by René Lavanchy
Pub-owning corporations that control more than two-thirds of Britain’s pubs are to be probed once again for cartel activity, in a move welcomed by campaigners and pub landlords, but branded a “farce” by the GMB union.
The Office of Fair Trading announced last week that it would hold a consultation on its own report into “pubcos” published last year, where it found that the companies were not driving up beer prices through anti-competitive behaviour.
The move comes as the GMB prepares to ballot more than 3,000 landlord members of its “Pub Revolution” branch on industrial action against the pubcos. The union complains that pubcos force their tenant publicans to buy beer at inflated prices.
GMB national officer Paul Maloney said: “The regulatory authorities and the legislators have made fools of themselves in dealing with the pubco rip off. GMB is ignoring this farce and is getting on with organising for a ballot of tied tenants for official industrial action”.
