by Tony Halstead
A drinker who complained about the price of a pint after pubs tried to set a minimum price for beer in Nottingham has seen his case backed by competition regulators.
Dennis Yates said bars had effectively set up a cartel when they took action to stop drinks being sold for less than £1.50.
The retired antiques dealer, who was jailed for 10 months for handling the stolen Enigma de-coding machine in 2001, claimed the scheme infringed his rights to a pint at a decent price and complained to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Now the OFT has ruled that Nottingham Pubwatch's scheme broke competition law.
"This is a positive result," said Yates. "It shows pub landlords and owners that they can't introduce stealth rises in that way. It is right that pubs are responsible in the way they sell drinks but I think this was a way to make money.
"If something like this is going to happen then it has to be the Government that does it."
About 130 pubs and bars in the city centre had agreed not to sell drinks for less than £1.50 last September to try to cut binge drinking and trouble.
Despite support from the police and Nottingham City Council, the scheme was found to be unlawful.
Mike Knight, chairman of Nottingham Pubwatch, complained that the Government was sending out mixed signals on the issue.
"It is very confusing for the licensees we don't know whether we are coming or going,"he said. "They say we need to be responsible and not do ridiculously cheap drinks or we could get closed. So we try to impose a minimum price and then get told we are acting illegally.
While praising the licensees' efforts to curb disorder, Inspector Paul Winter, of Notts Police, conceded the schemes had to fall within the law and said there were still legal methods of introducing minimum prices as part of the conditions of a drinks licence.
With the OFT's decision coming days after the first steps towards relaxing licensing laws, police are still urging bar owners to be responsible. "I don't know what's going to happen with the new regulations, but I do know that licensees still have to be careful," said Insp Winter.
"There are a number of ways that premises can be forced to comply with the law and one of them is to impose a minimum price as a licensing condition."
A city council spokesman said: "We will be seriously considering this."
But British Beer and Pub Association spokesman Mark Hastings said: "The guidance from the OFT couldn't be clearer; unless there is a change in the law to permit minimum pricing, neither local authorities nor the police have any power to set minimum pricing."