PUB tenants are going to war to stop a brewery installing "spy in the cellar" systems in their pubs.

Deby Dawson (pictured), landlady of the Bay Horse in Manchester Road, Baxenden, is the latest Daniel Thwaites tenant to refuse the brewery access to her cellar to install an Electronic Draft Information System.

She has joined forces with other defiant tenants including Lawrence Theaker of the Aqueduct, Ewood, and Cliff and Marilyn Hutchinson of the Gibraltar Hotel, Dukes Brow. The tenants have called a meeting at The Aqueduct on Bolton Road on Tuesday June 27 at 2pm.

Mr Theaker and Mr and Mrs Hutchinson were given six months' notice to leave the pubs after refusing the brewery access to their cellars. But they have vowed to fight the brewery all the way -- with the backing of other tenants.

The row started when the brewery decided to install the systems in certain tenanted pubs to monitor all draught beer sales. But the tenants believe their sales and trading figures should remain a private matter between themselves and their accountants.

Thwaites workers were due to install the EDIS system in Deby's pub yesterday lunchtime but were stopped in their tracks when Deby informed her area manager that they would be refused entry. She said: "I thought I was the only one in this situation and thought I had no rights whatsoever until I read in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph about the Aqueduct and Gibraltar.

"I have nothing to hide but everybody has got to stick together over this. If I get notice to quit as well then so be it. If we join forces then the brewery will have to negotiate instead of bullying us. The letters the brewery sent me about this were worded very strongly and made me feel like I had no choice.

"The thing that worries me is that the information they can collect can be passed on to other people including the police."

A brewery spokesman said: "We simply cannot understand why these tenants are taking this line. We have installed this equipment at many of our houses with no problems at all and the system has many mutual benefits for tenants and the brewery not least through its proven record as an effective marketing tool.

"Indeed several of our free trade customers have contacted us independently about the system with a view to installing it for themselves.

"There is nothing sinister behind any of this, we are simply attempting to improve levels of efficiency and reduce costs.

"As the chairman of the local Licensed Victuallers Association stated we are within our rights to install the equipment in our pubs at our expense.

"We will continue our installation programme throughout our estate as and when funding becomes available.

"Every tenant is on an individual contract with the brewery and as such will be treated on an individual basis."