Pubco-Price Escalator And A Fair Deal For Local Pubs

EDM number 1170 in 2013-14, proposed by Greg Mulholland on 11/03/2014.
Categorised under the topics of Companies, Leisure, Service industries and Taxation.

That this House welcomes the 2013 beer duty cut and calls for a freeze in 2014; believes that this has benefited brewers but not pubco tenants who face above inflation pubco price increases; notes that Rob Willock, editor of the Publican's Morning Advertiser called this the pubco price escalator and agrees with his comments on 23 October 2013 that "there is one area in which pubco lessees still regularly appear to suffer in the relationship with their landlord that remains unregulated and potentially unfair - that of beer pricing" and that "pubcos fought passionately against the beer-duty-escalator - and won their concession. It's not fair for them to impose the same sort of mechanism on their lessees"; further notes that over six years from 2003 the price of an 11 gallons keg of Foster's increased to Enterprise Inns tenants 4.5 times the increase to freehouses; further notes the latest pubco price hike in February 2014, not followed by wholesalers; deplores Punch Taverns'

This motion has been signed by a total of 20 MPs.