Time, gentlemen please. The GMB union is calling time on pub owning companies that charge inflated beer prices and rent to their tied landlords – and then, the union says, are happy to kick them out when the recession-hit publicans can’t pay. Landlords have been joining the union in their thousands and are prepared to take industrial action if the beer tie is not reformed. John Street’s man in the pub (no, not Charlie Whelan) hears that pubs minister John Healey, who met aggreived publicans this week, is due to announce a series of practical measures to help pubs and the communities they serve – including a “relaxation” of the beer tie that would allow pubs to buy cheaper guest ales. In any case, ministers need to act fast to stop pubs going to the wall, with the GMB estimating that 22,000 are in immediate danger. The GMB’s Paul Maloney says: “The reason it’s happening is because of the greed of the pubcos who put themselves into debt, and now the publicans have got to service the debt.”
