Trade support organisation ‘Forum of British Pubs’ launched

It was announced this week that a new trade support organisation, the Forum of British Pubs was launched by the Forum of Private Business working in partnership with Pub Defender Dave Mountford.

The newly formed organisation has set out that they will be focussing on providing support to local pubs ‘as they struggle through the current lockdown, and as they emerge and reopen’.

The new Forum will provide both advice and dedicated key service offerings, as well as being the campaigning voice within government and with the pub operating companies.

‘The UK pub sector has been under pressure for many years and the current pandemic has exposed many of these issues, the fragility of parts of the sector and the need for real change,’ says Pub Defender, Dave Mountford.

According to their press release, The Forum for British Pubs will specifically look to address:

• The removal of bad business practices and unfair behaviour prevalent in the hospitality industry, driven largely by the big brewing companies.
• Balancing of the power currently in the hands of the PubCo’s fairly across the industry as a whole, enabling the pubs to make a decent living whist acting ethically and in the interests of their clients.
• The enforcement of the intentions of the Pubs Code set out to protect pubs, but currently with very limited power in the hands of the Pubs Code Adjudicator.
• The provision to the Government of an informed representative body to engage with on issues relating to the pub trade, and the survival of pubs, many of which sit at the heart of the community. Hitherto the Government has tended to default to the main PubCo’s which has created a bias towards the PubCo’s and away from the pubs themselves.
• Providing a trusted voice within the industry as a whole, and a source of honest, ethical, and balanced information.
• Creation of an independent advisory body for the Pub Code Adjudicator, and the BEIS task force, as an interface between the pubs themselves the Adjudicator and BEIS.

Managing Director of the new Forum for British Pubs, Ian Cass explained “The Forum of British Pubs has been formed to protect and preserve British pubs and the publicans who operate them. We aim to support the free trade and tenanted pub sector, giving them practical, proactive, and preventative advice and support as well as being a strong campaigning voice with government and the pub operating companies”

The Publican’s Post acknowledges the need for better publican-centric representation where it matters – and therefore wishes the Forum every success in achieving it’s ambitious goals.

The Forum is charging pub tenants a membership fee of £20 each month to join, or a 50% reduced annual fee for a limited time. For more information or to join the Forum you can visit their website.