Fair Pint: BBPA must look at bigger picture
Anti-pubco campaign group Fair Pint has claimed the pubco plan for reform only addresses a "tiny piece of the jigsaw".
The pub trade commenced hostilities again today as the landmark mediation talks to broker an agreement between tenants and pubcos broke down late last night.
Fair Pint has formed an umbrella group — the Independent Pub Confederation (IPC) — along with key tenant trade bodies and consumer groups to push for reform (Pub trade back at war).
The BBPA has set out its own plan for reform (Pubcos set out 'fundamental reform').
"The Business and Enterprise Select Committee's report highlighted the unfairness of the economic relationship between tied pub tenants and pub owning companies," said Fair Pint founding member Steve Corbett.
"The report stated that whilst tenants bore most of the risk of running a pub business it was clear that they do not enjoy a fair share of the rewards and that the only solution to the crisis facing the industry would be a re-balancing of that relationship.
"This agreement does nothing to rebalance this relationship between pub owning companies and their tenants and simply enshrines existing good practice in the management of tenancies.
"Fair Pint will continue to work with the main groups representing tenants and consumers to ensure the action is taken to in response to the main issues raised by the Select Committee and that publicans are given a fair deal.
"The BBPA agreement is very interesting but it does not in anyway address the bigger picture of concern painted by BEC. Their agreement is one tiny piece of the jigsaw, the other pieces are set out in this new IPC document."
