Hackney councillor Rick Muir ‘saves’ the British pub

Justice for publicans: Hackney councillor Rick Muir

Fancy another? This is something a lot of us will be saying in the coming weeks, but with the price of pints rising and the number of pubs falling, many people are finding it increasingly difficult to pop into their local.

Fortunately for pub-goers in Hackney and beyond, councillor Rick Muir has come to the rescue. Though Muir is characteristically modest about his contribution, he has played a key role in a campaign to improve the lot of publicans by carrying out the research behind an all-party call for reform.

The changes proposed would have released many pubs from their ties to larger companies, but the Coalition Government has baulked at such a radical move. Instead they announced last month that they would meet some of the campaigners other demands by introducing a new dispute resolution body and requiring clearer guidance for publicans.

By day, Muir works for the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank. Since 2009 he has written two influential reports which argued for the link between tied pubs and the pub companies which own them to be refashioned.
In Muir’s words: “I think it is a matter of justice for the publicans. They are being put in an unequal relationship with the pub companies.”

The predicament of pubs can be traced to the Beer Orders of 1989, which limited the rights of breweries to control the pubs they owned directly. Many beer-makers sold their pubs to large pub companies – ‘pubcos’.

Most pubcos lease their pubs out to local publicans, who are often then ‘tied’ in the sense that they are typically obliged to buy all their beer – as well as wine, spirits, crisps, and so on from the pubco alone.

Tied pubs are thus limited in what they can sell and what they can sell it for. Muir’s research found that been is on average 10p higher in tied pubs, and the cost of beer is one of the factors that have contributed to a spate of recent pub closures.

There is general agreement amongst the campaigners that what is needed is a Code of Conduct that would make tied leases optional and would give pubs on them some leeway to buy stock from other sources. They had also been demanding an appeal system to which tied pubs could resort if they believed prices were unfair.

Last month the Government finally published its decision, which fell well short of the campaigners’ demands but did address some of their concerns. Though the pub tie will remain, a new Pub Independent Conciliation and Arbitration Service will be introduced to adjudicate disputes. There will also be greater transparency in leasing arrangements, and the industry’s code of conduct will be made legally binding.

Muir is philosophical about the outcome of the campaign. “I think we have had an impact – alongside other groups – in that two years ago this issue was not on anyone’s agenda – and it is now at the top of the debate about the future of pubs, and we have seen some important though incremental reforms.”

So next time you go down to your local, raise a pint to the local councillor who has worked to keep it there.