12th December 2008
BBC2's Money Programme investigates the impact of the pubco tie - with contributions from Fair Pint campaigner David Morgan, and a number of personal 'case studies' from tied tenants, showing the reality of trading under the tie.
Updated: watch the programme online using the BBC iPlayer.
Wednesday 10th December 2008
The House of Commons Business and Enterprise Committee yesterday questioned pubco bosses and trade body leaders, as part of their ongoing inquiry into pub companies. Watch a recording of the session, and read the significant coverage across from across national and trade press - including The Publican and The Morning Advertiser, Evening Standard, Guardian and The Times.
Sunday 30th November 2008
The Politics Show's South-of-England team look at the difficulties faced by local pubs up and down the country, and asks what more politicians of every party could do to help? Contributors include Fair Pint campaigner David Morgan, and Shadow Licensing Minister Tobias Ellwood MP
Thurday 27th November 2008
The Morning Advertiser looks at the arguments put forward at last week's hearing of the Business and Enterprise Committee pubco inquiry - including evidence from Fair Pint and the Federation of Small Businesses.
Thurday 20th November 2008
The front page of this week's Morning Advertiser reports on the first hearing of the Business and Enterprise Committee's inqury into pubcos - outlining the arguments put forward by the Fair Pint campaign, and highlighting the case studies submitted by Fair Pint supporters across the country.
Wednesday 19th November 2008
The Financial Times reports on the Fair Pint Campaign's evidence to MPs, as part of the Business and Enterprise Committee's enquiry into pubcos, with the business organisation claiming that rigorous pubcos contracts made it hard for tenants to survive the current economic climate
Tuesday 18th November 2008
Members of the Fair Pint campaign are giving evidence to the Business and Enterprise Committee’s inquiry into pubcos today. The inquiry revisits one that their predecessor undertook in 2004, and will investigate how the recommendations have been applied.
Friday 7th November 2008
Steve Corbett, a founding member of the Fair Pint campaign and licensee of the George Canning in South East London, has debated the state of the pub industry and where the pubcos fit into the system with BBPA director of communications Mark Hastings.
Saturday 1st November 2008
The difficulties facing pubco tenants are exemplified by an article in this weekend's Financial Times, looking at Fair Pint campaigner Mark Dodds' experience of running tied pub The Sun and Doves in South London.
Friday 31st October 2008
The Fair Pint campaign has written to the Office of Fair Trading, calling on them to investigate the growing disparity between the discount levels that pubcos are able to command from brewers, and those that the pubcos pass on to their tenants.
Wednesday 29th October 2008
Fair Pint campaign member Mike Bell highlights the trouble facing pub landlords on ITV's flagship regional evening news programme.
Wednesday 29th October 2008
Today's London Evening Standard reports on the Fair Pint campaign's response to proposals by the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group for tax cuts on draught beer - claiming that such a move would "do nothing to help the individual pub tenant, but simply prop up a business model which has abused its position and become even more unviable"
Monday 27th October 2008
Today's Guardian highlights the difficulties faced by tied tenants, with pub sales faling by more than 8% in the last quarter, as consumer fears of recession begin to bite.
Thursday 23rd October 2008
The All Party Parliamentary Beer Group’s report on community pubs lays the blame at the wrong door. Thousands of pubs are closing around the country, and many more are at breaking point, but a report funded by the chief culprits does nothing to enlighten us.
Tuesday 30th September 2008
Today's Evening Standard compares the debt "piled up" by pubcos' Punch and Enterprise with the highly-leveraged Wall Street banks at the centre of the credit crunch.
Sunday 28th September 2008
Under the headline "Tenants call time on Punch Taverns", today's Sunday Times reports that almost 20% of the company's tenanted premises are looking for a new licencee, and outlines a tougher time ahead for the pubco business model.
Friday 12th September 2008
The Guardian reports on the Fair Pint campaign, highlighting Morgan Stanley's pubco research showing that 20-30% of Punch and Enterprise tied pubs may see licensees make less than £20,000.
Thursday 11th September 2008
The Fair Pint campaign has asked the Financial Services Authority to investigate the pubco practice of merging their ‘tangible’ and ‘intangible’ income streams.
Thursday 11th September 2008
The Fair Pint campaign sees the Morgan Stanley report, which advises investors to avoid leased / tenanted pubcos, as yet further evidence of the need to reform the leased pub market.
Thursday 14th August 2008
In an article in the Morning Advertiser, Brian Jacobs responds to Clive Williams' claims that the Fair Pint campaign is in "cloud-cuckoo land" in its bid to break the beer tie.
Saturday 9th August 2008
The weekend FT highlights the views of tenants who say that beer ties are forcing them to buy beer at above-market prices.
Sunday 3rd August 2008
Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, and Twickenham MP, Vince Cable is backing the Fair Pint Campaign to give Richmond’s pubs more protection from breweries and chains.
Friday 4th July 2008
The Fair Pint campaign has responded to the claims of Simon Townsend (chief operating officer of Enterprise Inns), where he claimed that he does not believe that the tie has anything to do with the difficulties faced by some pubs, because the model is able to respond to economically challenging times.
Wednesday 2nd July 2008
Publicans are in no doubt that the smoking ban has had some impact on their trade. But they will also tell you that it is not the real reason why pub landlords are going out of business. The truth is that the major cause of difficulty for half the pubs in the country is the ‘supply tie’.
Thursday 26th June 2008
Today's London Evening Standard highlights the Fair Pint? campaign's success in calling for the Business and Enterprise Committee to investigate the pubco tie.
Thursday 26th June 2008
Reporting on yesterday's Business and Enterprise Committee announcement, the paper warns that "the bosses of Britain's biggest pub groups could be called before MPs after a Parliamentary inquiry was launched to investigate whether pub companies have too much power".
Wednesday 25th June 2008
The Fair Pint campaign is delighted that the Business and Enterprise Committee is to review the recommendations that its precursor committee, the Trade and Industry Committee, made in 2004.
Tuesday 24th June 2008
The article praises the "well organised" campaign, outlining Fair Pint's concerns about the effect of the tie on individual landlords, the unforseen impact of the 1989 Beer Orders, and how the Trade and Industry Committee's recommendations on pubcos have "more or less (been) ignored".
PFriday 6th June 2008
Ted Tuppen, Chief Executive of Enterprise Inns, criticises the 45 MPs who have signed an Early Day motion highlighting the conduct of pubcos.
PFriday 23rd May 2008
The Fair Pint? campaign responds to a statement by John Grogan MP on the campaign.
Thursday 15th May 2008
The Fair Pint? campaign welcomes CAMRA’s decision to join the debate on the future relationship between lessees and pubcos, however fundamentally disagrees with their position that the removal of the supply tie is counter-productive and would lead to higher rents.
Tuesday 13th May 2008
Fair Pint campaigners meet MPs to launch the campaign at the Houses of Parliament.
Monday 12th May 2008
The Fair Pint campaign will be launched in the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday 13th May. The campaign is highlighting the plight of UK landlords and consumers who suffer as a result of ‘tied lease agreements’ to pub companies (pubcos).
