Scottish Pubs Code for tied pubs: consultation 3

Guest beer agreements

27. Where requested by tenants, the code requires businesses to offer a guest beer agreement in certain circumstances. A guest beer agreement allows a tenant to sell to their customers at least one beer that the tenant has chosen, at a price of the tenant's choice. The beer can be changed as often as the tenant wishes. The guest beer agreement in the code supports in particular the second and third regulatory principles.

28. In the code, guest beer is restricted to brands of beer which have a production level of 5,000 hL or less. We do not intend to change that provision in the code.

Flow monitoring equipment

29. Flow monitoring devices measure the amount of beer sold by the tied pub tenant.

30. Tenant representatives have proposed that a flow monitoring device should not be connected to any guest beer line because it is not tied beer and therefore there should be no need to monitor flow.

31. Pub-owning businesses representatives have suggested that flow monitoring equipment is useful for a number of reasons, including assisting the operator in business planning and ensuring more accurate rental values.

32. We propose that the code states that guest beer agreements must not require the use of flow monitoring equipment on a line, without the consent of a tied pub tenant.

Question 15: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: flow monitoring devices should be permissible on guest beer lines only with the consent of the tenant?

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Please explain your answer

Question 16: What might be the impact of this proposal on tenants?

Question 17: What might be the impact on pub-owning businesses?