Inntrepreneur could face £100m legal bill

The now defunct pub company Inntrepreneur, and its owner Japanese bank Nomura, could be liable for £100m in claims from licensees.

Inntrepreneur lost a landmark decision last Friday against at the Court of Appeal from former tenant Bernie Crehan (pictured)​.

Mr Crehan started a campaign against Inntrepreneur 10 years ago after his business went bust because, he said, of the beer tie. Two pubs that he used to operate were owned by the pub company.

Eventually after a decade of legal disputes, a high court judge found that the beer tie, by making supplies more expensive, was responsible for Crehan's business going bust, but that it did not break European law.

Mr Justice Park said that if it had broken European law Mr Crehan would have been entitled to £1m in damages.

Mr Crehan was given permission to take the case to the Court of Appeal, which found that the beer tie in his lease did, after all, break European competition law.

Passing judgment of the Appeal Court, Lord Justice Peter Gibson said Mr Justice Park's decision had been wrong with regard to the highly technical competition law: "We have decided that the judge should have held that Inntrepreneur's beer tie fell foul of Article 81."

He said damages had to be assessed on the basis that "the wrong sustained by Crehan was the loss of his businesses at the Cock Inn and the Phoenix".

Around 600 other former Inntrepreneur tenants have claims on hold awaiting a final result in Mr Crehan's test case. If they succeed with their claims against the company, the total payout could exceed £100m.

However, Inntrepreneur, welcomed the "very substantial reduction" made by the Court of Appeal to the damages claimed by Mr Crehan. It said it would be applying for permission to appeal to the House of Lords over the Court's findings.

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Related articles:​

Crehan wins beer tie case (21st May 2004)