Guild urges LVAs to unite or risk folding

by Ewan Turney The Guild of Master Victuallers has fired a stern warning shot at Licensed Victuallers Associations (LVAs) across the country ...

by Ewan Turney

The Guild of Master Victuallers has fired a stern warning shot at Licensed Victuallers Associations (LVAs) across the country "unite under a national banner or risk folding".

The guild, which represents about a dozen LVAs from Kent to Oxfordshire, unanimously voted at its annual conference to seek talks with other regions in a bid to unite all LVAs under one banner.

The guild is one of six regional organisations that grew from the wreckage when the National Union of Licensed Victuallers collapsed in 1992.

One of these organisations is the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations (FLVA), which is often mistaken for a national body but primarily represents the north.

"We are fragmented and we have no national voice with which to be heard," said Bernard Brindley, licensee of the White Lion in Pailton.

"Over the next five months my LVA probably won't survive. I am convinced this organisation can be formed.

"Each region can retain its independence, but we must go forward with a national org-anisation."

Brindley, a member of the National Parliamentary Com-mittee which consults with Government, hit out at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) for taking membership and money away from the LVAs as well as for its handling of the pubco inquiry.

Fellow Parliamentary Com-mittee member Bill Sharp added: "We need to show the Government we are united. Bodies mean recognition."

However, FLVA chief executive Tony Payne had some reservations over where funding would come from.

"It all depends on what people want," he said. "We have always said we are prepared to walk down the road with anybody, but you have to take everything into consideration.

"The FLVA provides a thorough service and we wouldn't settle for anything less."

The guild is also hoping to boost its current membership levels by allowing all personal licence holders entry into the organisation.

However, if there was a dispute between an employer and a member of bar staff, the guild would only represent the employer.