North West Focus: Robinsons takes stock

It could have been a stupid question - asking 400 pub tenants whether they're being charged a fair rent. But the exercise produced a pleasant surprise for Stockport-based brewer Frederic Robinson - 72 per cent said they were happy.

Robinsons describes itself as a 'fair rent' landlord, but it's nice to know the publican paying the bill thinks so too, and that was just one of the positive results from the tenant survey the company carried out last summer.

It scored well on friendliness, efficiency, helpfulness and courtesy, too. "It shows that our tenants appreciate being part of a family brewer where you're not just a number," says tied trade director William Robinson.

"Our rents are based on a fair market rent for the site and we've never gone to arbitration in a rent dispute - we'd think we'd failed if that happened," he continues."If a tenant was unhappy we'd look at the case in a genuine way. But it's easy to say the rent's too high, and that may not be the only problem. Maybe it's not the right business for them, or we can work at ways to develop trade.

"And if a pub is doing well we don't rentalise that. If you're doing better you'll buy more beer from us and we're happy."

Carried out by an independent agency "to get honest feedback" says Robinson, the survey comprised 45 questions covering all aspects of the landlord-tenant relationship.

"We wanted to understand the issues affecting our pubs - especially in the wake of the smoking ban and licensing reform - and wanted to know whether licensees were aware of the support they could get from us."

There were criticisms as well as compliments, and they have resulted in several operational changes at the brewer.

A new system for building maintenance, for instance, has introduced four levels of priority, from emergencies which prevent the pub trading, which get a four-hour response, to low priority works such as a dripping tap, which are dealt with inside 24 days.

Fortnightly deliveries have been abolished and the entire Robinsons estate is now on weekly deliveries, which Robinson says "will help improve beer quality as well as helping tenants with their cash flow".

Licensees also said they would like more training in legislation and finance, and the survey revealed some confusion about what training was available for pub staff, with most unaware their people could go on one-day courses with the brewer for cellar management, food hygiene and responsible retailing.

The area where pubs needed most support, though, was in developing the food offer, and again many licensees did not know what discounts were available through the company.

"We obviously weren't communicating properly what we were doing," says Robinson. "I think some tenants are surprised that we offer this kind of support - they wonder what's in it for the brewery.

"But there's no catch. We want our licensees to have a better business."

Extra staffing at head office will also mean there's more chance of a pub speaking to a human being rather than an answering machine when they phone up. "We never thought that might be an issue for people," admits Robinson.

"It's simple things like that that are hugely valuable for us, and it means we certainly wouldn't rule out running the survey again."