Today I’ll be voting for a new clause in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill to protect local pubs. I’m grateful to the many pub tenants and pub goers of Brighton who’ve contacted me about this, and to the Campaign for Real ale and other organisations backing the ‘Fair Deal for Your Local’ campaign, who’ve campaigned tirelessly on this issue over the last couple of years. I’m proud to be a top sponsor of today’s amendment, which has the backing of dozens of other MPs. 

Pubs are central to our communities, and play a vital role in Brighton and Hove’s economy and tourist industry.  The recent campaign to save the Rose Hill Tavern illustrates the strength of local feeling. Pub companies have been charging excessive rents and forcing up beer prices to unacceptable and unjustified levels for far too long. Minister have now partially accepted that this is the case.

But the Government’s claim to have called time on the damaging practices of PubCos will lack credibility, unless they agree to the market rent only option set out in this new clause. Without it, the future of many successful and popular local and community pubs will remain under threat. The rental only deal would allow pub tenants to buy beer on the open market, at prices up to 70% less, and it would ensure fair rents, independently assessed. Only then will this Bill represent a truly good deal for consumers, lessees and local brewers. 

Good community pubs can provide a safe and responsible place for people to drink, and thereby play a role in an effective approach to reducing alcohol related harm, alongside a policy of minimum pricing in supermarkets. This has been a long-standing issue for Brighton residents and for my work. Two years ago I also spoke out in Parliament to raise local concerns and sponsored a motion calling for a Statutory Code of Practice.

At the time, the landlord of the Greys in Hanover told me that his was the only pub that hadn’t closed and re-opened in the last nine years, but it has since changed hands. The London Unity had three owners in two years, while the Geese had changed hands four times in six years. In these and other cases, the ‘tied' scheme was a significant factor.  

Since then, the evidence has continued to grow. The need for legislative action to secure a fair deal for our local pubs is clearer than ever. With the GMB and the Federation of Small Businesses in agreement on the investment, employment and consumer benefits of the market rent only option, this new clause should be a no-brainer, and it has my full support.

You can find out more and support the Fair Deal for your Local campaign here.