It's really good to see Elizabeth Sheldon making the effort to post her positive experience here. It's disappointing that her experience is so divergent from that of tenants of the much bigger companies.

Kevin, you could ask Unite that question with regard to their involvement with British Airways. Turkey democracy is not very likely of course, not this side of Christmas for sure, but people, just as turkeys, do have fundamental rights which need to be widely observed if we are to properly consider ourselves to be living in a civilisation.

People have rights as employees. People have rights even when they are self employed. Companies have obligations to more than just shareholders, whether they like it or not. When boards of directors choose to ignore various of their more subtle corporate obligations and begin to abuse the rights of individuals involved with the company's activities at any level, unscrupulous and unsustainable business practices will emerge and flourish.

Adopting short term strategies designed to efficiently maximise company profit, shareholder return and board bonuses jeopardises the livelihoods of thousands and puts the long term stability of the company on the line.
Pubcos have systematically abused people's rights through their abuse of the power the tie has vested in them. Collectively they do not behave like Adnams and St Austell's. They do not work for a sustainable balance of benefit for all involved in their activities. They have been behaving like there's no tomorrow; yet it arrived with a bang - and has bitten them hard.

Shareholders, IPC, the City, analysts and thousands of lessees are not wrong about the general model adopted by pubcos being very badly broken. The casualties of their failure are littering the landscape and choking estate agents' brochures.

When small family and regional brewers with tied estates start to break ranks - as this and the Adnams' surveys show - there's no doubt some MAJOR changes are needed...

Irresponsible pubcos deserve everything they get but no doubt the people who created this basket of madness will get great severance packages, pension lumps sums and a long, relaxed and comfortable future involving sun and sea.