The Morning Advertiser has launched a Manifesto for restoring trust between licensees and pubcos.
To keep politicians out of our business, the trade must show it can sort out its own problems. To that end, trade leaders must take the following steps...
• Amusement with prizes machines must be freed from tie
• Rent setting, and insurance, must become transparent
• Licensees must not be penalised for success. Long-term leases should offer free-of-tie option and reflect commercial property terms
• Cheap, quick and independent dispute resolution service must be set up
The Morning Advertiser is calling for a Group Of All The Talents to be set up to drive change. We back the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers' call for such a round-table body to discuss and solve the above issues as quickly as possible.
All sides of the industry must be represented round the table.
A strong and independent individual, preferably with industry knowledge, should chair.
Putting our own house in order by Andrew Pring
What will Peter Mandelson do with his latest hot potato? Will the head of BERR, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, take up Peter Luff's call last week — backed now by two powerful unions — for a full-scale review of the pubco system? Or will he say the regulators have always supported the tie and anyway the market is already leading to the right kind of changes and so just bat it away?
It will be a very anxious two months for many in the trade as they await his lordship's decision. Though some licensees, driven to despair by their pubco, will be praying for a new Beer Orders, far more people in our trade will be fervently hoping that politicians and regulators stay as far away as possible from the complexities of the pub business. The thought of Pandora's Pub Box being well and truly thrown open, with no one sure of what the consequences of new legislation might be, is an understandably worrying prospect.
But with the Prime Minister asking to be briefed by the GMB and MPs keen to be seen as supportive of pubs, pressure is building for something to be done.
The best way to lance that pressure and keep Government out of the trade is to demonstrate that we can sort out our own problems by ourselves.
That's why the Morning Advertiser has launched a new campaign this week, calling for a pan-industry approach to solving the most controversial issues that dog the trade and can poison relations between licensee and pubco.
Called "Trust In The Trade, " our manifesto published on the front page this week, owes much to the recent call by the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers for a fresh approach to the division of profits between those running the pub and those who own it.
We too believe that a round-table group consisting of leading players from across the pub spectrum can work together to achieve significant progress towards more harmonious relations. With a strong chairman in place, and the will and determination of all parties to devise realistic solutions, there is every chance to sort out profit share and lease conditions.
That way, licensees can enjoy the fruits of any success their hard work and business skills deliver. And pubcos will attract and retain far happier and more profitable licensees.
Supporting Trust In The Trade is the best way to persuade politicians that intervention is not necessary.
But quick action is required. Unless the new body emerges in the next two months, then the likelihood is that we will be seen to be a backward industry that fails its licensees. The stage will be set for a new Beer Orders and whatever — for good or bad — may flow from that.