top heavy runners

There seems to be 2 trains of thought; stop them or don't stop them.
I didn't (because that's the easy option) but the vines have interwoven so much at the top I have a huge mass of flowers and alot of the beans are growing curly.
Gardener's World tonight said it was good to stop them because they branch out lower down and you get more beans.
Should I stop them?

No

I'm in the Yes camp though.

A lot of beans grow curly in anyway, you just don't see them in the shops. Taste the same.

I think other environmental conditions such as heat, light, water, insects etc. are more likely to be responsible than just letting the beans grow.

Or maybe they just want to grow that way.

A certain amount of congestion is inevitable if you are using a support arrangement which meets at the top (i.e. either the inverted "V" or a wigwam.)

This is why single rows of vertical canes (adequately supported) or of course the "Munty" frame works better in that respect.

I am using a Munty frame for the second year and sometimes pinch out the tips of plants which have nowhere else to "go", but although in theory this should encourage the plant to produce more side shoots it's hard to say for sure whether they do or not.

In effect, the b*****y blackfly have pinched out my runner tips! GRRR.