Pubs Code

ITV documentary on pubs code to air tonight

07-Dec-2016 - Last updated on 08-Dec-2016 at 09:21 GMT

On the spot: pubs code adjudicator Paul Newby will give his first TV interview

Paul Newby will discuss opposition to his appointment as pubs code adjudicator as part of an ITV documentary on the code that will air tonight (December 8).

ITV Tonight: The Great British Pub Revolution will see former CEO of Fleurets, Newby, tell reporter Jonny Maitland that he declared his financial interest in Fleurets to the Government and it was not seen as "a bar to [his] ability to do this job fairly and impartially".

The chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee (BIS), Iain Wright MP, has been one of Newby's most outspoken critics and has been interviewed for the ITV programme. "It’s almost like Manchester United are playing Hartlepool United but the referee, who is meant to be completely impartial, has stakes in the sponsor of Man United," Wright will tell Tonight. "When you blow the whistle as a referee, you have to be impartial."

The pubs code, which gives a variety of extra rights to tenants of the six biggest pub companies, including the right to the market rent-only (MRO) option, came into law in July. Since then, Newby has already received 79 requests for arbitration in just the first four months of the code being law.

One of these licensees that requested arbitration will feature on the programme. Trudy Thomas from the Riflemans Arms in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, requested MRO from Marston's, but the pubco offered her an MRO rent of £46,000 – double her current rent of £23,000.

As well as covering the pubs code, the documentary will take a wider look at the changing landscape of pubs across the UK. They will be covering such stories as the community in Norton Lindsey, Warwickshire, which raised £300,000 to buy their local off Enterprise Inns and the illegal demolition of the Carlton Tavern in Maida Vale, London.