Minister to speak with Sky about charges

A government minister has told Parliament he will speak to Sky and Setanta about help they can offer small pubs, which struggle to afford the subscription fees.

Licensing minister Gerry Sutcliffe said he would see what the satellite companies "can do for the smaller pub". "I undertake to ensure that we at least talk to them about the possibility," he said.

Sutcliffe was responding to concerns raised by Nigel Evans, vice-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group.

Evans said: "Does my hon. friend agree that something else that disadvantages a lot of small pubs with high rateable values is the fact that they are unable to put on Sky Sports, and particularly some football matches, because the charges are so prohibitively large?"

The MPs were speaking during a wide-ranging debate​ in Parliament yesterday about the threats currently facing pubs.

Tory MP Laurence Robertson, who introduced the debate, gave an overview of the issues affecting the industry - including the role of the pubcos.

He said all MPs present recognised a "monopolistic situation" existed and he was looking forward to seeing the outcome of the BEC inquiry into pubcos.

However, he is "not against pubcos", he added, and pointed to figures suggesting only 14 per cent of closures were pubs owned by the top six pubcos.

"I am not saying that they do not do a good job in some cases, but I am highlighting a difficulty," he said.

Robertson also called for beer tax to be reduced, but then admitted: "I do not suppose that the government will do that."

But he warned: "If people continue to turn away from pubs, it will be counter-productive from a health point of view because supermarkets will fill the void in a dangerous way."

The supermarkets were also attacked by Robertson for selling alcohol as a loss-leader. He added: "All the people who buy from supermarkets then drink unsupervised.

"Pubs provide a supervised forum for drinking; supermarkets do not. Under-age people are often—not always, by any means—able to get alcohol from supermarkets very cheaply and cause trouble in communities as a result."

On the smoking ban, he suggested pubs had not seen many extra customers arrive since the ban and separate smoking areas "could have been so much better".

"I do not mean this discourteously, but if people are fair-weather patrons of pubs, they do not spend much money," he said. "They are entitled to sit in the corner with an orange juice all night—that is their privilege and I defend their right to do so—but that does not keep the pubs going."

Sutcliffe, who said he was pleased to support The Publican's ​Proud of Pubs week, said he would respond to the Beer Group's report on community pubs "very shortly".