First time licensees to receive better training
First time pub entrants could soon receive a better package of induction training if a scheme launched in the north-west proves a success.
Brewers and pub companies across the region are pooling their resources to provide the new-style training in a project brokered by the British Institute of Innkeeping.
The new course for first timers involves a more intense five-day course instead of the basic three-day BII induction course currently held for hundreds of fledgling licensees each year.
The move is an attempt to combine the various elements of pub company in-house training with the standard BII course.
BII client development director John Melia said too many people still took on their first pub without proper training.
Co-ordinated approach
But a co-ordinated regional network of training courses, backed by pub companies, could provide a solution.
"Sadly not every new entrant receives the required training before being handed the keys to their first pub," Melia told delegates at a British Beer & Pub Association Key Issues Forum in Manchester.
Five north west pub operators have joined forces to provide the new training with the first ones set to start this month.
"If this proves a success we would like to see it rolled out into other regions until it becomes a national scheme," he added.
Melia said in many parts of the country training was haphazard and unstructured with many areas suffering because of their remote geographical nature.
"It's a course designed for brewers and pub companies who want it but in today's difficult trade climate proper training is going to be vital to help newcomers survive in their first pub," Melia said.
