Award Summary - June 2020 - 1
Pubs Code Adjudicator · Pubs Code (PCA) · England and Wales · June 2020
Why it matters
A Pubs Code arbitration (June 2020) on the Market Rent Only (MRO) option, the tied tenant's right to switch to a free-of-tie rent and buy beer on the open market, which is the single most important right the Pubs Code created.
Summary
A Pubs Code arbitration between a large pub company and one of its tied tenants (the company is not named in the published summary). The dispute touched several duties at once: the Market Rent Only (MRO) option, the tied tenant's right to switch to a free-of-tie rent and buy beer on the open market, which is the single most important right the Pubs Code created; and whether the terms the pub company offered were unreasonable, the question of whether an MRO offer was genuine or designed to deter the tenant. For a student, it shows how the Pubs Code works in practice: the Code gives tied tenants in England and Wales statutory protections against the pub company that owns their pub, and the Pubs Code Adjudicator resolves disputes about them by binding arbitration, publishing the award (in summary or redacted form) so the rest of the industry can learn from it.
The detail
Parties: A pub-owning business and a tied tenant
Outcome: See the published award for the Adjudicator's findings.
Applicable law: Pubs Code etc. Regulations 2016; Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015
Issues in play: Pubs Code
Read the full decision at Pubs Code Adjudicator ↗
Locus Standi links to the source decision and publishes its own plain-language summary. It does not reproduce the text of the award.