British Pub Confederation

The British Pub Confederation campaigns for pubs and publicans, to speak up for pubs and publicans and to support and protect pubs.

The British Pub Confederation collectively represents more pub licensees than any other single organisation as well as pub campaigners who want to promote and protect the Great British Pub in our communities, rural, urban and suburban, up and down the country.

The British Pub Confederation campaigns and lobbies, directly and through our member organisations, to ensure the voice of publicans and pubs is heard, as well as the voice of the large pub companies who are represented by the BBPA (who do not represent individual pub businesses nor publicans but represent the large pub-owning companies and bigger breweries).

The British Pub Confederation was formed in 2015, from organisations involved in the Fair Deal for Your Local Campaign that brought together organisations who then campaigned very effectively all using one campaign and one brand. This Fair Deal for Your Local campaign – and the powerful joint campaigning – led directly to the legislation that introduced the Pubs Code, including a Market Rent Only option and the Pubs Code Adjudicator. Following this, the decision was taken to establish a permanent Confederation of pro-pub organisations to give a stronger voice to pubs and publicans.

The British Pub Confederation is the successor to the Independent Pub Confederation, the first brought licensee and pro-pub organisations together, to counter the dominance of the large corporate interests.

The British Pub Confederation is focused on campaign on pub related issues, including continuing to campaign for the Fair Deal for Your Local – the genuine Market Rent Only option for tied tenants – that publicans were promised, but that has never been delivered. We are also focused on the failure of the Pubs Code Adjudicator to uphold the Pubs Code and to stand up for the rights of tenants, as envisaged in the original legislation that went through Parliament. The British Pub Confederation also supports fairer taxation for pubs, including pub specific measures (that will actually directly benefit and help pubs and publicans) including fairer business rates and an overhaul of the outdated business rates system and the inappropriate way business rates for pubs are currently calculated.

We also support reform to planning law to protect pubs from predatory purchasing by supermarkets and developers and to stop pub-owning companies and others disposing of viable pubs for non-pub use, against the wishes of local communities (and often publicans themselves).