When Enterprise Inns said on Wednesday that it had been given the government green light to convert into a tax-efficient real estate investment trust (Reit), there was a flurry of excitement that this would mark a sea change in the £20bn-a-year pub industry.

In particular, some have wondered whether the news has in effect opened the floodgates for speculative investors – attracted by the higher dividend returns a Reit conversion would bring – to jump into the sector.