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Government pledge to defend pub tenants 'not enough'

CONSUMER and union campaigners celebrated a partial victory yesterday after the government pledged to defend pub licensees from profit-hungry chain companies.

But pressure group the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) said the government was not going far enough.

Camra and its 100,000 members have been pressing for action for a decade to stop huge “pubcos” from charging tenant publicans exorbitant rents and excessive prices.

General union GMB, which has hundreds of licensee members, also demanded change.

New regulations should now give publicans statutory rights and introduce an independent adjudicator with the power to resolve disputes.

Camra says traditional pubs are closing at the rate of 28 a week. Britain still has around 55,000 pubs, but many are owned by huge pubcos — Punch Taverns owns 7,560 and Enterprise Inns 7,785.

Regulations announced yesterday allow pubcos to maintain monopoly ownership, but could challenge rent and price exploitation.

The union wanted action to slacken the “tied” control exercised by pubcos — but the government refused.

GMB’s Steve Kemp said it would resist any attempts by pubcos to water down the proposals, including action on exploitative rents.

“To pay these sky high rents a pint of lager is on average 80p per pint higher and ale is 65p per pint higher than justified by inflation and like-for-like changes in taxes since 1987,” he said.

“This is pricing pubs out of the market and they have closed in droves. The new regime has to stop abuses and lead to fair and affordable rents.”

Camra communications chief Tom Stainer said: “We are delighted that after our 10-year campaign the government is now introducing a pubs adjudicator to protect the nation’s pubs.

“Publicans could see the price they pay for beer fall by up to 60 pence a pint if the adjudicator forces the big pubcos to match open market prices.”

Labour’s shadow small business minister Toby Perkins welcomed the move, but added: “The changes announced today do not include a free-of-tie option or the genuinely independent rent reviews which Labour and campaigners have been calling for.”

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