The Independent Family Brewers of Britain (IFBB), which currently employs around 37,000 people across the UK, has welcomed a decision to make pub companies with fewer than 500 tied pubs exempt from the Statutory Code on pubcos, which is currently being scrutinised in Parliament.
The amendment was proposed in committee by Cornwall Conservative MP Sheryll Murray and carried on a vote by 18-11.
While the IFBB will continue to remain fully compliant with the voluntary code, which is working well, and fund it where appropriate, the members appreciate the news of this amendment and the recognition that family brewers were assured from the start that they were never the focus of the code, the IFBB said in a statement today.
James Staughton (pictured), chairman of the IFBB, said: “We were vocal about our opposition to the planned inclusion of pub companies with fewer than 500 tied pubs in the code as the diseconomies of scale would have meant the cost of compliance would have been far greater per pub than for the larger companies, without any apparent benefit to anyone; therefore, we are pleased that this amendment has been passed.
“We hope that the amendment which supports smaller businesses will also get the support of the whole House at the next Report stage.”
If the change is accepted in the final Statutory Code, the only pubcos which will have to abide by the code will be Punch Taverns, Enterprise Inns, Marston’s, Star Pubs & Bars, Greene King and Admiral Taverns.
“We’d like to take this opportunity to thank MPs on the Bill Committee for their cross-party support.”
