Punch says it will attend Fair Pint summit
Pubco giant Punch Taverns has confirmed it will be represented at an event organised by anti-beer tie campaigners next week.
Fair Pint has invited major players from across the trade to its summit meeting in Westminster on Tuesday, including Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns.
The latter has yet to confirm, but Punch will be sending a representative.
A company spokeswoman said the move was part of its response to the highly critical Business and Enterprise Committee (BEC) report into pubco power.
She said: "As part of this commitment, we are active members of the mediation process, which is seeking to deliver an industry wide solution to the concerns identified in the committee's report.
"Fair Pint has been involved in this initial dialogue and we would urge them to continue to participate in the mediation process, so that we achieve a desirable outcome for the industry, and more importantly for licensees.
"As part of our commitment to listen we are prepared to send a representative to the session on July 14 to observe proceedings and feed back key concerns from any of our licensees in attendance."
The Fair Pint Summit - Calling Time on the Tie: The Way Forward will be held at Portcullis House in Westminster.
Tenants, front bench MPs from the three main political parties, brewers, trade group heads and members of the BEC are also expected to attend.
Meanwhile, representatives from across the trade are due to attend a second mediation meeting tomorrow, which is expected to focus on whether companies are prepared to sign up to an official mediation process to sort out issues around the pubco model.
