The Pubs Code review is done, and the change it points to is in the Market Rent Only option. On 5 November the Pubs Code Adjudicator set out the numbers behind it: only 82 valid MRO requests were made in 2025/26, down from 216 in 2017/18, and the reason isn't that tenants have stopped wanting it. It's that fewer of us ever get the chance to ask. The government is now drawing up proposals to change the MRO gateways and to widen MRO opt-outs. Nothing has changed in the Code yet, so what you do with your next rent review still counts.
I'm a tied tenant, so this is the bit of trade news I actually read twice. Here's what was published, what the numbers mean for one pub, and the one thing I'd start doing this week.
What was published
Two things, seven weeks apart.
On 14 September the Department for Business and Trade published its third statutory review of the Pubs Code and the Adjudicator, covering April 2022 to March 2025. It found the PCA "broadly effective" and said the government will:
- develop proposals, with input from the industry, to revise the existing MRO gateway provisions in the Code;
- develop proposals to expand the MRO opt-out criteria, so pub companies and tenants get more certainty over longer periods;
- encourage the PCA to act on six areas where it could be more effective.
Then the 28 October Budget added a separate promise to legislate for a guest beer provision, which I've covered in the guest beer right guide.
On 5 November the Adjudicator, Fiona Dickie, wrote in the Morning Advertiser about what the MRO numbers show. That's the news this week, because it's the first time the regulator has laid the whole MRO picture out in one place since the review.
The numbers
| Figure | Number |
|---|---|
| Valid MRO requests, 2016 to April 2026 | 1,703 |
| Valid MRO requests in 2017/18 | 216 |
| Valid MRO requests in 2024/25 | 88 |
| Valid MRO requests in 2025/26 | 82 |
| Tenants aware of the MRO right (2026 PCA survey) | 70% |
| Tenants who serve an MRO notice when they get a rent review or renewal, 2020 to 2026 | About 20%, every year |
| Of those, the share who end up free of tie | About 35% |
| Tied pubs covered by the Code, 2018 | 10,099 |
| Tied pubs covered by the Code, end of March 2026 | 8,331 (down 17.5%) |
| Franchise and profit-share type agreements at the six regulated companies, March 2026 | 2,398, of which 1,490 reported as covered by the Code |
Read the middle two lines together. The share of tenants who use MRO when they get the chance has sat at about one in five for six years. Appetite hasn't fallen. What's fallen is the number of chances. The PCA's own words: it's "diminishing MRO gateways which are reducing access to the MRO, not diminishing tenant appetite."
Why the gateways are disappearing
There are four events that let you ask for MRO, and in practice only two get used: the five-yearly rent review and the renewal of your agreement. The PCA says the pub companies now often offer shorter agreements, five years for example, almost always without statutory renewal rights (Star is the exception it names). A five-year deal with no rent review inside it and no protected renewal at the end can mean no MRO event at all. Add the move to franchise and profit-share models, and a lot of pubs that used to have the right simply don't any more.
The other two gateways, a significant price increase and a "trigger event" that hits your trade, are hardly used. The PCA has asked the government to simplify the definition of a trigger event so tenants whose trade takes a big knock can actually reach it.
What the opt-out proposals could mean
The pub companies argued in the review that tenants should be able to opt out of MRO for a fixed period in return for investment or a longer agreement. Tenant groups warned that tenants who'd already done something similar under the current investment exception were often unhappy with it. The government has sided with developing proposals. No detail yet.
My take, as someone it would apply to: an opt-out is a trade, and it's only a good trade if you know what you're giving up. The thing you're giving up is the one moment you get to see your free-of-tie rent next to your tied rent. If someone offers you £40,000 of refurb to sign away MRO for ten years, the question isn't whether the refurb is nice. It's what the tie costs you over those ten years.
What it's worth to one pub
When I compared one big pubco's published April 2026 keg prices with a free-trade wholesaler's, the tied price ran about 62p a pint dearer in the middle of the range. Here's that on a pub doing 800 draught pints a week:
| Per week | Per year | Over a 5-year agreement | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62p a pint on 800 pints | £496 | £25,792 | £128,960 |
That gap isn't automatically a loss. The Code says you should be no worse off than if you weren't tied, so it's meant to come back to you, mostly in a lower rent and whatever support you get. But the MRO notice is the only point where the pub company has to put a free-of-tie offer on paper so you can check. Four in five tenants who could ask, don't. The tied vs free-trade guide has the full keg-by-keg table, and the MRO step-by-step has every clock on the process.
What I'd do now
Know your gateways. Find your rent review date and your agreement end date, write them on the office wall, and put a reminder in your phone six months before each. If your agreement has neither inside the next five years, you need to know that before anyone offers you a new deal.
Start keeping the evidence for the gateway nobody uses. This is the bit I haven't seen anyone talk about. If the trigger event does get simplified, it'll be about something hitting your trade hard. The tenants who can use it will be the ones who can prove it: weekly takings, weekly draught volumes, stocktake results going back years. A drawer of till rolls won't do it. Keep a simple weekly record now, sales and pints, every week, in one place. It costs nothing, it's what you'd want for your rent review anyway, and it's the proof you'd need if the rule changes. I'm not promising the change. Nobody has seen the wording. But being ready for it is free.
Don't sign away MRO without the sum. If an opt-out or investment deal is put in front of you, work out the tie gap over its whole length first, like the table above, and get a surveyor to look at it. The before you sign guide lists the questions.
My take
The review got the diagnosis right. MRO isn't failing because tenants don't want it, it's failing because the agreements have been written so fewer of us ever reach it. Whether the fix helps tenants or just tidies up opt-outs for the pub companies depends on wording we haven't seen. I'll update this when the proposals are published. Until then, the right still exists, and it's worth knowing exactly when yours comes round.
Common questions
What did the Pubs Code review decide?
The government's third statutory review, published on 14 September 2026, found the Pubs Code Adjudicator broadly effective and said it will develop proposals, with the industry, to revise the Market Rent Only gateways and to expand the criteria for opting out of MRO. A guest beer provision was announced separately in the 28 October Budget. No dates or draft wording have been published yet.
How many tied tenants use MRO?
BBPA figures quoted by the Pubs Code Adjudicator on 5 November 2026 show 1,703 valid MRO requests from 2016 to April 2026, falling from 216 in 2017/18 to 88 in 2024/25 and 82 in 2025/26. About 20% of tenants who reach a rent review or renewal serve a notice, and about 35% of those end up free of tie.
What is an MRO opt-out?
An agreement where a tied tenant gives up some MRO rights for a fixed period in exchange for something from the pub company, usually investment or a longer agreement. The current Code already has a version of this, the investment exception. The review says the government will develop proposals to expand the opt-out criteria.
Is the Pubs Code changing now?
Not yet. Nothing in the Code has changed as a result of the review. The government says it is developing proposals on MRO gateways, MRO opt-outs and the guest beer provision, and any amendments must stay consistent with the Code's two principles, fair and lawful dealing and no worse off than free of tie.
Sources
- 1,703 valid MRO requests 2016 to April 2026, 216 in 2017/18, 88 in 2024/25, 82 in 2025/26, 70% awareness, around 20% serving a notice at a rent review or renewal 2020 to 2026, around 35% going free of tie, shorter agreements without statutory renewal rights except Star, trigger event simplification, 10,099 tied pubs in 2018 and 8,331 at end of March 2026 (17.5%), 2,398 alternative agreements with 1,490 reported as regulated, government developing proposals on gateways, opt-outs and guest beer: Morning Advertiser, Pubs Code Adjudicator Fiona Dickie, 5 November 2026.
- Review findings, "broadly effective", MRO gateway and opt-out proposals, six areas for the PCA, 391 MRO notices received April 2022 to March 2025, opt-out arguments and tenant group concerns: Department for Business and Trade, Pubs Code and Pubs Code Adjudicator: statutory review, 2022 to 2025 (publication page, 14 September 2026).
- The 62p median tied price gap: my tied vs free-trade beer prices guide (Star Pubs April 2026 list vs Inn Express, checked 12 October 2026). The per-week, per-year and five-year figures are my arithmetic.