The investigation has been a long-running affair The Office of Fair Trading will rule later on its reopened investigation into so-called “beer ties” between pub companies and their tenant landlords.
It follows after the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) asked the OFT to study if the arrangement hurt landlords who had to buy their beer from the pub owners.
The OFT initially ruled in October last year that there was no evidence the arrangement damaged competition.
Yet it reopened the investigation in February after Camra lodged an appeal.
Camra did this by taking the case to the Competition Appeal Tribunal. The beer pressure group then put its application to the tribunal on hold when the OFT said it would look again at the matter.
The OFT said in February that it would reopen its investigations to focus on whether effective competition in the pub industry was delivering choice and value for customers.
The big pub companies have always denied any wrongdoing.
Since Camra first went to the OFT in July of last year, pub industry body British Beer and Pub Association has brought in a new code of practice that sets out information that must be given to prospective pub tenants by breweries.
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