MA meets woman behind Pub Revolution
Pub Revolution wants direct action by tenants to bring pubcos to their knees and more than 2,500 licensees have joined, according to its mysterious founder. Gemma McKenna met her.
The identity of Pub Revolution's leader is a closely-guarded secret. She won't reveal who her landlords are or where her pub is. That's the way she wants it to stay.
In an exclusive interview with the Morning Advertiser, Stressed (as she is known on the group's Facebook site) says her pubco has no idea of her identity.
"Business development managers (BDMs) don't know who's involved in Pub Revolution, and that's nice. The relationship has changed. Now they are on the back foot," she says.
An experienced licensee, Stressed says the trade has changed significantly in the past five years: "It's a misconception that we (licensees) are all crap at our jobs. Of course, there are some who shouldn't be in business, but the majority of operators are bloody good.
"We, as pub tenants, have an emotional attachment to our businesses. That's what keeps us where we are. But pubcos — they're just hard-nosed business people."
Pub Revolution started on Facebook in September 2009 and now has more than 2,500 members. It also started a second, secure site, where access is restricted to licensees. This also has around 2,500 members, according to Stressed.
The purpose of the secure site is to provide support to tenants. "Most of the trade bodies run 9am to 5pm, but we assist people until two in the morning. We routinely get around 200 people on at once.
"It really helps people knowing they are not alone, and being able to get together to discuss issues. People are so frightened of their landlords. These are Britain's licensees, people who routinely stand up to troublemakers in their pubs. But the scary thing for them is their BDM."
Fall-out
Pub Revolution became a stand-alone branch of the GMB — "run by tied tenants, for tied tenants" — after Stressed contacted the union in November when the Office of Fair Trading failed to uphold the Campaign for Real Ale's super-complaint on the tie.
Stressed says tenants were prepared to strike without the support of the GMB, but now the union is involved, Pub Revolution has a "lot more strength, power, organisational ability and publicity".
But Stressed is also realistic about the outcome of industrial action, and what would happen if pub companies failed.
"There is no utopia on the other side of the ballot. It would leave a lot of fall-out to be cleaned up."
And what about the Fair Pint route, pushing for changes to legislation to help licensees?
"There have been no fewer than 27 inquiries over the past 20 years and all the time committees are investigating, pubs are still closing.
"I have great respect for Fair Pint, but we have very different stand points. Pub Revolution was born out of frustration following the Business & Enterprise Committee report. It came closest to exposing the industry for what it is."
No fear
Stressed believes the ballot will be almost 100% in favour of industrial action. And while other tenants might fear for their businesses, Stressed says: "I'm not frightened. I've got a massive turnover, but I can't make a living. I'm a more than competent operator."
Stressed does not believe any steps taken recently by the industry, such as the British Beer & Pub Association's framework code of practice and the toughened BIIBAS code of practice accreditation scheme, will change things for the better.
She adds: "The bottom line is, pubcos are not going to change unless people make a stand. The ultimate aim is to stop the tie dead in its tracks.
"Once it is stopped, all the other issues facing the trade will be easy to solve, such as binge drinking, taxation, supermarket pricing. We can tackle these issues as a united force."
