by the Trade & Industry Select Committee in 2004 and the Business & Enterprise Committee last year".

He added that the pubcos' response to the reports and the collapse of mediation made it clear that pubcos were "unwilling to make meaningful voluntary concessions."