The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has this morning ruled that the beer tie is “competitive” and said there were “insufficient grounds” for any further action.
The government department said it had given its final response to the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) super complaint that was lodged in October last year.
It reopened an investigation into the beer tie in February of this year after Camra appealed against its decision.
As a result Camra placed its appeal on hold.
Following this work, the OFT has now concluded that consumers benefit from what it called “considerable competition and choice between pubs” and that this competition prevents the beer tie from being used to inflate pub beer prices beyond competitive levels.
The OFT also concluded that the beer tie has not prevented tied pubs from offering a wide choice of beers to consumers, having found that pub-owning companies generally source beer from a considerable range of suppliers, including smaller brewers.
Ann Pope, OFT senior director of goods, said: “The OFT appreciates how important local pubs are to many consumers and local communities.
“CAMRA's super-complaint has provided a timely opportunity to examine the pub sector, as the beer tie model has attracted considerable attention recently. After carrying out detailed analysis, we have found that the sector is competitive overall and that there is no need for the OFT to take further action at the moment.
“The OFT recognises that many pub lessees are concerned about issues regarding the contractual relationship with their pub-company and we note that the pub industry is taking steps to address some of these concerns.
She concluded: "Our focus, however, has been to assess whether the market is working well for consumers.”
