blog.pubs.org.uk » OFT

CAMRA Appeal Date

Publogger — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:23:15 +0000

A date has been set for CAMRA’s preliminary appeal hearing against The Office Of Fair Trading regarding the beer Tie.

The hearing will be held on Friday 22nd January at 2pm and will involve lawyers from both CAMRA and the OFT as well as several appeal panel members. The public are also free to attend the hearing which will take place at the Appeal Tribunal building in Holburn, London. This hearing will merely discuss how the appeal will proceed and could float a timetable.

OFT to meet with CAMRA

Publogger — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:50:06 +0000

The Office of Fair Trading have agreed to meet with CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale) and MP Greg Mulholland amid the argument over their (the OFT’s) report on Tied houses last month. The report found no evidence to suggest that the relationship between pub companies and the landlords of tied houses is harming competition in the sector.

The parliamentary ‘Save the Pub Group’ is chaired by Mulholland, and along with CAMRA, have campaigned for the OFT’s report to be overturned. CAMRA insist the report was “based on insufficient reasoning and lacked detailed analysis”.

An OFT spokesman told The Morning Advertiser ; “The OFT followed fully the super-complaint procedure in accordance with the Enterprise Act 2002 and our published guidance. After careful and thorough consideration of the submissions put forward by CAMRA and other interested parties, we did not find evidence that supply ties are resulting in competition problems that are having an adverse impact on consumers. We have reiterated our offer to meet with Mr Mulholland and explain our analysis and conclusions, as we have already done with CAMRA.”

OFT Clears Pub Ties

Publogger — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:17:02 +0000

An enquiry by The Office of Fair Trading has found no evidence to suggest that the relationship between pub companies and the landlords of tied houses is harming competition in the sector.

The enquiry was instigated by a complaint from Camra (Campaign for Real Ale) who now plan to lobby Lord Mandelson to overturn the OFT’s findings.

Camra CEO Mike Benner told the BBC ;
“We do not accept that there is sufficient competition between pubs or adequate consumer benefit from competition and choice within this sector, urgent action is now required by government to stem the flow of pub closures, build a sustainable future and ensure that consumers get a fair share of the benefit from tied agreements as demanded by competition law.”

Simon Williams from the OFT responded ;
“Any strategy by a pub-owning company which compromises the competitive position of its tied pubs would not be sustainable, as this would result in a loss of sales, pub-owning companies are not therefore protected from competition by virtue of the supply ties agreed with their lessees. We understand that our response to Camra comes at a difficult time for the industry, but the evidence indicates that consumers benefit from a good deal of competition and choice within this sector.”

The OFT’s decision saw shares across the pub trade rise substantially, with shares in Enterprise Inns (7,500 pubs) rising 23.4%, and those of Punch Taverns (7,600 pubs) rose 14.8%.