Freedom for Pubs Association vows to renew its fight

A trade group has vowed "the fight goes on" in its bid to end the beer tie.The Freedom for Pubs Association (FFPA), which was set up last August, is...

A trade group has vowed "the fight goes on" in its bid to end the beer tie.

The Freedom for Pubs Association (FFPA), which was set up last August, is appealing for financial backing in an effort to continue to promote its cause.

The group's aims include:

freedom from the beer tie
a two-year freeze on rent reviews
a reform of the method of working out pub rents.

Brian Jacobs, an accountant and adviser to the FFPA, said: "We are seeking financial backing so we can move forward and support the recommendations made by the Trade & Industry Select Committee following its inquiry into the pubcos last year.

"We are looking at where we can obtain that financial support, but as far as we are concerned the fight most definitely goes on."

Mr Jacobs said he was encouraged by the recommendations made by the committee in December - which included a requirement for pubcos to offer tenants bigger discounts - because they addressed most of the things the group was hoping for.

But he warned the group, which is voluntary, still needed support from licensees to help them counter the "massive PR campaigns" carried out by pubcos.

Meanwhile, FFPA founder Mike Bell, tenant at the Portobello Gold in West London - a former Unique pub now owned by Enterprise - is urging licensees to continue to register their support on the group's website.

"We need everybody to tell their story," he said. "This will then provide a database which can be used to disseminate all the information required to help force the pubcos to abide by the recommendations."

But Ted Tuppen, chief executive of Enterprise Inns, said that many of the committee's recommendations related to things that his company were already doing.

"We have not changed our strategy one bit," he said. "We are continuing with our good practice."

Mr Tuppen added: "Licensees have already got enough cost pressures on them without wasting their money on the FFPA."