MPs have raised concerns about key issues affecting the pub trade - including supermarket pricing and the beer tie - during a debate in Parliament today.
But community pub ministers Bob Neill offered little hope of swift government action on many of the issues.
Pubcos, supermarket pricing, the smoking ban, live music red tape and planning were all covered during the three hour "Future of the Pub" Westminster Hall debate, as violence flared outside Parliament.
Tory MP Karen Bradley, who led the debate, said the pubco model was "clever" but it led to licensees being "squeezed", where the more successful they were, the more rent goes up.
"It's important we ask the pubcos to look at the way rents are set," said Bradley, whose parents have run a pub for the last 43 years. She also said tenants should have the option of a guest beer.
Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland pointed out that some small pubcos were opening pubs, while "large pubcos who have different business models are in trouble and in debt and are having to get rid of pubs every week".
Mulholland claimed that some pub owners who do not want a pub anymore "deliberately" run them down by "picking an inappropriate person to run them".
However Andrew Griffiths, MP for Burton and Utoxeter, defended the pubcos, saying that many "offer a great product and offer people the chance to start their own small business."
Later he said the "elephant in the room" was the issue of supermarkets selling alcohol at irresponsibly low prices, which was changing people's drinking habits and encouraging young people to pre-load.
"We cannot allow a situation where the supermarkets are fuelling binge-drinking," he said.
A number of MPs also raised concerns about the amount of red tape around pubs hosting live music - and called for the government to act.
Community Pubs minister Bob Neill said it was a "positive debate". He said the government was still committed to a below-cost ban and announcement on restrictive covenants was due later this month.
He also reminded pubcos that the government would look at the beer tie if they had not adhered to voluntary codes of practice by next June.
It also emerged during the debate that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and DEFRA raised major concerns about forcing pubs to offer free tap water as part of the mandatory code.
To view the full debate click here