If the beer tie is not broken, communities will lose their pubs for good — that was the stark message from Fair Pint campaigners on the Tonight programme examining pub closures.
The Closing Time? programme, broadcast on Friday evening, looked at issues such as the smoking ban, cheap supermarket booze, Government regulation and the beer tie after the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) revealed that five pubs every day are now closing.
Fair Pint campaigners, and Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprise (S&NPE) lessees at the Sun & Doves pub in Camberwell, Mark Dodds and Nicky Francey spoke out against the beer tie and pubco model.
The campaigners want an end to the beer tie and for pubcos to be limited to owning 500 pubs.
"We should be given the freedom to shop around and choose the beers we want to sell and find the best prices for us," said Francey. "The tie system is just morally wrong.
"You are watching the death of an industry because it is being squeezed so hard."
Dodds added: "There is no issue of partnership or fairness in the whole relationship whatsoever."
Francey warned: "If the campaign fails, then we lose our businesses and communities lose their pubs. If we fail, everyone fails."
However, BBPA director of communications Mark Hastings defended the pubco model. "Less than 14% of the current pub closures are in the major pub companies," he said.
"I think that is a clear demonstration that the pubco model is far more resilient and far more responsive to the needs of pubs than the free trade model."
S&NPE also responded to the claims made by Dodds and Francey. It said it took "great care to explain how the lease works and rent is calculated" and also urged all prospective lessees to seek independent financial, legal and business advice.
Cheap drinks and smoking ban
The programme also looked at rising costs, cheap supermarket drink and the impact of the smoking ban. Hastings warned that the industry was in a "really vicious circle" because of the tide of rising costs and the credit crunch.
Gill McHale, licensee at the Painters Arms outside Leeds, hinted that the pub would flout the ban. She said 85% of her customers prior to the ban were smokers. "How long do you go on working for nothing before you throw the keys back," she said.
Head of Steam boss and licensee Tony Brookes featured his Stuff the Supermarkets campaign, where he offers customers two free bottled ales to take away if they drink eight pints at his pub.
"Supermarkets are selling cans of lager for 22p," he said. "That is totally wrong and totally immoral.
"If we carry on like this, the whole pub industry could disappear in 10 to 20 years."