THE company behind Scotland's best-selling lager has thrown its weight behind calls for Westminster legislation which will radically reform the pub tenancy market in England to be introduced in Scotland.
MPs voted to scrap the beer tie, which compels tenants of major pub leasing companies to buy beer from their landlords, when they backed an amendment to the Small Business, Enterprise & Employment Bill at Westminster last week.
Tennent's Lager owner C&C Group says ending the tie will improve the trading prospects of 1,000 pubs north of the Border by giving tenants the flexibility to purchase supplies on the open market.
Dublin-based C&C insists that freedom ultimately has the potential to halt the flow of pub closures, which according to the most figures from CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) were running at 31 per week.
At the same time, it said ending the tie will mean brewers such as C&C will have the opportunity to trade directly with pubco tenants, opening a new route to market for their products.
The proposed legislation does not extend to Scotland, but C&C has joined the Scottish Licensed Trade Association in calling for Scottish ministers to introduce the Bill at Holyrood.
John Gilligan of Tennent Caledonian, C&C's Scottish division, said: "It is the most exciting opportunity since the Beer Orders, should it go through.
"As an independent part of C&C, and particularly as a regional brewer, we feel it is a terrific opportunity to unfetter the market.
"We see it as a tremendous opportunity for the tenants and us, because our tradition has been to [supply] the free trade and help the free trade itself with investment and support."
The major pubcos most likely to be affected by the change, including Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns, reacted furiously to the Commons vote, claiming it reneged on a previous government commitment to retain the tie following a long-running parliamentary enquiry.
They argued the move will hasten the rate of pub closures and lead to thousands of redundancies within the industry.
However Mr Gilligan said the tie model was not working any longer. He said: "We feel the time for change is right. We think this legislation should it go through will be perfect to free up the market and give people a real chance to keep pubs in communities alive, let people make a good living and employ people."
Mr Gilligan accepts that pubcos will fear a short-term impact of the changes, but believes that in the long term it will give them an opportunity to raise the value of their estates.
He said: "There's no point in nailing people down on a contract to discover they are turning the key on the pub six months later. They need to let people breathe a wee bit."
In addition to ending the tie, the amendment to the Westminster Bill would also give tenants the right to access open market reviews to determine the level of rent they pay to landlords.
Beyond those changes, C&C would like to see current legislation which dictates that tenants can only buy one "guest ale" out of tie to be changed. The Magners owner, which acquired Tennent's in 2009, said that tenants should be free to buy beer from any brewer under those circumstances.
C&C Group, which resigned its membership of the British Beer & Pub Association over the tie issue, will be lobbying Scottish ministers and opposition MSPs to press home the case for change.
It said the fact the six SNP MPs voted for the amendment offers encouragement that the legislation will be adopted in Edinburgh. C&C's corporate relations director Paul Bartlett said: "We'd like to see it happen in Scotland at the same pace it does in the UK. We are keen to work with the political parties to mobilise as much support as we can to make it happen."
The amendment to the Bill heralds the end to a model that has been in place since legislation commonly known as the Beer Orders were passed by the UK parliament in the late 1980s.
That legislation, sparked by competition concerns, was designed to curb the domination of the UK's six biggest brewers, which, through their vast pub estates, controlled the sale of beer in pubs.
The orders paved the way for the big brewers to split their brewing and pub operations, leading to the creation of leasing giants such as Punch and Enterprise, as well as major managed companies such as Mitchells & Butlers.
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