Prosecution of beef-ban rebels is abandoned

The prosecutions hanging over two publicans who continued to serve T-bone steaks throughout the beef-on-the-bone ban have finally been dropped.

The climbdown follows the dropping of charges against catering's first beef-on-the-bone rebel, Jim Sutherland of the Lodge hotel in Carfraemill, Scotland, who was let off the hook before Christmas.

Rother District Council in Sussex said last week that, following the Government's removal of the two-year restriction in December, it will no longer be pursuing Alan Coomber of the Bell Inn in Iden, near Rye.

Legal hurdles had thwarted the authority's attempts to prosecute, with the case being adjourned 15 times at Hastings Magistrates' Court.

And on Friday the case brought by North Yorkshire Trading Standards against Chris Bowman of the Drovers in Bishop Thornton, Harrogate, was dropped during a half-hour hearing. Bowman had faced six adjournments, the last on the day when agriculture minister Nick Brown announced the lifting of the ban.

Coomber welcomed the decision to end a tussle that had cost him £1,500 in legal fees. "I could have made them look very silly, but I could have ended up with a lot more costs," he said. He added that the giant 28oz steaks he served were his pub's speciality and, "I would have been letting down a lot of customers if I had stopped serving them."

While pleased at the outcome, Bowman added: "I just feel disappointed that an intelligent country like ourselves could let this sort of thing come about in the first place." He said the judge had decreed that his legal costs - estimated to run into thousands - should be reclaimed by trading standards from the Government.

by Angela Frewin and Juliet Morrison

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 27 January - 2 February 2000