PUBS are being driven out of business by company cartels charging tenants up to 80p above the wholesale price of a pint of beer, it has been claimed.

The majority of pubs in Sussex are owned by one of seven huge companies colloquially known as pubcos.

According to the GMB union and pressure group the Fair Pint Campaign, these massive companies are driving up wholesale beer prices by as much as 8% every year to pay for huge debts incurred during ambitious expansion programmes.

Calling on the Government to break up the cartels, the GMB said a recent study revealed 1,131 pubs – including 149 in the South East – owned by pubcos had closed since December 2005.

Steve Corbett, of the Fair Pint Campaign, said: “Publicans tied to pubcos are suffering badly from a combination of high rents and outrageous wholesale prices.

“This is causing pubs to close and jobs to be lost at a rate that it is totally unacceptable.

It was never intended that half of the country’s pubs would end up in the ownership of such a small number of property companies.”

Chris Taylor, landlord of The Greys in Southover Street, Brighton, is a tenant of Enterprise Inns and branded its margins “obscene”.

He said a case of Becks beer can be bought at a cash-and-carry for £10 but he is charged £26. A barrel of Guinness bought by a freehold pub costs as little as £90 but he pays almost £140.

On top of this he has to pay Enterprise about £2,400 a month rent.

Mr Taylor said: “What has happened is that the pub companies have become an extra layer of middleman and because they have so incredibly high debts they have to charge a lot.”

If the situation is allowed to continue, Mr Taylor believes “thousands more pubs will close”.

Mike Shiel, co-landlord of the Hare and Hounds pub in Portland Road, Worthing, is also an Enterprise tenant.

He said: “The pub companies got greedy. They did well during the good times and are now struggling because of the recession.

“Just recently Enterprise put their prices up by 6%.”

A spokeswoman for Enterprise rejected the GMB’s claims, describing them as “inaccurate and highly misleading”.

She said: “At Enterprise Inns, we are proud to support our licensees during these difficult economic times.

“In the 18 months to September 2008, more than 1,800 pubs received financial assistance in the form of discounts and/or rent concessions, at a cost to the company of about £12 million.

“Since September 2008, we have spent on average £1.4 million per month, help that tenants would be unlikely to get from any bank manager or property company.”