Britain’s rotten pub recreation uncovered – abuse, overpriced Fosters and spectre of £10 pints

REVEALED: The Daily Star has been told of multiple scandals surrounding the treatment of the sector by members of this so-called pubco “big six” – made up of Star Pubs and Bars, Stonegate, Marston’s, Greene King, Punch Taverns and Admiral Taverns

Britain’s loyal beer lovers face forever soaring pint prices, a Daily Star investigation has found.

We’ve found the cost of your brew will keep rising as the UK’s big six brewery giants squeeze publicans financially – so your pint ‘is twice as dear as it needs to be’.

Who in turn have no option to ask us to pay more and more for a pint – with UK city prices heading towards the £10 mark.

Fed-up landlords have claimed they have no choice but to keep ale prices high as they allege they have been:

• Enticed into a ‘deal’ by certain breweries that sounds sweet – but is actually rotten

• Expected to sell 72 pints from kegs when they don’t, er, contain 72 pints
• Told to spend tens of thousands of pounds refurbing ageing pubs only to be kicked out of them
• Government’s industry watchdog won’t stand up to the Big Six breweries and keep them in check

It’s enough to turn you to drink!

So how did we get here?

With pint prices so high, the prospect of getting in a round for you and your pals is enough to make you flee your pals’ WhatsApp group.

Up and down the UK, landlords say they find themselves at the mercy of huge pub owning companies, a ‘big-six’ of ‘Pubcos’ which own a huge proportion of the nation’s boozers.

The Daily Star has been told of multiple scandals surrounding the treatment of the sector by members of this so-called pubco “big six” – made up of Star Pubs and Bars, Stonegate, Marston’s, Greene King, Punch Taverns and Admiral Taverns.

One frustrated landlord who chose to remain anonymous even claimed to us: “The price of your beer is twice as dear as it needs to be”.

The Daily Star has learned how boozers known as ‘tied’ pubs are contractually obligated to buy their beer from the company that owns the building. And landlords say they have to purchase booze at whatever price the Pubco sets.

The same anonymous landlord explained: “A barrel of Fosters, if I wanted to buy it off of [a pub co] as a tenant, I have to pay about £230 a keg. But I can go to any wholesaler if I’m a free of tie pub and get that for £101.”

He explained that if, for argument’s sake, “all the prices in [tied] pubs are set at £230 a barrel, so free houses earn twice as much profit.”

But he explained these prices mean most other pubs tend to follow suit on pricing – hitting Brit boozers in the pocket.

So while they may have the luxury of dropping prices a little lower if they need to, they tend to rake in more cash, say fed up landlords.

What this means, landlords claim, is that profits made from the sale of beer are being sucked away from the people who run pubs and pumped straight into the pockets of the controlling breweries. This forces tied pub runners to keep high prices on your pints just to keep their heads above water.

As will be explored in greater detail in this investigation series, would-be publicans are enticed into running pubs through the big six pub cos through the promise of cheap rent and support.

But in reality, ‘tied’ tenants end up with massive rents anyway alongside the obligation to buy beer at inflated prices.

He said that running ‘tied’ pubs was portrayed as a “discount” to publicans adding: “They call it a discount and we still have to pay twice as much”. Paul added: “Our rents are as high as they would be anyway.”

He has been trying to go ‘free of tie’ in a bid to get out of this system he claims is exploitation and earn himself a bigger piece of the pie. But Pubcos don’t want this because they would be losing out financially. Paul says: “That’s why they don’t want us to go free of tie. It all goes to the breweries, they are making a fortune off it because they are selling it for twice what it’s worth.”

Laying out the grim reality facing landlords, he said: “The profit margins are so low now. People‘s habits have changed. It gets to a point now where we can’t make a profit.”

“Actual pubs themselves can’t make money”.

The Daily Star has seen documents showing the costs issues landlords face. The 2019 tied pricing list from Stonegate, the largest of the big six, prices a 50L keg of Becks at £187.30. From wholesalers online, the 2024 price at the time of writing is £125.08, both excluding VAT.

Further investigation from the Daily Star’s Data Unit has uncovered that, compared to the price of a wholesaler, Star Pubs and Bar’s price listings on key staple beers come in around 25% higher.

But this isn’t all. We have been made aware of several methods employed by pub companies that see landlords jump through hoops – only to find the corporations not holding up what publicans regard as their end of the deal.

While there are no allegations of legal wrongdoing, each of these scandals points to a culture of exploitation and lack of care on the part of the pubcos. Tied tennants say there is little consideration for people running pubs, the communities they serve – and the price of your pint.

The Daily Star contacted the “big six” breweries – made up of Star Pubs and Bars, Stonegate, Marston’s, Greene King, Punch Taverns and Admiral Taverns – and so far received no reply to the claims we report.

Meanwhile the Government watchdog of the industry – the Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) – is meant to oversee disagreements between landlords and pub companies. But many claim it does very little to help.

A PCA spokesman says: “Pubs Code disputes have fallen sharply and last year our arbitrators resolved 19 cases. We know times are tough for all pub operators and the PCA always works to ensure fairness.”