A LANDLORD has severed ties with his pub’s suppliers to give him more freedom over who provides his beer.

Paul Crossman, who runs The Swan, in Bishopthorpe Road, worked with law firm Lupton Fawcett to move away from “tied house” regulations, which meant he could only sell beer purchased by Punch Taverns, who own the watering hole.

The chance to move from this arrangement to a market rent only (MRO) agreement was created by the Pubs Code Regulations 2016.

However, to date very few landlords have been able to take advantage of the new rules.

Landlord Paul said: “I knew all about the Pubs Code and was extremely keen to move from a tied lease to an MRO free of tie, so as my lease renewal approached I sought legal advice from Rob and his team at Lupton Fawcett.

“From there it took almost a year of negotiation and determined legal wrangling before I finally received a free of tie MRO lease for The Swan.

"And it didn’t come a moment too soon, as the following day Heineken’s takeover of Punch Taverns was completed, which would have left me and my staff high, dry and back to square one.”

The Pubs Code Regulations 2016 were introduced by the Government as part of the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 with the aim of regulating the relationship between pub tenants and the larger pub owning companies (pubcos), which rent the pubs and sell supply-tied products to the tenant business at prices above the open market price.

The code established the right of a tied tenant to take a free of tie rent option (MRO) at certain trigger points.

Rob Cooke, who is a director of Lupton Fawcett’s dispute management team, said: “The Pubs Code Regulations were passed with the intent of assisting pub tenants by giving them the freedom to operate their business untied from the company that owned their pub.

“We hope this small victory will inspire other pub tenants to follow suit and aim for a lease agreement that not only proves beneficial to them, but provides their customers with far greater choice.”

Mr Crossman added: “The advice and support we got on this from the team at Lupton Fawcett was invaluable.

“The stature of the firm meant that we were taken seriously and got the result we needed.”