Pubcos: we didn't do enough after TISC

The pub industry invited the emotive response of the Business and Enterprise Committee (BEC) committee by not acting on recommendations previous the previous inquiry.

That was what delegates were told at M&C Report's Future of Pub Retailing 2009, held today in London.

Alistair Darby, managing director of Marston's Pub Company, told the conference that the BEC inquiry was a "wake up call" for the industry.

The audience of top sector individuals heard that leased and tenanted pub companies had not acted quickly enough on the machine tie and a number of issues raised in the 2004 Trade & Industry Select Committee (TISC) report. As a result they had to act faster following BEC.

"In the end you can't hide from a number of issues that were raised," added Darby.

"They were able to say emotive things about the tie that somebody who wasn't protected by parliamentary privilege wouldn't have been able to say.

"We should just acknowledge there were consequences of not going far enough after TISC."

Francis Patton, non-executive director of Milestone, added: "The BEC was a lot more emotive. The lessee groups were better planned and they focused purely on the tie.

"We should have done more with TISC. We had a wake up call back then and I don't think we did enough on it."