Amid storms over binge drinking and raw deals for tenants, the chief executive of Marstons stands up for pub companies

As Ralph Findlay, the chief executive of Marston’s, welcomes me to the group’s headquarters at the Banks’s Brewery in Wolverhampton, a wry smile plays across his face: “You’re here at an interesting time for the British pub.” So true. Beer sales are shrinking, pubs are closing at an unprecedented rate and the industry finds itself besieged by two huge storms — binge-drinking and the treatment of pub tenants.

In the circumstances, he could easily have retreated to a snug in his nearest Marston’s pub. But far from hiding, he is waving the industry flag as the newly elected chairman of the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA).

Mr Findlay immediately launches into the thorny subject of the relationship between pub companies (pubcos) and their tenants — an issue that may yet, barring a last-minute outbreak of harmony between the warring factions, result in a long and damaging Competition Commission inquiry. The BBPA recently launched a code of practice for its pubco members, promising a new era of openness, transparency and fairness to Britain’s 30,000 tenants. But the anti-brigade, led by Camra, the real-ale group, reckons it does not go nearly far enough.

He insists that the code addresses the issues effectively and fairly. “Whatever the industry says, it will be described as not going far enough or a missed opportunity. We’ve got to avoid responding to every campaigning group that comes along.”

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