MA250: Bravo Inns MD encourages positive attitude for business success

By Gurjit Degun

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Bravo inns Public house

A positive, can-do attitude has helped Ken Buckley, managing director at Bravo Inns, run successful businesses for the past 35 years.

Buckley told the MA250 conference how this attitude has helped his current wet-led business grow from six sites in 2007 to 30 sites today, with financial backing from Albion Ventures. The investment firm gets a return of 20% from Bravo Inns.

He said: “All the way through my career, I’ve always been extremely positive. I can’t cope with negativity. we are a very tiny team, we’re all at full stretch, we are going to have to expand soon but we all buy in and have a view. At the end of the day we go forward with what we can do; we don’t mention what we can’t do. The glass is always half full. That leads to a great team, we have healthy debates, we include our managers, we fall out and at the end of the day we go forward as a team.”

Bravo Inns came about three months before Buckley sold off his previous company Bold Pub Company. He took to buying hand-picked single freehold sites in the north-west.

When refurbishing new sites, Buckley wanted to make sure that the interiors for all his pubs were consistent so he hired a company specialising in redecorating. “In the old days, at Bold, we tended to bring all sorts of trades in and did our best. I quickly realised this was not good enough and we had to put a professional front on. We had to get a consistency with our products and the brand, so we introduced a company that do the refurb and we work closely with them. I know some people would say that we are opening ourselves to over-paying, but I like to think that we’ve got enough about us to know that we’re not over-paying.”

With events at the sites, Buckley says he makes sure that he caters for both the male and female clientele. By sponsoring darts player Andy Hamilton for a year, customers have the chance to play against the professional in their local at special events. Buckley has also booked Kevin Simm, singer in former pop band Liberty X, to play a few nights at the pubs, which he says is a hit with the ladies.

Related topics MA Leaders Club

Related news

Property of the week

Follow us

Pub Trade Guides

View more