Freedom for Pubs body opens consumer front

A new front has opened in the Freedom for Pubs (FFPA) campaign with a drive to get pub customers involved to "save their local".

Punters are being encouraged to writing damning letters to pubco bosses about the effect that the beer tie has on their local pub.

A template of the letter has been published on the FFPA website along with a break down of FFPA's arguments against the tie.

The template is based on a letter written to Punch chief executive Giles Thorley by university lecturer Bernard Kelly.

Kelly's letter urged Thorley to scrap the beer tie to save his treasured local pub, the Punch-owned Golden Lion in Ashton Hayes, near Chester.

The letter said that almost 250 signatures have been collected from other concerned pub regulars.

The letter explained that Golden Lion tenants Tim and Sharon Wiggins were forced to leave the pub in September after just over a year in charge.

It said: "Tim and Sharon made every effort to make a success of their tenancy, but could not survive in a business where the figures just do not add up."

Tim Wiggins told the Morning Advertiser he was forced to pay over the odds for drinks, forking out the equivalent of £1.06 for half a litre of Foster's lager when a nearby shop was selling the brand for 95p.

He said the £30,000 a year rent was unaffordable for a pub turning over only £150,000 a year.

FFPA founder Mike Bell, who was also sent a copy of the letter, said: "We've all got friends and it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they would want to support their pub."

Information on the new consumer section of the FFPA campaign can be seen at http://freedomforpubs.com/freedomforpubs/consumer.php