Landlord demands Fairer Pint (From Free Press Series)

Landlord demands Fairer Pint

2:30pm Thursday 9th July 2009

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A SEBASTOPOL pub has joined a national campaign in a bid to get a fairer deal for landlords buying beer.

Phil Jones, manager of the Open Hearth on Wern Road signed up to the Fair Pint campaign. The pub is currently tied in a lease agreement with brewery Enterprise Inns, which means the pub has no choice but to buy beer and supplies from Enterprise even though it is cheaper elsewhere.

Mr Jones said: “It’s about raising awareness to end beer duty. We’re trying to get as many MPs as possible to write to the Prime Minister because we’re being ripped off by the people who own the pubs.”

Mr Jones, who started running the Open Hearth three years ago, believes despite business being good his family makes little profit, "because we pay way too much for our beer".

A spokeswoman for Enterprise said that from a tied licensee’s perspective, the ‘compensation’ for paying more for beer is that he or she pays much less rent and may receive a vast array of additional support services. She said the cost of operating a tied lease pub compares favourably with that of a free-of-tie lease or the cost of owning a free house.

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