PCA investigation into Star Pubs & Bars
The Adjudicator’s report on the investigation into the use of unreasonable stocking terms by Star in proposed MRO tenancies
Applies to England and Wales
Documents
Details
This report provides details of the findings of the investigation launched by the Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) on 10 July 2019.
The PCA has found that Star committed 12 breaches of the Pubs Code in respect of various aspects of its approach to the inclusion of stocking terms in its free of tie proposals between July 2016 and July 2019. The PCA also found that, in addition to the impact on individual tenants who received terms that breached the Code, the policies and practices adopted by Star would have acted as a deterrent to Star tenants seeking to access their Pubs Code rights to go free of tie. The PCA has also found a fundamental failure of culture and oversight in respect of Code duties including not ensuring the Code Compliance Officer’s role could be properly effective.
The report also sets out the enforcement measures, that have been imposed on Star, by the PCA.
Star’s action plan for how and by when it intended to deal with each of the PCA’s 8 binding recommendations was published in February 2021 and updated in August 2022.
In April 2023, the PCA published a varied penalty notice.