Pubgoers join Freedom For Pubs Association

Pubgoers are joining the Freedom For Pubs Association (FFPA) campaign to end the beer tie.

Customers from a pub in Cheshire have contacted the association after the licensees failed to cope with the pressure of running the business.

And an area of the FFPA website is now dedicated to generating extra support from consumers, raising awareness on beer prices that pubco tenants and lessees are paying through the tie.

Licensees are being encouraged to print petition forms from the site at www.freedomforpubs.org.uk, and distribute them in a bid to encourage pubcos to review pricing policies.

Along with petition forms there is a breakdown of what the beer tie is on the site, along with a pro forma letter for customers to send on to pubcos.

Mike Bell, the West London licensee who founded the FFPA earlier this year, said: "Customers are not really aware of the pressures on licensees, this will help alert them to the dangers of getting a pub lease these days.

"There are a number of licensees out there who can mobilise customers and by using the petition we can push for national coverage."

Customers at the Golden Lion in Ashton Hayes, Cheshire contacted the FFPA after the pressures of the trade proved too much for a couple who ran the pub.

Tim and Sharon Williams were relatively new to the trade when they took on the pub, and a series of difficulties led to them leaving. In response customers have drawn together a 250 signatory petition backing the couple.

In a letter to Punch, customer Bernard Kelly, said: "We were shocked at the financial burden that the licensees had to bear due to the high rental fees and the exorbitant cost price of drinks that the brewery charged him as a landlord of a tied public house.

"It would seem virtually impossible for a landlord to entice customers to spend freely at an establishment where the cost price, not the selling price, is in fact significantly dearer than the cost of the same drink purchased at local shops."

Richard Cook is currently managing the Golden Lion having replaced Mr and Mrs Williams, and understands the pressures they face.

"They were new to the business and tried to implement things in the pub that couldn't have worked," said Mr Cook. "But the beer tie is an issue for all tenants and lessees and customers would prefer a selection of drinks that the pubco at this time doesn't offer."

A spokesman for Punch confirmed it had heard from the customers and the pub's case is now being considered.