Hamish Champ: An important week for the pub sector
It's going to be a busy week for politicians with an interest in the pub trade and for those within the pub trade with an interest in persuading such politicians to leave well alone - or to roll their sleeves up and get stuck into it big time.
The Business, Innovations and Skills committee (BISC) sits tomorrow to hear presentations from several parties from within the pub sector. It hardly seems like a year since we witnessed the last occasion MPs and pub industry types met in such circumstances. If you will recall, last year's shindig was anything but dull.
MPs gave UK pubco bosses and trade representatives a rough ride last time out, though sometimes the tone of their questioning sounded less like information-gathering, more like the Spanish Inquisition. I'm sure those giving evidence didn't expect a Spanish Inquisition.
But, as we all know, "nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, whose chief weapon is surprise. Surprise and fear... fear and surprise... Whose two weapons are fear and surprise... and ruthless efficiency. Whose three (Yes, that's enough. Ed).
Sorry.
Obviously this year's get-together will be different in as much as Enterprise Inns' Ted Tuppen and Punch Taverns' Giles Thorley won't be in attendance. Everyone who saw that hearing won't forget it in a hurry.
But there still might be fireworks this week. With everyone from the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and Fair Pint playing a part in proceedings the BISC hearing is sure to throw up a few interesting moments.
MPs, led by BISC chairman Peter Luff MP, will want to know where things stand several months after the publication of their earlier report on the sector, notably how much the industry has moved toward offering tenants and lessees a better deal.
The BBPA, representing the large companies, will have to work its socks off to convince MPs its members are committed to reform. For those carrying the banner for the tenant and lessee populations, meanwhile, the debate is effectively theirs to lose.
But the arguments are complex and the BIS committee could come down on either side. What is not in doubt is that a lot of serious lobbying from both sides will have been going on right up to the point the latest meeting convenes at 10.30am in Portcullis House tomorrow.
Then there's another factor to consider; the future of some of the trade's bodies themselves is under the spotlight. Having tendered its resignation to the BBPA Greene King promises not to return. How long before someone else does the same?
Or perhaps the BBPA can prove itself in the coming days and weeks and convince its leading members it's up to the task of representing their views more effectively than could be the case if they were to follow the Suffolk brewer's path.
This week will not only be a busy one; it could prove to be a watershed for the trade as a whole.
