Regulation is strangling our pubs

There are so many dismaying facts in the latest report on the state of the pub trade, but one above all seems to leap out: believe it or not — and readers at the end of their tether surely will — it's now taking licensees one and a half days a week, on average, to deal with all the red tape that Government keeps dumping on them.

Whether it be 120-page documents on working time directives, 80 pages of website material for TUPE obligations or calculating statutory sick pay, the burden of regulation is playing a major role in strangling the life out of the nation's pubs.

And this is particularly so of community pubs — the subject of the excellent report this week from the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group (APPBG). Witnesses to its Community Pub Inquiry regularly told MPs of the disproportionate weight of red tape bearing down on community pubs.

As ALMR chief executive Nick Bish put it: "Burdens fall greatest on the sole operators. They've less to fall back on than larger companies, and a small slippage in their profitability brings them closer to the edge." The point was echoed by Enterprise's chief operating officer Simon Townsend, who talked of "the burden of receiving information, understanding, implementing and keeping up to date. Regulators don't seem to think about this hideous burden of administration on small traders. It's very, very difficult for them."

As one would hope from our champion in Government, Licensing Minister Gerry Sutcliffe committed himself to looking at these problems. And he pointed to the work being done by the Better Regulation Executive's investigation into this exact problem, which he hopes may offer some solutions for licensees everywhere.

Identifying the need for specific measures of individual help across a range of issues is the APPBG report's chief strength. Too often, industry reports provide valuable overviews, but lack practical remedies. This report engages with nitty-gritty details of licensees' day-to- day lives, and points out how Government could make a massive difference to what it claims to recognise as an essential part of British culture. The community-pub ball is now well and truly in the politicians' court.

Beautiful Beer​

Beautiful Beer has done so many things right that it comes as a real shock to see it de-geared by the British Beer & Pub Association. Beer and food matching, better glassware, women drinkers and quality signage for discerning consumers are all high on the agenda because of the work done by the Beautiful Beer team. But now, because the money is needed to fight bigger issues, the initiative may just falter. Retailers who have committed to BB would be entitled to feel let down. So would everyone who cares about the image of beer. Don't let it die!