Labour leadership candidate David Miliband has been posing as the champion of the Great British pub, saying he can save it by confronting large breweries over the beer tie. Under the beer tie, a landlord might pay £130-£140 for 88 pints of beer, while a freeholder might pay £60-£80. Cheap supermarket drinks have also been blamed for the recent spate of pub closures, as well as the recession of course.
However, figures from the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) suggest that these factors may be relatively unimportant. The smoking ban is probably the main reason for the recent decimation of pubs and may be primarily responsible for 3 in 4 closures.
