Winning friends and influencing people

No stranger to controversy he, Enterprise Inns chief executive Ted Tuppen certainly put the cat among the pigeons last week.

Coming on the day the pubcos were given a right proper mauling at the Business and Enterprise Committee inquiry, Tuppen's forthright views on licensees who broke the terms of their lease agreement won him few friends. Will he care? Of course not.

Besides, his view - one with which I have a degree of sympathy - is that people should know what they're getting into when they sign a lease agreement with a pubco.

If I rent or even buy a leasehold property and it says I can't have a dog I'm in breach of my lease if I get one. And if my property's landlord is a pussy lover, who knows, maybe I could end up losing my home.

Surely when people take on a tied leasehold pub they understand they have to pay the nasty old pubco an inflated price for their beer. Don't they? If they don't, then it should be made clear to them.

But then on the other side of the fence, I've heard from many licensees around the country lately who've said they could just about tolerate the tie if only their area manager answered the phone occasionally.

I've also heard from other industry types, none of whom would describe themselves as members of a cabal of 'rebel' licensees, who believe the tide has to turn and that pubcos have to be more flexible and understanding with regard to their licensees.

This must be the way forward, especially in this trading environment. In whose interest is it to have hundreds, possibly thousands of licensees throwing in the towel? Surely not the pubcos'?

Greater co-operation between both sides is needed. As opposed to blood, thunder and not-so-veiled threats.