With many Luton pubs feeling the pinch, Luton South MP Gavin Shuker decided to go on a pub crawl with a difference.
Instead of drinking the bars dry, his mission was to find out what he could do to help landlords and ladies boost trade.
Friday afternoon saw him visit the Bat & Barrel, the Wigmore Arms, The Hansom Cab, Round Green Tavern, The Gardener’s Call and the Bricklayer’s Arms.
“I’ve been worried for a while about pubs in the town – recently we’ve lost the Windmill and the Bedfordshire Yeoman,” he said.
“Firstly it’s the way the economy is right now. A lot of these pubs’ main clientele are tradesmen and builders. There’s no building going on, so people aren’t spending.
“A lot of them also have very restrictive deals with breweries so they can’t compete with the likes of Wetherspoons.
“And then there’s the competition from supermarkets. Minimum pricing would have tackled that but of course that’s bitten the dust.”
Mr Shuker said if pubs were free to bring in innovative measures they were more likely to thrive.
“We could change the law so that no pub is restricted to the company that supplies them. One or two guest ales would make quite a difference and the government could do it quite easily.”