Commer pauses for thought - what's next for Jim Walsh?

Despite recently selling the entire Commer Group estate for £19m, Jim Walsh says he is not ready to retire yet. Mark Stretton finds out what is in the pipeline.

On the face of it the Jim Walsh story would seem a classic tale of a successful entrepreneur who has cashed in the chips.

The man who started Commer Group with one pub in Leeds recently sold the entire 75-strong estate to the Punch Pub Company in a deal valued at £19m.

But Jim, 60, is not ready to retire just yet and is already planning the next phase in the development of the Tadcaster-based pub company.

"We're still here," he said. "There is an enormous future in this industry and really this is day one of the rest of our lives."

The Yorkshireman plans to initially build an estate of up to 50 pubs stretching from Yorkshire to the North East. That sounds suspiciously like his previous pub business.

So why sell one estate only to build another? "It was a combination of things," he said, "We wanted to spread our risk through various ventures and I felt it was a good time to sell - I don't think prices have peaked but they are pretty full.

"We were very happy with the price but then I hope Punch was very happy with the product. It takes time to build an estate and we had value in the business that we weren't seeing on the balance sheet.

"It's certainly easy for a company like Punch to come in and buy packages."

Jim founded the Commer Group as a direct result of the 1989 Beer Orders, which were recently revoked by the government. The legislation required the big brewers to sell half their pubs above a 2,000 threshold, putting 11,000 houses on the market.

Jim started running pubs on behalf of Whitbread, initially the White Horse in Armley, Leeds, before buying 34 from the brewer in 1995 for £3.5m. Backed by NatWest he grew the business to 75 pubs before buying out his equity partner two years ago.

He says the Beer Orders changed the industry forever. "What happened before and what went after are two different worlds," Jim said.

"It's likely 70 per cent of the trade would not exist in its current form if it had not been for the Beer Orders. It created businesses and changed views on how things should be done.

"I don't know where all the capital investment or the innovation would have come from - especially given the speed at which it has happened."

Last year, Commer Group was named Tenanted Pub Company of the Year in the 10 to 100 division at The Publican Awards.

Having built an award-winning company from scratch how could he let it all go? "It was hard," he said.

"I knew it was the right decision but I remember thinking when we had signed the contracts, 'I wish we hadn't sold' but I knew it was right."

Commer has already agreed contracts on seven pubs and is in various stages on a further eight.

But pubs were not the only thing in Commer's locker and Jim and his team plan to continue building the data information business, Nucleus.

Like Brulines, Nucleus uses technology on beer dispensers to track what beers are being sold at what times. This information is then fed back to a central computer which can use the data to build a picture of what is happening across an entire pub estate.

Nucleus director Clive Consterdine picks up the story. "I used to work for a managed pub company," he said. "I could tell anything from how much Budweiser we had sold in a year to how much Bud had been sold in one particular hour by a certain barperson in any one outlet.

"When I moved to tenanted operations I couldn't believe how little information people use to run their businesses. It's crazy - how are you supposed to make informed decisions when you don't understand what's happening across your estate?"

Initially this technology was used to check if lessees were buying outside the tie but it has now moved on and what EPoS did for retailing and managed estates, Nucleus now does for the tenanted pub business.

When Punch took the 75-strong pubs it also took the existing Nucleus technology on a trial basis. Other clients include Burtonwood Brewery and InnSpired.

Nucleus, in partnership with Kunick, can also track fruit machines in the same way.

The information is relayed down the telephone lines and Clive and Jim say that with the advent of broadband technology, which allows more information to be processed, the possibilities are infinite.

Commer is also looking to get involved in other new technology-based projects, and, with its enlarged pockets, could act as an equity partner for other ventures.

"We know there is other technology out there and it's constantly in development," Jim said. "We want to act as a catalyst and get involved in a venture capital capacity.

"The reality is that pubs are very much a part of everyone's lives and as a private company we want to invest back in the industry."

The head of the Tadcaster-based group believes the industry is in pretty good shape. "Investment is higher than ever before," Jim said.

"The products are better than ever before and more wide-ranging, especially food, and we have great people - we have bought people in from other industries and markets. Service is getting better too - but then the customer demanded that and it was our job and duty to provide it."

But the entrepreneur says there is still much to be done. "There are still many views and processes in this industry which date back to Victorian times," he said.

"Take drink delivery - a pub might use four different suppliers so every week it gets four different deliveries - logistically, it's crazy and it will change.

"There are lots of examples of practices that will have to go - acts of lunacy that there is no justification for."

While it is certain some of the £19m from the Punch deal will have taken care of some company borrowings, Jim no longer needs to work.

But he is by no means ready to contemplate retirement.

"I would get bored," he said. Jim says he will be very interested in looking at any packages that are available and size is not a problem.

"With an equity partner we could look at anything up to 500 pubs," he said.

"As long as it isn't our main business we don't have a problem with that sort of size or getting the backing for it.

"I believe that for Commer and the industry as a whole, the next 10 years are going to be tremendously exciting."

So, notice has been served - Commer Group will be here for the revolution.

Jim Walsh on...​

...the Beer Orders​"It broke the monopoly but didn't really do what it was supposed to. Pubs were supposed to be free-of-tie, with more choice for the customer, but the reality is there are fewer brewers than ever before. However, if it hadn't been for the Orders we would not have seen the innovation or investment that has followed."

...consolidation in the market​"The merry-go-round will stop. I don't know that anyone will be able to go above 10,000 pubs because then it becomes a political issue, and not an industry issue."

...Enterprise Inns chief executive Ted Tuppen​"I do admire him for what he has achieved. He is the only person who has taken a long-term view and the performance of his company on the stock market will assist the whole queue of pub companies waiting to float."