The pub trade mediation group has appointed a firm of solicitors to act as facilitators to ease the administrative burden of the process.
The group, lead by Michel Kallipetis QC, has been set up to work on a strategy to respond to damning criticisms of the major pub companies contained in the Business and Enterprise Committee’s (BEC) report published in May.
The group, which is seeking to find middle ground between pub companies and tenants, will next meet in early September.
Jenny Hermer, of Lester Aldridge, has been appointed as solicitor for the process. She is expected to take on the role of organising meetings, relaying instructions and keeping an eye on costs, leaving Michel Kallipetis and barrister Jeremy Philips free to focus on the process.
Kallipetis has been a practising barrister for 40 years and is a heavyweight mediator who has acted in a wide variety of disputes.
In May, BEC accused the major pub companies of "downright bullying" of tenants.
The influential group of MPs added that while not all the difficulties faced by the industry had been caused by the beer tie, there remained evidence of "serious problems caused by the dominance of the large pub companies".
