Adam Withrington: Bickering while Rome burns...
Whatever you think of Fair Pint, the group has served a valuable purpose in this current political climate. They have shamed our industry and our trade associations. While undoubtedly well-funded and highly-motivated all it has taken is the hiring of a decent public affairs agency by Fair Pint to take control of the political agenda.
Connect PR by all accounts has performed slickly and professionally - getting highly-detailed dossiers on the issue out to relevant and important MPs, drumming up support, organising excellent public events for their client.
Whatever you think of their motives, they are making progress - they are achieving.
Our trade associations however - and here I am really referring to the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) and the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) - appear to find themselves in a parallel universe: competing for the grand prize in the "who is the best trade association?" competition.
For the winner: garlands, trade praise and drinks with industry bigwigs; for the loser the shame of not being "in the game". And let's face it, in these troubled economic times, the potential closure of the organisation - will retailers really want to pay to be in two trade associations?
What do I mean? Well let us look at last week's announcement of a trade meeting by the ALMR, inviting industry protagonists together to discuss the beer tie and the BEC report.
Why has the ALMR intervened when it is BBPA member companies that have been named and shamed by BEC? It is a move that looks highly political on their part. A need to justify their existence? Or an attempt to steal some thunder from the BBPA?
And the BBPA reaction to the ALMR's move has been predictably furious. Publicly the organisation initially stated it would not be attending the meeting. Privately there have been some explosive conversations going on between very senior industry figures.
It begs the question why have these two organisations with their many pubco members not joined together - why are they not demonstrating unity?
The answer is they are both not interested. As Sparks once sang: "This town ain't big enough for the both of us."
It is politicking - jockeying for position at the most inappropriate time for this industry that I can possibly think of.
This is game time - this is where the industry has to step up to the plate together armed with impressive arguments, contacts coursing through the corridors of power to create real influence.
And what have we actually got? Two trade associations squaring off with each other in a "who's got the more impressive meeting" competition.
All the while they are being outmanoeuvred by the comparatively new and tiny Fair Pint. I freely admit it is easier for a small single-issue group like Fair Pint to get its point across, compared to organisations which have many members of different sizes and scales, with different agendas.
But while ALMR and BBPA duke it out Fair Pint is continuing to lobby MPs - many of whom are desperately trying to find a worthy cause to throw their weight behind, following weeks of scandal and unrest in Westminster. And many are homing in on the beer tie debate following the publishing of the BEC report.
They are hearing how pubcos are ruining the industry, ripping off licensees, charging too much for beer, tying publicans in to punitive contracts…
But are they hearing the other side of the debate? How if the tie is abolished we will lose some of the biggest cask ale brewers in the country overnight?
Do I exaggerate? Do you think Greene King, Marston's, Adnams, Hook Norton, St Austell, Shepherd Neame, JW Lees, Fuller's, Everards and Brains (I could keep going) will keep brewing if the tie is abolished - when the margins are so low and the only guaranteed business comes through the tie?
What about all the jobs that will be lost as a result of the breweries closing down?
What about the effects the end of the tie will have on local communities with breweries that will close down?
I don't believe MPs are hearing all sides of the story. If they are, then MPs are not listening - perhaps refusing to believe an industry that can't even get its own house in order.
If the BBPA and ALMR don't stop politicking then they won't need to worry about who is left as the most influential trade body left because their members will have disappeared.
If the tie goes we may as well all go and join the British Retail Consortium, as all pubs will be buying their beer from supermarkets…
