Enterprise Inns tenants forced to buy out of tie following beer delivery strike

The 24-hour strike took place on Wednesday last week after Unite union claimed that KNDL breached the agreements that governs the terms and conditions of the workforce. It was predicted that 30,000 licensed premises were to be impacted.

Paul Garner of the Yorkshire Grey in central London is still waiting for his delivery. Yesterday, he was told that he would have to take a courier delivery but explained that this is impossible given his location on a cross road.

He was then told that his delivery would arrive this morning but it did not. Garner said that if his beer does not arrive today or tomorrow, he will have to buy out of the tie.

“We have felt like this is all our fault,” he said. “It’s not been the nicest way that they have dealt with this. We did not have a delivery last week so we are on our last kegs now.

“We should have been told well in advance about all of this.”

Reluctant to buy out​

Gareth Bentham of the Old Roebuck in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, has had to buy out of the tie. His delivery is also a week late.

“Enterprise has been reluctant to let us buy out. It was not agreed in principle to begin with but they have had to concede because otherwise we can’t trade.

“I’m assuming that we will end up getting some sort of fine which is yet again another situation the tied tenant has to face.

“I wish Enterprise would take on board that we are not trying to fight them, we are just trying to run a business.”

Bill Sharp of the Guild of Master Victuallers, and licensee of the Kings Arms in London, has just received his delivery this morning, several days late.

It came after he received a phone call this morning to say that the delivery had to be pushed back another day.

“It’s been total disarray. It has created absolute chaos,” he said. "And then there’s the whole rigmarole of being able to buy your beer elsewhere. This is a serious problem for the licensee.

“The pubco should have been better prepared for this type of emergency.”

Unreasonable​

Fair Pint campaigner Simon Clarke of the Eagle in Battersea, south London, receives two deliveries a week because he has a small cellar. One was four days late, and another was one day late.

“Now we can't move for barrels,” he said. “It demonstrates the failings of the tied system.

“This is all us being penalised for their errors. It seems unreasonable to me. Enterprise say they have contingency plans but they clearly have not.”

An Enterprise Inns spokesman said: "We are working closely with our distributor KNDL and our suppliers to minimise the effect of delivery disruption on our publicans.

"Even with the 24-hour stoppage last Wednesday and the continuing effects of the overtime ban that Unite have put in place, the vast majority of our publicans have received their orders, albeit some unfortunately with amended time windows and in some cases alternative delivery days.

"The dispute between KNDL and Unite has nothing to do with our tied agreements with our publicans but in those exceptional cases where we agree that our distributor will be unable to satisfy their immediate requirements, we will give our authorisation to those individuals to source product from elsewhere on this specific occasion.

"There have been a small number of such occurrences; in these specific instances there is no question of compensation being sought.”