Pub Companies

Debate between Lord Jackson of Peterborough and Mark Spencer

Wednesday 9th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mark Spencer (Sherwood) (Con)]

There are a few things that unite this House, such as national security, respect for the monarch, the bravery of our armed forces, and the great British pint. Nottinghamshire has a great tradition of pubs and brewing. The city of Nottingham boasts some of the oldest pubs in the country in the Salutation Inn and Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, but Sherwood has its own place in brewing history with Robin Hood and Friar Tuck, who was a noted brewer, so I feel very close to this issue. Sadly, though, Nottinghamshire has not been immune from the pub closures that we have seen across the country, and a number of great local hubs have disappeared from our villages and communities.

It is worth noting how important those establishments are to local communities. They are a great place not only to hold community events but to celebrate weddings and christenings and perhaps even to commemorate the passing of a close friend. More importantly, they are a place where people can share their woes and problems with friends and neighbours. They provide a great outlet for any social pressures that people may be feeling, in a location where there is a landlord to control the amount of alcohol they consume and to make sure they do not do it in a way that will cause them harm. We must recognise how important this great British institution is—and it is a British institution. Many Members will have gone abroad and seen how other countries attempt to recreate the British pub and how poorly they do it. It is something that we should be very proud of.

There are great examples of success in the pub industry. In my local communities there are not only great pubs but great miners’ welfare and working men’s clubs that have shown the way forward when they are given the freedom to operate successfully. It is worth noting that both the bottom and top clubs in Calverton have created a system in which they can operate, and the miners’ welfare club in Blidworth has linked to a sports club. Those are great examples of how successful they can be when given the freedom to operate.

Successive Governments of all colours have not always helped the pub industry. Whatever the motivation behind the decision to introduce the beer duty escalator, it put pressure on some landlords and built in costs to the industry that it inevitably had to pass on to consumers, and that inevitably drove some of them away to drink at home rather than at a public house.

[Mr Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is making a good contribution. Does he agree that, because of the prescriptive nature of the Licensing Act 2003, the proliferation of convenience stores—unlicensed premises—has meant that pubs have been disadvantaged, and that a new cumulative impact policy will mean that pubs will now have a fighting chance against convenience stores that sell alcohol?

[Mr Spencer]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I do hope that that will be the case. As I said in my initial comments, it is important that people are able to drink in a social environment where someone is there to keep an eye on what happens. That is a much healthier way of drinking than sitting at home in front of the TV drinking cans of lager. We should ensure that we continue to support public houses and landlords.

Governments have not offered assistance to public houses with other pressures, such as their rateable value. Some of the larger pub companies have used the value of a public house to increase the rents and the price of beer in a deliberate ploy to push out landlords and realise the capital value of that property, in order to knock it down and build housing or retail premises. I can only imagine the pressure felt by landlords when they are exposed to a deliberate plan to push them out.