The GMB trade union has called upon the government to introduce new measures to break up the pub company 'cartels' that it claims are forcing increasing numbers of British pubs out of business.

According to a new GMB study, more than 1,100 pubs with freeholds owned by the seven major pub companies have closed across the UK since December 2005 due to tenants being overcharged for wholesale beer prices. The trade union claims that in pubs owned by landlords such as Fuller, Smith and Turner, Greene King and Enterprise Inns, the tied-in tenants running the properties are forced to buy beer at up to 80p per pint more than in normal wholesale markets.

GMB said that the most pub closures have occurred in the West Midlands, where 232 pubco-owned properties have ceased trading in the last three years, while the North West has seen 137 sites shut. Paul Kenny, GMB general secretary, said: "An unintended consequence of legislation to loosen the tie between breweries and pubs to free up the market for the benefit of consumers has been the growth in pubcos who are operating as a cartel in the industry.

These pubcos, which own 25,000 pubs, are piled up with billions of pounds worth of debts. They are overcharging pubs by up to 80p a pint to pay the interest charges. It is this overcharging which is killing the pubs and driving them out of business."