Admiral boosts support for new licensees

The Business Support Agreement (BSA) will run for a set period of six months and provide licensees with training programmes, access to a range of industry experts and products and equipment. Licensees will also sign up to open-book accounting and stocktaking services.

Admiral said the BSA is designed to be a gateway agreement leading onto a longer-term tenancy.

Suzanne Smith, head of recruitment and people development, said: "How we work with new licensees as they enter a pub and run it for those initial months has been a huge area of focus for us. Experience tells us it’s a critical time – for the pub and for the development of the licensee – and can define whether he or she makes a success of the pub and of course themselves.

Demanding​

"This new agreement includes a package built specifically for this time, designed to help licensees navigate what is, by nature, a challenging and demanding period, with extra support in crucial areas as well as a very targeted training and development programme. 

"It represents an extra up-front investment for us, which is hopefully a good message for incoming licensees as it demonstrates our support for, and belief in, them and what they are trying to achieve." 

As part of the agreement, Admiral’s business development managers will work with licensees on areas such as pricing, profit control and margin management. Once licensees have successfully completed the initial six months they will have the opportunity to progress to a tenancy-style agreement, which typically runs for between three and five years.