Greg Mulholland renews attack on Ted Tuppen

In a letter to Business Secretary Vince Cable, the All-Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group chair urged him to consider the pub sector when continuing a crackdown on the bonus culture in the banking sector.

He used Tuppen as an example to highlight that he has received almost £850,000 in performance-related bonuses over three years which have seen the company’s shares loose 80% of their value.

At the lastest Enterprise AGM meeting in February, 96.83% of the shareholders voted in favour of Tuppen’s package.

Mulholland said: “The history of the pubco model is one of the most shameful ‘casino capitalism’ stories, that ranks alongside the banking collapse, with greedy property speculators overvaluing pubs leading to multi-billion pound debts, misery for licensees and pub closures up and down the country.  

“It is staggering that Ted Tuppen sees no problem taking home six-figure bonuses, year after year, while his company’s share prices fall further and further, and while 1,000 pubs have been sold to make a dent in multi-billion pound debts. If the Government is serious about tackling crony capitalism then they should stop turning a blind eye to the pubco model.”

He added: “Companies like Enterprise have left many of their tenants struggling to make a decent living and have caused sold hundreds of community pubs, many lost forever, in an attempt to plug multi-billion pound debts. They need tackling just like the bankers - and they need confronting now.”

Enterprise declined to comment.

Last month Mulholland called for Tuppen to be stripped of his CBE honours, accusing him of damaging the British pub industry.