A round with The Publican

What made the news in The Publican this week 10 years ago, five years ago and last year.

1995​

• Brewers escape a referral to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission after an Office of Fair Trading probe into beer prices finds no evidence to suggest tied tenants are disadvantaged
• Scottish & Newcastle agrees a £553m deal to buy Courage, giving S&N a 28 per cent share of the beer market, knocking Bass off its number one brewing perch
• Labatt is forced to apologise after a huge surge in demand for Labatt Ice, boosting sales 300 per cent above target levels, leaves pubs dry.

2000​

• Struggling rural pubs are told that they could have their rates bills subsidised by larger pub chains under a new government finance bill
• An uncertain future lies ahead for 145 pub managers after Swallow Inns & Restaurants, previously owned by Whitbread, is sold to Enterprise Inns for £119m
• Licensees struggle to get hold of big-screen TVs as upcoming football tournament Euro 2000 pushes TV and video sales up by 40 per cent.

2004​

• Licensees across London back the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games after the capital is shortlisted for the event alongside Paris, New York, Madrid and Moscow
• A transsexual who was banned from using the ladies' toilet at Scaramouche in Perth, Scotland, loses her legal fight to prove she was the victim of discrimination
• The Charity Commission warns licensees to be wary as a new wave of bogus charity collectors targets pubs in Wales and the South East.