Two struggling pub tenants who fear their business may go under because of high rents and tied beer prices have asked the Prime Minister for help.
Dave and Estelle Gaston, who have run the Cross Keys Inn in Gloucester for almost 30 years, say they are being crippled because they are paying a full market rent on their pub and are being constricted by high drinks prices set through the tie.
They have written to Tony Blair asking for an investigation into the plight of pubs struggling to compete under the tie.
The pub is currently owned by Enterprise Inns, but has been through a range of owners including Whitbread, Laurel and Pubmaster during the Gastons' period as tenants.
Mrs Gaston said: "Other pubs, like the local Wetherspoon, can sell beer at prices well below what we have to charge."
Although not commenting on this particular case Simon Townsend, customer services director at Enterprise, said the issue of beer ties and high rents had been raised and reviewed on several occasions.
Mr Townsend said: "On each occasion, the tie, and the subsidised rent associated with it, has been declared to be a fit, proper, commercial and fair basis on which a business relationship between a landlord and a tenant or lessee may be founded.
"Regarding the supply of drinks under the tie, the products available to an Enterprise licensee are sourced from an extensive range of brewers, national, regional and local, and not just a single brewery as is the case for many tied pubs owned by brewers."
A spokesperson for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it had received a letter of complaint but could not say at this stage whether it would lead to an investigation.
"We received complaints from the Federation of Small Business (FSB) last year but they did not lead to an investigation, however this is a new complaint and we will be considering it on an individual basis," a spokesman said.
In April last year the OFT refused to launch an investigation into the beer tie. However, the European Union has given the green light to licensees to take their cases to court.
Former Inntrepreneur lessee Bernie Crehan has asked the court of appeal to rule on his long-running dispute over the tie.
Related articles:
Crehan case goes to appeal (12 February 2004)