Rachael Maskell MP with the Campaign for Pubs and the Business Minister
Rachael Maskell MP with the Campaign for Pubs and the Business Minister

Rachael Maskell and York pub campaigner Paul Crossman met with Justin Madders MP, the Business Minister, to discuss the challenges local pubs are facing in the light of the regulatory system which denies local publicans the powers they need to run their pubs for the community.

In the meeting with the Minister, which was also attended by Greg Mulholland and Nigel Jones, two of Paul’s colleagues from Campaign for Pubs, the York Central MP, Rachael Maskell called for a community-led review of pubs, so that people who use British pubs and those who run pubs in our communities could set out the changes that they want to see to enable every pub to become a real beacon in the community. For too long, large pub companies have controlled the sector, ensuring that their products are sold at marked up prices, while presiding over highly questionable leasing arrangements.

The Government introduced a sector regulator to try and redress this imbalance, but things have got worse since, with a loss of over 20,000 pubs across the country to less than 39,000 today, while local tenants, including in York, are battling with the giant pub companies for their future.

Rachael Maskell MP says:
“With a Labour Government which understands the need to empower communities and support community assets, like pubs, undertaking a community-led review of the sector would provide the Government a significant opportunity to enable communities to determine how their locals serve their local communities, including the drinks, food and services it provides. Currently the grip that the major pub companies has on these local businesses, means that many are being run into the ground and closing, while they profit out of the system, pocketing their rewards in off shore bank accounts. The business model is broken and this Labour Government must fix it.”

Paul Crossman, York Publican says:
“This was an important opportunity to convey the reality of the pub industry to the heart of the new Government. The fact is much of the UK pub sector is blighted and held back by the anti-competitive behaviour of a small handful of dominant, almost exclusively offshore-owned, private equity property companies and global brewing giants. Under current rules they are freely allowed to operate as an apparent cartel in order to extract excessive profits from tenanted pub businesses, whilst actively excluding independent craft brewers and other UK SME producers from the supply chain.

“The system limits competition and customer choice and ultimately sees much of the wealth generated within communities by small tenant pub businesses not only syphoned out of the industry but out of our national economy. If the Government is looking for economic growth, then creating a fair and open market in the pub sector should be a top priority.”

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