Chris Maclean: Why refreshing payment isn't small beer

One great joys of the being a licensee is the ability, from time to time, to pay people with beer.

Now before the tax and revenue people start acting irrationally I should like to point out this is infrequent, calculated and declared; alright?

But there are numerous tasks that need to be performed in a pub which sometimes fall outside of the normal contractual nature of most business relationships. I'm talking about those people who do you a favour.

If a customer unblocks the drains for you, or helps you move a delivery, or stands behind the bar for five minutes whilst you attend to something else they deserve some recompense.

Now you could draw up a financial agreement. Arrange for money to be given in return for services. But you'd be a fool.

From time to time it is right and proper, when a task has been done for you, to offer a pint of beer. But this is the master-stroke. By doing so the formality of paperwork and the necessity to formalise it is done away with. They can choose one of two options. Take payment or take beer. Often they'd prefer to take a pint of beer, be refreshed by it, reassured that they were respected in the pub community, pick up extra business from the good will of it and know it was a job well done.

Yesterday I had a radio fitted in my Landrover. It cost me over £200 quid. What I should have done, and I regret it now, is chatted to a customer and had them do it for a pint of beer. Its not unreasonable. They'd get value and so would I.

Several times recently I've had to call out the plumber. The pipework here is aged. If, when he visits, the issue is trivial, it is resolved with beer. A leaking radiator valve, a dripping tap have both been rewarded by a pint of beer. (But the new bathroom suite cost me heavily.)

A pint of beer invested in this manner creates such good will and such a solid foundation for a long term relationship that I'm suprised not more licensees do it.

But it can have its drawbacks.

Some years ago I worked in a pub in a rural location. An old boy came in with a bag of runner beans. "Would the landlord exchange the beans for a packet of fags" he asked. The landlord naturally said yes. The beans were fresh and he liked them so the exchange was made.

Next day the old boy came in with two bags of beans. "Would the landlord swap these for two packets of fags?" he asked. The landlord thought about it and realised that, if he put them in the freezer, this made sense. So he duly did so.

Day three: it's mid-afternoon and the landlord looked out of the window to see the same old boy, now with an enormous wheelbarrow laden with beans. Realising what was about to take place, he hid. The old boy hasn't been back.

Offering beer to compensate people who have made an effort on your behalf can make good business sense ~ but you need to remain on top of it.