Confused Brewers?

Martin Kellway

WharfeBank

Martin

You and I do not know one another but recently I was asked by a senior MP to contact you to discuss your company’s submission to the BIS pub consultation. You may have missed my message on your voicemail.

I’ve been involved successfully in the licensed trade for almost 30 years. I’m a founder member of the Fair Pint Campaign, a steering group member of the Independent Pub Confederation and I take an active role in debating and advising on pub related issues for a number of MP’s and ministers.

Along with many others, I have made detailed submissions to the recent BIS pub consultation and, in response to the publication of consultation evidence, will shortly be making final submissions to the same. I have spoken at length with others, including many brewers who are expressing similar concerns to my own at what appears to be a deeply entrenched and unhealthy collaboration between SIBA and the pubcos. Given the state of the pub sector and the unnecessary decline of UK pubs I think it is essential that the regulators find out the truth.

Whist I fully accept that your relationship with Punch Taverns has to date served you well, I must admit I was shocked to read your submission to the consultation as it didn’t explain how your trading terms differ from that of a normal tied agreement. You may be a happy pubco tenant – most aren’t. You must admit that the experience of many others, who don’t benefit from the relaxed tying agreement that you enjoy, falls way short of what would otherwise be considered acceptable in any other business to business relationship. 

The truth is of course that one swallow doesn’t make a summer. The fact that Punch enable one microbrewer to sell their own beer – and I must admit I don’t know the terms of your agreement – doesn’t at all change the fact that the range for other pubs is limited to those Punch allow into the market (foreclosure) and at excessive prices that punish the consumer, the publican and the brewer. Vicious dictators occasionally let one tortured prisoner go free in order to generate humanity when thousands of others stay in cells being beaten.

The pubco model borne out of a cleverly created legal loophole will not help tenants as you suggest in your submission. It has instead allowed accountants and property men to create a vast middleman that sucks the life out of the industry whilst investing nothing. Although large parts of the media are starting to wise up to this, the city and seemingly ‘brewers’ think that pubcos are operators and retailers in our sector without understanding that they are simply property companies that broke beer for far too much money.

These are truly dreadful companies and it may be that the regulators have eventually worked them out. This will of course be a good thing but the fact that it has taken so long, and thousands of lives have been ruined, is the fault of MP’s, brewers and all who have taken the pubco shilling.

I will be highlighting your evidence when I respond to BIS and it might be helpful if you would consider being party to my submission. Perhaps you might want to update BIS yourself? Clearly a truly open market is what a growing small brewer should want so I’d be surprised if this is something you can’t agree with.

I look forward to your thoughts – perhaps we could talk on the phone.

Best Regards

Steve

The Fair Pint Campaign