last orders at the bar
We’re all well aware of the fact that a great number of pubs are closing every week and the supposed reasons for this trend are legion: the smoking ban, changing tastes & drinking habits, ‘front-loading’ & supermarket prices, deregulated opening hours, increased tenancy costs, an increased intolerance of drink-driving et al. Now, it might have passed you by, but last week saw this miserable coalition government defeated for the first time on a Commons’ bill, and it’s a defeat that should do a little to help reverse this trend.
The defeating vote heralds the end of the ‘beer tie’, which forces the landlord of a pub to buy their booze from the company he rents the pub from, that is, a ‘tied house’. The Tories wanted these companies to be seen as traditional & timeless heritage organisations: all dray horses, harvested hops, coopers battling with barrels and John Major raising his pint of warm ale in celebration of another century scored. Except these companies are not in the business of traditional brewing, they’re in the business of maximising profit and ensuring the healthiest of returns for their invisible shareholders. And they do this by compelling their landlords to buy at the price they wish to choose, not at a price that neither the landlord nor the business can actually afford to do so. Why, they’re not even called breweries these days, they’re pubcos, and they’re the reason why the five pound pint is now a common sight in your local boozer. Personally, I’m delighted to raise a glass to their demise.
