Jumping to it?

To the untrained eye it could look as if brewers and pub operators have been falling over themselves to do right by their licensees in the wake of the BEC report - perhaps even as a direct consequence of it.

This would be overdoing it, rather. The recession had already prompted the more fair-minded operator to pitch in with support for tenants and lessees where it was needed.

But there can be little doubt that BEC has got people thinking about how they run their businesses. Changes are certainly afoot. And recent moves by some companies to remove machine income from any future rent negotiations might well be claimed as a victory by the anti-pubco lobby.

Whether such a claim, if made, was merited is debatable. But there is no doubt that, on top of the recession, pressure from the likes of Fair Pint and politicians has made a difference. Would companies that are now 'de-rentalising' machine income have done so had there not been such a hoo-hah from MPs? I'm not so sure.

I was surprised that Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns didn't present an AWP 'olive branch' when sitting before the BEC Committee last December. It might have taken some of the wind out of MPs' sails. But hey, spilt milk and all that.

Keen as they are to avoid a referral to the Competition Commission, who knows what pubcos will offer next…

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Just when Mitchells & Butlers' (M&B) executives thought it was safe to go back into the boardroom it seems 'rebel' shareholders want to stick a couple of their people on the top table again.

M&B must have thought it had put this sort of thing behind it after Robert Tchenguiz sold his 20-odd per cent stake to billionaire Joe Lewis. It looks like it isn't out of the woods yet.