Work hard to win in 2006

Every extra game for england in the world cup will be an extra christmas for pubs

Andrew Pring, Editor

Whether your trade was up or down over Christmas and New Year, you'll know that you're going to have to work very hard this year just to keep level, let alone improve your standards of living. Sorry to sound negative, but there don't seem any easy pickings out there suggesting 2006 will be a vintage year for the trade.

Everyone's worried about three main things: the economy and how it affects people's spending power in your pub; utility bills, which look set to rise dramatically; and most importantly of all, smoking. Hard to spot a silver lining there. But the important thing is not to be passive. You can manage all three issues so as to lessen their impact on your business. For example, a professional audit of your energy requirements should pay dividends. And if you're a tenant/lessee, make sure your pubco is working hard to get you the best possible deal.

The economy is obviously beyond anyone's control, but remember that when times get tight and people keep their credit cards under firmer control, your pub may actually become the preferred destination of formerly free-spending consumers.

So work hard to offer great value and you can still win.

All these problems pale when set against the potentially disastrous impact on many pubs of a smoking ban, and particularly the botched proposals that are currently being discussed in Parliament. It looks like that the best we can hope for is a total ban, even though we all still pray for the fairer option of allowing pubs to have separate smoking areas. We should know by early spring, and until then it's hard to do anything other than wait. But whatever the result, there'll be ways to survive, somehow.

On the positive side, at least there's no licensing application madness to deal with - and hopefully you'll be starting to flex the new hours to advantage.

And the brightest hope of all is the World Cup, which kicks off in June. Pubs should find this a bonanza, as everyone gets swept up in football fever. Metatarsals aside, England should make very decent progress and every extra game will be an extra Christmas.

Let's hope the sun shines a lot this year, too. Heaven knows, we're owed a decent summer. Here's to making the very best hay we can.