The manager of the Mitre in High Barnet, Gary Murphy, was among a group of pub tenants to visit Parliament on Monday to seek support for an urgent review of the Pubs Code. Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, met them to give her backing to the campaign.
The Pubs Code was set up under legislation that was supposed to enable pub tenants to break their tied agreement with the big pub chains. But after nearly two years of operation, only a handful of rulings have been made under the Code.
Gary Murphy has been trying to break the beer tie at the Mitre for the last two years and Theresa Villiers has raised his case in Parliament. At the demonstration on Monday, he and campaigner, Dave Mountford, explained their concerns about the Code to Theresa and other MPs.
"I am backing the call for an urgent review of the Pubs Code” said Theresa.
“The Code isn't delivering the protection for local pubs that MPs intended when they passed the legislation. We need to make the Code work effectively so that pub tenants are treated fairly and can break their beer tie with the big pub chains without losing out financially.”
“I'm pleased that Gary Murphy and Dave Mountford came to Westminster to explain the problems with the Code and demand that action is taken. I'm raising this with the Business Secretary, Greg Clarke."
Dave Mountford thanked those who took the time to support the event, which highlighted the “complete and abject failure of the legislation of which so much was expected”.