The Big Interview: David Wilson

Apart from the status of being the coolest dad in the playground — “my youngest son and his friends think I drink beer and go to pubs for work every day” — David Wilson says he was drawn to the industry because of its fight against the Chancellor’s decision to increase alcohol duty.

He points to his past, where a successful drive to cut tax for another industry involved the media, personalities and celebrity endorsement.

Wilson’s role marked a turning point for the BBPA. He took over from Mark Hastings, former director of communications, with a new role focusing on policy.

His previous work with Governments and using industry coalitions to fight a campaign helps build a picture of why he was picked. “You have to provide Government, ministers and advisors with the information they need, and make sure you work across government departments,” he says.

He also believes that improving consumer attitudes towards the trade is a must. “In an area like ours, we need to mobilise the pub community. The people who value their pubs and enjoy them don’t just want to keep them — they want the pub sector to thrive, because it’s great for the local economy.”

And that’s what Wilson says the BBPA will be focusing on — using social media such as Facebook to “celebrate the best of our pubs”.

To get the message across effectively, Wilson explains that the trade must show itself in a positive light. Only last week, the BBPA said that scrapping the beer-duty escalator would avoid the loss of 16,000 jobs by 2015, in its submission ahead of the Budget on 21 March.

“We want to talk a lot more about the real positive benefit you can get if you freeze beer duty, if you stop the beer-duty escalator and how that would have a direct effect on the number of jobs that our sector could generate,” says Wilson.

“In the same way as the Government continues to cut red tape, we can demonstrate that if you deal with the cumulative impact of red tape on pubs, you can actually free up investment to create jobs.”

He says the BBPA has commissioned a study looking at the number of jobs the pub and brewing sectors create for people aged under 25.

“We’re looking at the impact on jobs for under-25s and will be communicating a lot of the positive messages from that — the importance of our sector for tackling youth unemployment, which obviously is a major issue not just in this country but across Europe. Brewing and pubs have got a really key role to play in that. And we want Government and the opposition to properly appreciate that.”

But is the message actually reaching those in power? Wilson believes so, as many MPs have signed up to pro-pub manifestos.

However, in his view the next challenge is to convert that into “tangible policy measures that will support the industry”.

“But I think it’s an exciting time — and the Government is aware of some of our arguments. Obviously the Treasury is very constrained by the state of the global economy and the need to tackle the deficit, but there is a lot of growing support for our arguments around beer as a low-alcohol category. For pubs, that’s a good thing.“

"It’s the economic argument that we are intending to be focusing on throughout the year — we’ll be returning to those core messages about how pubs can contribute to Britain’s growth."

Working together​

Wilson thinks that the message will be stronger if the trade teams up with other industries. “I was very keen when I started that we should work with others where we have a common cause,” he says.

“Grain to Glass (a report the BBPA launched with the National Farmers Union in November last year) was a result of thinking that if we are going to showcase the beer-supply chain — literally right through from grain to glass — we should start with the farming and rural communities, where our core product is sourced, and get the farmers championing beer.”

The report helped the BBPA get in contact with MPs who were more supportive of the agricultural community, explains Wilson, and has prompted different audiences to start thinking about beer.

And the BBPA is working with the Association of Multiple Licensed Retailers and the Bar Entertainment & Dance Association on fighting the proposed increases in PPL charges.

Wilson admits that the range of differing opinions within the sector can prove restrictive, but he says that is not unusual.

“Inevitably, if we are going to lower duty, the BBPA will have to work with the Campaign for Real Ale. I think that if we’re going to cut through, we need to make the most of working together. Obviously we will find that there are areas where we disagree.

“On duty, it’s absolutely crucial that we present one unified voice. On VAT we need to work with a different coalition — including the hospitality sector and restaurateurs — to make a separate, but equally compelling, case for pubs.”

Wilson is able to contribute a lot of from his previous experience of “building alliances to achieve common objectives”. But he says that it starts to develop into a challenge when people stop focusing on the common ground.

“The difficulty is that in the heat of the moment, people focus on things that differentiate you, but actually you’ve got to focus on common ground. That’s not easy, and it requires a level of trust.”

As a result, Wilson believes that it’s easy for Government to complain about receiving mixed messages from industry.

“I think it’s an excuse from politicians who say, ‘we’re not getting a common position from various organisations’. Sometimes that is used as a bit of a cop-out, in order not to make a decision that they know will help the industry.

“We can’t let them off the hook by providing different perspectives on the central argument — we’ve got to find some common ground with whoever is prepared to sign up to those objectives.”

Wilson seems to have the right knowledge and enthusiasm to fight against the beer-duty escalator, but will the Government ever listen to the argument?

“It has to. It is the elephant in the room. If we were to stop talking about the biggest cause of the challenges that our industry faces, we would be neglecting our members.

“We’ve just got to keep making the argument — not only on behalf of the industry but also on behalf of consumers who see their level of tax-tolerance dropping — beer duty, fuel duty and so on. And if we don’t advocate on behalf of pub-goers, who else is going to do it?

“The fundamental challenge is related to beer-duty levels — and there’s no getting away from it.”

My kind of pub​

The Hare Arms, King’s Lynn, Norfolk ​

“It’s a Greene King pub and whenever I’m there, it’s buzzing. They do really good food, which is locally sourced — you can see the cows and sheep outside.

“Not only that — there’s always a great mix of people, from locals, to people who have been out shooting, and London commuters. It’s always busy in there and the staff are very friendly.”

Key dates​

1988​
David Wilson works for a member of the US Congress in Washington DC

1990​
Graduates in politics from Leeds University before working for Jack Cunningham MP, shadow leader of the House of Commons

1994​
Joins GJW Government Relations

1998​
Becomes chairman of education and deputy leader of Lewisham Borough Council

1999​
Becomes special advisor to the local government minister within John Prescott’s departmental team

2001​
Joins Lexington Communications, with clients including Sainsbury’s, Slough Estates and the Heritage Lottery Fund

2007​
Joins Portland PR

2007​
Is promoted to partner, public affairs

2009​
Joins the East of England Development Agency in Cambridge

2011​
Joins the British Beer & Pub Association as director of public affairs