Beer Tax-o-Meter

Ever the sceptic, I feel I should point out that, although excessive beer tax is a big problem, I feel there is a hidden agenda in the "Axe the Beer Tax" campaign. Looking at the corporate sponsors of the campaign it seems to me there are a lot of companies in there who would like to divert attention away from other factors contributing to the pub downturn – strangulatory tenancies and, above all, the tie system. Having said that, I have registered my support and I have pestered my MP John Hutton on the subject (although I did alter the wording of the letter template to include an urge to support Fair Pint).

If anyone from Axe the Tax should read this – good idea providing code to embed your Tax-O-Meter and Postcard but they are too damned big for blogs.

Lovely cuddly-wuddly pubcos in whose safe hands we trust our pubs.

News story here.

As if life isn't tough enough already for the people whose humble livelihoods are the hands-on running of pubs - Enterprise is to "get tough" on tie breakers.

"Buying out of the tie is nothing more than stealing", says Enterprise boss. If that's the case then the exorbitant prices for stock relative to the open market they charge are what - extortion, demanding money with menaces, fraud?

Remember folks, the tie system is illegal under the Treaty of Rome as anti-competitive - a clause for which Britain stupidly has an exemption.

The Fair Pint Campaign is doing stirling work opposing the biggest difficulty faced by the pub trade; but where's CAMRA when their alleged campaigning power is needed? Oh yes, I remember: they support the tie system and in doing so implicitly support the crippling dominance of Enterprise and its chums. Crackers. Bloody crackers.

Background stories:

here, here, here, here, here, here and here