Pubcos are killing trade

The owner of one of Rochdale’s best-known pubs has joined the debate on the need to regulate pub companies, arguing that greed and inflated beer prices are killing pubs.

The Hunters Rest shot to prominence after being featured in Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire a few years ago when Hilary Devey worked behind the bar there during her spell in Rochdale. Now, the owner of the pub, Mary Spence, has spoken out ahead of a major debate in Parliament on the need to impose a new code of conduct on pub companies.

“They don’t give you any support, you’re trapped in an unreasonable lease and forced to buy beer from them at over-inflated prices,” she said. “They’re not really pub companies, they’re property developers. All they want is their investment to keep growing. I work 19 hour days and have ploughed all my money into this pub, but it all goes to Enterprise Inns.”

Rochdale’s MP Simon Danczuk recently met with Mary to hear her concerns. He said he was shocked at the high beer prices that Mary was forced to pay compared to other suppliers on the open market.

“She’s having to pay a hundred pounds more on a barrel of beer because of the arrangement with Enterprise Inns that she’s tied in to,” he said. “She wants to work in a fair market and feels like she’s locked into a racket. Even a great business woman like Hilary Devey would struggle to make a success of this business model. Everything is stacked unfairly in favour of the pub company.”

He added that while Enterprise Inns boss Ted Tuppen has just seen an inflation busting pay rise that takes his overall salary to just short of £1million, the people running his pubs are being squeezed to within breaking point.

“All over Rochdale I can see Enterprise Inns pubs that have closed down and it’s clear that this model is not sustainable,” he argued. “The pubcos are acting like an aggressive cartel and the industry needs to be better regulated to give pubs a chance of surviving.”