Hamish Champ: So, that's the tie issue settled then...isn't it?

"The rejection of the complaint should eliminate or materially reduce the level of white noise from anti-pubco campaigners."

That was the view of one City analyst last week after the Office of Fair Trading - soon to be merged with the Competition Commission - rejected CAMRA's beer tie 'super complaint'.

"Eliminate"? "Materially reduce"? I somehow doubt it. CAMRA are certain to keep plugging away, and pub sector-minded MPs will still want to see that landlord groups don't set beer prices at unfair levels.

The thing is, if the tie eventually does go and beer can be bought more cheaply, won't licensees - excellent businessmen and women that they are - simply keep bar prices at the same level and pocket the difference, meaning pub customers wouldn't be better off. surely the opposite of CAMRA's goal?

On the other hand, will newly-liberated pubs offer their beer at lower prices to drive footfall?

Perhaps it's just living in London, but apart from visits to a Wetherspoons outlet one pays between £3 and £4 for a pint whichever sort of pub one visits, tied or otherwise.

So what would YOU do if you could source your beer wherever you liked? Lower the price of the stuff in your pub, or keep the difference?

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Michael Portillo, former chief beancounter at the Treasury, made for an interesting choice as guest speaker at the British Beer & Pub Association's (BBPA) first annual dinner last week.

His fiscal insight was as sharp as a razor when he warned that this or any other government was "addicted" to alcohol since it was a great way to raise valuable tax revenue; duty rises were inevitable, he said.

But when he tried to be funny the politician-turned TV Parliamentary pundit looked, well, uncomfortable.

And when he talked about specifically about pubs he went off the rails altogether. He waxed lyrical regarding the contribution of the village pub and the additional services it should offer to rural communities, but if pubs existed outside such places he was keeping quiet.

Talking of pubs and communities, I was sad to hear that the John Evelyn, a pub in Deptford, South East London, near where I live, has been sold off for alternative use.

Admiral Taverns, which owns the pub, sold the building to Paddy Power, which is turning it into a betting shop. Because, like, the world needs more bookies, doesn't it?

The John Evelyn regularly featured in the award-winning 2007 TV documentary series 'The Tower', which followed the lives of a number of Deptford residents, and Doug Elsley, the pub's landlord for nearly 20 years, is gutted. He told my local newspaper, the News Shopper​, the closure is "completely and utterly destroying the community".

Ten pubs have closed in Deptford in the last year. It has to be said not all the remaining ones are classics, but the Dog & Bell on Prince St is thriving. If you're ever in the area, check it out.