Independent Pub Confederation slams pubco's lack of reform
The Independent Pub Confederation (IPC) has criticised pub companies for doing little to reform the industry since a damning report from MPs was published in May.
The newly-formed umbrella body, which represents organisations including Fair Pint, the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) and the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), appeared yesterday at a follow-up evidence session following the publication of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee's report.
Karl Harrison, from the Fair Pint campaign, said: "Our experience is that there has been little movement on the ground, certainly in terms of the large pubcos.
"There has been continuing pressure on tenants, there has been continuing churn in the large pubco estates, there have been heavy-handed evictions, closures, breaches of codes and there has been a denial of problems generally in the sector."
And while the IPC welcomed the idea of making the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) code mandatory across the industry, it questioned how effective the British Beer & Pub Association's (BBPA) planned new code of practice, set to be implemented in June next year, would be in helping to creating a level playing field between pub lessees and the pubcos.
The BBPA's chief executive Brigid Simmonds said her organisation was "serious about making changes" and that the code would ensure "a low cost process that they lessees] can take action if they don't believe that the rent that has been set is the right rent."
The BBPA's code would see persistent offenders threatened with removal from the association, and Simmonds also claimed that it would be enforceable in a court of law.
But Kate Nicholls, secretary of the IPC and head of communications at the ALMR said: "I don't see that there is a truly independent and effective sanction here. The industry can't sit in judgement of itself.
"A statutory code is the only way you can deliver true enforceability. We haven't moved forward since 1989. We have no enforceable code of practice in this industry."
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By Neil Gerrard
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