Darby: time for CAMRA to move on

Marston's Pub Company boss Alistair Darby has urged the CAMRA to get back to what it is good at — promoting the virtues of cask ale — after the OFT dismissed its super-complaint over the pubco model.

Darby, who represented the tied pubcos at the Business, Skills and Innovation Committee hearing last year, welcomed the OFT's final report, which concluded that the pubco model did not have an adverse effect on consumers.

"We are happy this chapter is drawing to a close so that we can concentrate on the reforms we promised to make and prove to MPs we are making real progress," he told the Morning Advertiser​.

"It seems to me the OFT has indicated that it feels there is no need for a full market investigation and that is very helpful in removing another piece of uncertainty.

"It is time to move on and focus on meeting the commitments we have made before the next pivotal date (June 2011) to show MPs we have changed."

Darby said the OFT's final report had involved less work than the first but had still taken up a "significant" amount of resources and acted as an unwelcome distraction.

The OFT had asked Marston's for updated data since its first report in October 2009 and had, this time, delved deeper in to how pubcos set rents.

"I was slightly confused by that request because the OFT is a consumer organisation," said Darby. "But I can now see they were trying to make absolutely sure they took an in-depth look at the relationship to reassure themselves there was no kind of impact on the consumer."

Tested relations​

Darby urged CAMRA to now drop the matter and get back to what it is good at. He said relations had been "tested" but could be built back up for the good of promoting cask ale.

"We have a very workman-like relationship with CAMRA. At its core CAMRA is committed to cask ale and we support that 100%. As a cask ale brewer, we are delighted that there is a group like CAMRA that is so passionate about cask ale.

"We are very supportive of a lot of their work and have worked closely with them on projects like The Cask Report.

"CAMRA has a had a fair crack of the whip on this (the super-complaint) but I hope it can now be closed and we can all move on to the more positive area of doing good things with cask ale because this process has been a distraction."