Pub licensee joins MP race in Gosport

An Admiral Taverns tenant has been named as the Lib Dem candidate for Gosport at the next general election.

Rob Hylands, who runs the Foresters Arms hopes to overturn a substantial Conservative majority.

The incumbent Sir Peter Viggers is to stand down in May after he was embroiled in the expenses saga after claiming for a duck house.

"I think I'm ideally placed running a pub," said Hylands. "I get to hear about all the local issues.

"I could be standing round with a pint moaning but I've decided to stand up and do something about it."

Hylands is already a local councillor and secretary of the pubwatch so how will he cope with running an election campaign too?

"My wife is a very hard working licensee. She has been trying to work out how to cover me if I become an MP but she can't work out what I actually do," he joked.

Hylands said a Lib Dem Government would stand up for community pubs. "The vast majority of community pubs do not cause binge drinking," he said.

"Those issues are caused by cheap supermarket alcohol or perhaps the larger town centre nightclubs.

"But communities need facilities like pubs where they can come together to talk about local issues and play darts or have a sing on the karaoke at weekends.

"Community pubs also help to show that not all young people are hoodies and hooligans."

He believes that pubcos should simply become property companies and sever the beer tie.

"The pubcos would have less overheads and we would have more choice. That's got to be good business sense."