Fair Pint issues 'call to arms' over MPs' beer tie inquiry

By Hamish Champ

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Fair pint Public houses in the united kingdom

Fair Pint, the anti-pubco campaign group, has issued a 'call to arms' over MPs' expected re-examination of the tied pub sector. Warning that the...

Fair Pint, the anti-pubco campaign group, has issued a 'call to arms' over MPs' expected re-examination of the tied pub sector.

Warning that the hearings into the pub trade could represent the last chance to change the system, the group urged lessees, tenants - and anyone, with an interest in the future of the industry - to submit evidence to the Business, Innovation and Skills select committee (BISC), prior to it reconvening, due later this year.

The Publican ​understands the committee will issue a formal call for evidence in May.

Steve Corbett, a spokesman for Fair Pint, said: "Everyone who has suffered at the hands of these awful companies, everyone who can't make a decent living out of their pubs, everyone who has been mislead by their pubco or brewer, everyone who has lost their homes and their livelihoods to the greed of these awful companies must tell their story and give evidence to the select committee.

"We must get as many tenants as possible submitting their own story to the BISC to demonstrate that despite the 'codes of practice' it is business as usual behind the scenes for the pubcos and brewers who have copied their awful tied supply model."

Corbett said the forthcoming committee sessions could represent the "possibly our last our last opportunity to convince the BISC and the coalition government that the industry is in urgent need of change. We must not waste this opportunity".

Members of the public wishing to submit their thoughts and views on the trade can do so by writing to the BIS Committee's assistant at the House of Commons, in London.

Evidence can be submitted for publication or can be held in private.

While Fair Pint and its supporters will be looking for recommendations from the BIS committee that will lead to the government intervening in the sector, pub operators and brewers will be hoping their codes of practice and new lease deals will convince MPs they have changed and that tenants are better placed now than was the case before politicians demanded action two years ago.

For more information, visit: Business and Enterprise Committee website​ or see the Written Evidence Guidance document attached to this story.

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