Pubcos expand ranges

Big four follow TISC recommendation

The country's four largest pubcos have moved to extend the range of products available to tenants in the wake of the Trade & Industry Select Committee (TISC) report.

The report, published in December 2004, called on pubcos to do more to help tenants. One of the recommendations said pubcos should give licensees more products to choose from.

A spokesman for Marston's Pub Company said: "Over the past two years, we have extended our product range. We offer all the top UK lagers, a much-extended range of non-beers, a recently re-launched wine range and new soft drinks range." It has also extended the range of other brewers' cask ales.

Punch said: "We offer 79 cask-ale brands from national, regional and local brewers; 70 key ales; 24 lagers; 353 wines, 200 spirit brands and 79 more cask-ale brands through the Finest Cask scheme. We have almost halved the number of tied agreements in the wines and spirits categories."

Enterprise said the range of drinks brands it offers licensees is the industry's widest. It added that in the important cask-ale category, the range of beers from members of the Society of Independent Brewers is growing, totalling 1,230 beers from 312 brewers in the past 12 months.

Greene King Pub Partners said: "We offer a wide range of products with supply agreements. We will have 12 seasonal ales all year from May and two guest ales, bringing the choice of cask ales to between eight and 10 per month."

Pubcos give their views on upward-only rent review clauses

TISC also called on pubcos to remove any upward-only rent review (UORR) clauses. Marston's commented: "Our new lease agreements do not have an UORR, and older legacy agreements are, as a result of recent acquisitions, being removed over time."

Greene King said: "This has been removed from new agreements and is not imposed on old ones."

Enterprise responded: "We had already complied with this recommendation before the TISC report. Our retail partnership agreement provides that the rent will go to market value at review, whether that is above or below the passing rent.

Punch noted: "Our existing agreement does not contain an UORR provision and we continue to seek to convert all our old agreements."