Roger why do you think that "If the EU were to outlaw the tie then mayhem could follow."?

The operative word is 'could'. Why should 'could' be seen as a threat? Why might there be mayhem? Because everyone in this industry would have to start being nimble instead of sitting by and letting the lessees so it all? - underfunded, poorly resourced with no time or energy to get out and drum up new ideas. Most of the pub industry needs to catch up with the rest of the world and stop being at best a tawdry romantic interpretation of what pubs 'used to be like' and instead work on what pubs should be like NOW.

The tie makes many pub companies complacent and stifles healthy competition. The tie has created an ossification of market forces and of creative thinking. Companies who operate a tie with tenants have no incentive to encourage innovation in a market that sees profitability and property value as mammon over quality, value and experience. Look at the thousands of tatty pubs that have had no investment for decades. The tenants are not at fault, the tenants cannot afford to keep their pubs up to scratch. It evidently is the pub companies who are responsible for this collective blatant neglect of the bricks and mortar of Britain's heritage. The tie has created this. Whether pubs are Free, Managed or Tied is generally easy to root out at a glance at the building. Shiny and clean - the first two - dull and peeling - Tied.

Why? Tenants are broke while pubcos make shed loads. There is little need to think of new ways to operate, no


Why not open up consideration of a market free of tie?


Why not look at ways of ensuring that removal of the tie will lead to a burst