Mandy to decide future of pubs
Lord Mandelson must rule on whether the beer tie system – in which licencees have to buy their ale from a pub co owner – should be referred to the competition commission before July 15.
Not much chance the capitalist creep will rule in favour of the poor publicans, but at least Enterprise Inns have promised to cut the cost of their beer, up to £150 a barrel – a sop, so Mandy doesn’t look a complete bastard.
Will they go through with it? It’s probably hot air.
If the beer tie is abolished, this could be great news for drinkers and licencees, although perhaps the damage has already been done and the break ups of the pub cos could have unwanted consequences.
I went into a great pub with great choice of beer today and was the only customer. People just aren’t drinking.
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I’ve said it before and will say it again. It isn’t the tie that’s the problem by and large, it’s the (big) Pub Companies.
Tandleman - June 28, 2009 at 7:40 am
remove the tie and the pubcompanies will not be able to survive So happy day
ratso - June 28, 2009 at 9:57 am
Amend the tie to prevent abuses and unfairness and the pub companies will not be able to survive. Abolish the tie and the family and small brewers with pubs won’t be able to survive. So no happy day.
The whole thing needs a lot of careful thought to avoid the law of unintended consequences, but we mustn’t forget the PubCos are the real villains here.
Tandleman - June 28, 2009 at 10:24 am
I agree with TM. If you want a good example of the law of unintended consequences, look at the Beer Orders; the state that the pub industry is now in is a direct but unanticipated result of them, yet at the time quite a lot of people welcomed them. Any changes have to be thought through carefully, or there’s a good chance we’ll just end up with a different unplanned mess.
Rednev - June 29, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Abolish the tie with the proviso that pubs have to be sold or rented at an independently set fair rate (fair to both sides) and that no pub can be sold for houses etc if it hasnt been offered for rent or sale , eg no interest at fair rate in 12 months .. Simple … No unintended consequences except to pubcompanies .. trouble is no one will do what’s right even the supposeded good guys
ratso - June 29, 2009 at 8:34 pm
That does sound like happy days (-;
southportdrinker - June 29, 2009 at 9:35 pm