Licensees set up new pressure groups

Frustrated licensees are so fed up with the raw deal they are being handed by the government and pub companies that they have decided to fight...

Frustrated licensees are so fed up with the raw deal they are being handed by the government and pub companies that they have decided to fight back.

The Publican has been contacted by two new pressure groups this week, both formed by licensees sick of the increasing pressures being laid at their door.

Not only are they fed up with licensing and the confusion surrounding it, but they have also had enough of the big breweries calling all the shots with rent reviews and beer ties.

The launch of the groups, the Independent Free Trade Alliance (IFTA) and David and Golliath, follows the launch of the Freedom for Pubs Association by West London publican Mike Bell last year.

Free traders in the North East have set up the IFTA because they complain they are not being effectively represented.

The initiative is being led by Newcastle licensees Helen Sutherland and Helen Mitchell, who together run 11 pubs in and around the city.

Ms Sutherland said: "We have set up a research team to look at the new licensing laws so that we can find out what exactly is going on.

"At the moment we are stuck in no-man's land. A lot of licensees don't know what is happening. The application forms that have been sent out are horrendous so we are setting ourselves up as specialists in the area. We publicans have had enough."

David Lostitch, who runs the Black Horse in Redditch, Worcestershire, has set up David and Goliath to lobby the big pub companies to scrap rent reviews and abolish the beer tie.

Mr Lostitch (pictured) said: "The unintended consequences of the beer orders were to create these giants called Enterprise, Punch and a few others.

"If the tie were to end, clearly this would have an impact on dry rents. I think upward-only increases should be stopped and there should be more flexibility in rent reviews to take into account changing business circumstances.

"There is a future in the pub trade provided the sums are right."