Negativity is good, negativity is right

Negativity can on occasion be self-defeating; there is little doubt about that. Customers frequenting pubs for example, often do so to escape the tedious day to day problems that beset us all. They have little desire to be burdened by tales of woe from publicans, most of us would acknowledge that fact.

And yes, positivity can be a good thing. However, there are undoubtedly times when it has its drawbacks. I suspect that with the benefit of hindsight, Giles Thorley wishes he’d been rather more circumspect prior to his acquisition of Spirit.

However, in a more global context, I would suggest negativity certainly does have a very important role to play. After all, it draws people’s attention to a certain issue; suggests things are amiss, not quite as they should be.

Take the case of Russell Ham for example. Russell’s a Punch tenant who typically works a ninety hour week. Last year he made a pitiful £3,000. The net result is that he’s become all too accustomed to living on the edge; nostrils barely protruding above the waterline.

I suspect he doesn’t have too many ‘glass-half-full messages’ for us. He’s too busy treading water.

Yet watching the video interview with John Harris, I was struck by Russell’s positivity. To his customers at least, he appeared the genial host, a consummate professional; one any pubco should be only too proud to have as a partner.

Only when the last of his clientele had drifted away did the head scratching and soul searching begin.

Russell’s plight is typical of many. Stories abound in the local press of tenants being evicted or handing back keys; the overwhelming majority cite unworkable agreements which offer little or no prospect of a decent return.

Of course, in the good years, tenants leaving the trade barely registered a blip on the pubco radar. Long queues of prospective replacements were always waiting in line, eager to jump on the gravy train.

Thanks to the increasing number of stories in the media highlighting the plight of publicans, those days are long gone.

That is why I would suggest that rather than ditch negativity we need to embrace it. It is our most potent weapon in the ‘war on reform’.

The spectre of pessimism is beginning to haunt pubcos; their increasingly desperate attempts to create the illusion of change bear testimony to that fact.

New agreements for a new era they say; ‘flexibility’ and ‘choice’ for all. If only it were so.

The high rate of pub closures and widespread tales of penury and hardship tell a different story. As the tsunami of negativity gains momentum, pubco assertions of ‘support’ and ‘partnership’ appear increasingly shallow. The reality is that little has changed at the ‘last chance saloon’.

To some extent at least, the future of the tied model does still lie in the hands of pubcos.

After all, they could take on board Stephen Crawley’s message and embrace positivity. Acknowledge the market has changed beyond recognition, offer their ‘partners’ agreements which allow them to make a decent living.

Sadly, that might just be too much to ask for. Thus far at least, they have shown little inclination to change their modus operandi.

In the case of Russell Ham, what is the alternative? Kick him out onto the street as they have done with so many others?

Will this not merely serve to generate more negative headlines about the ‘big bad pubcos’? And let’s be honest about it; what are the prospects of Punch finding anyone that knows the pub and customers that frequent it better than Russell?

Of course it is quite possible they care not one jot, having already decided to merely let him fall by the wayside whilst they quietly pocket the money acquired through the retention of his deposit and f and f money.

Unfortunately, this has become a depressingly familiar scenario. ‘Low cost entry’ they say; rather less is made of the financial implications of ‘failure’.

Some time ago, a senior figure in the drinks industry referred to big pubcos as ‘unwieldy beasts’.

Now of course there are those who would have us believe that these beasts are capable of change. It is not a view I concur with. Such sentiments are misguided, the product of naivety in the extreme; expressed by those who have little inkling as to what we are dealing with.

The fact of the matter is that the beast remains a fearsome predator; ‘carcasses’ strewn across the countryside bear testimony to its veracious appetite. Yet, thanks to the growing momentum of negativity, it has become increasingly fearful; rightly so.

‘Prey’ is becoming ever more elusive. Slowly but surely, the beast is bringing about its own demise; sowing the seeds of its own destruction.

For us to ultimately prevail in this long drawn out conflict, we must starve it into submission, deprive it of its staple diet; gullible new entrants to the trade.

That is why it’s imperative we continue to embrace, savour and propagate the sweet sound of negativity. Ultimately, it is key to driving fundamental reform of the tied pub sector.

So come, join with me in singing along to the melodious harmony of glorious pessimism.

‘Negativity is good, negativity is right. Oh yeah. Negativity is good, negativity is right.’

Doesn’t that sound and feel a whole lot better?