A campaign to end pub beer ties will be officially launched at Westminster next week.
MP Timothy Farron will host the launch of the Fair Pint campaign at the Houses of Parliament next Tuesday.
The Fair Pint campaign wants the tie removed from all pub –, except those owned by brewers with less than 500 sites.
And it is calling for the voluntary recommendations of the 2004 Trade & Industry Select Committee (TISC) report to become law.
The campaign group also wants the Government to ask for a Competition Commission probe into pubcos.
Fair Pint is headed by well-known anti-pubco campaigners — accountant Brian Jacobs, Freedom for Pubs Association founder Mike Bell and surveyor David Morgan of Cookseys DMP, alongside pubco tenants Mark Dodds and Steve Corbett.
Liberal Democrat MP Farron launched a petition calling for Government action to curb the power of pubcos earlier this year.
At the time of its launch Don Foster, MP for Bath and Liberal Democrat spokesman for Culture, Media & Sport, said: “This kind of behaviour from certain suppliers and breweries really threatens our vibrant and diverse pubs, which are at the heart of local communities.
“I have heard too many cases of pubs being forced out of business because of hiked up rent charges.”
Farron's Early Day Motion (EDM) says the 1989 Beer Orders "failed" to increase competition in brewing – "and indeed have instead concentrated ownership of British pubs in the hands of pub companies or pubcos".
So far, 30 MPs have signed the EDM.
