Mark Daniels: EU don't care about us

Last week, the EU ruled that the Beer Tie is perfectly legal. Cue a load of harumphing from people who disagree with them, but should we really be surprised by this decision?

I have to say I wasn't - and, it seems, nor were some of the people actively involved in campaigning against the Tie.

So why did the EU decide the Tie is perfectly fine and that they don't need to bother themselves with legislating against it? Well, the first argument could be that they don't really care. After all, the European Union have administered far more draconian rules on the British public in recent years.

Or the other reason could be that they took one look at the Tie and said: "what's wrong with that?"

'Franchise' is, unfortunately, a dirty word amongst publicans but, essentially, one of the reasons that many of us bought in to our tenancies in the first place was that it didn't cost us a lot of money compared to buying our own pub. That's a bit like an optician who wants to have his own practice but can't afford - or isn't willing to risk - the full investment of setting up on his own.

So he buys a Specsavers franchise instead, and all the contractual obligations that brings with it.

Many of the arguments that are put before the various commissions looking in to our industry appear to ignore the fact that there is a trade off between the low cost of entry and the ongoing costs of the business as there are with other businesses that are locked in to 'tied' contracts.

Complaining about it is like getting married then insisting that, for fairness, you should be allowed to sleep around.

I agree that the price we pay for product as tied tenants is grossly out of kilter with free-trade prices, and that this does need reviewing, and I agree that the business practices of some of the pub companies are questionable and they and their staff need to be brought to task on this, but there is nothing wrong with the principle of having a fair price difference in place to offset the fact that we bought in to our businesses at a much lower cost and with much less financial risk than those who purchased the freehold of their pub.

With less than a week to go until the General Election, every politician worth his salt will tell people in this trade that he wants to help pubs. But he also wants your vote. Afterwards, he'll probably forget he even had a conversation with a publican because he'll realise just what a state the rest of the country is in and will be focusing on doing his bit to rectify this.

The Tie isn't perfect, but it also isn't wrong, and there are many variants of it across all different types of industry, both domestic and commercial. It's worth remembering this, as much as it's worth remembering that there are freehold publicans out there who are also struggling at the moment.

This is why the EU have dismissed it and why - once all the politicking of the coming week is out of the way - our politicians will dismiss it too.