Smart new operators make pub retailing look easy
The former is for pubs that have proved themselves to be the best exponent of the tenanted, leased or franchised model over the past 12 months. The latter is for pubs that have transformed their business with a significant increase in sales.
Both were very well-entered categories, with numbers of entries well up on previous years. And while I wouldn’t want to draw wild conclusions about the health of the pub industry from that fact, I will say that the stories they tell are particularly inspiring.
It makes me optimistic about the future of the trade to think that so many smart, savvy operators are joining the ranks of licensees.
And what is most encouraging is that some of the success being enjoyed by our awards entrants is not down to them spending huge sums of money (though there are some examples where megabucks-investments are paying off handsomely). It is down to clever business plans, targeted spend, attention to detail and skilful retailing.
They make it sound so simple and look so easy that I finished the day lulled into the dangerous sense that I could do what some of these potentially award-winning licensees are achieving.
Luckily, as someone who has taken lots of psychometric tests, my powers of self-awareness are stronger than my propensity for arrogance. They say: those who can, do; those who can’t, teach. I add to that: those who can’t, become journalists writing about those who can!
So let me put it on the record that I probably couldn’t run a great pub. And to paraphrase Sir Steve Redgrave: “If anyone sees me going anywhere near a licensed property agent they have my permission to shoot me.”
Antagonistic relationship
I have maximum respect for all you licensees. But I recognise the value of proper support for newcomers to the industry. That’s why I am so impressed by the efforts Punch Taverns is making to provide a dedicated resource for new partners.
I have seen first-hand an example of a pub that has enjoyed the benefit of working closely with one of the company’s regional launch managers.
I get the distinct impression long-standing lessees (certainly those who signed deals with their pubcos before 2008) are looking on jealously at the sort of deals now being struck by industry newcomers.
The levels of pubco investment, the flexibility on the tie and the extent of the special commercial and financial advantages available for the right operator with the right business plan are undoubtedly better now than ever before.
Of course, that begs the question whether pub companies are doing enough to support the lessees that have been with them for half a decade or more. There were suggestions at our recent Tenanted Pub Company Summit that such familiarity might be breeding contempt, or at least complacency. Drinks price inflation alone means some pub operators claim they are now disincentivised to sell beer — a situation that suits no-one.
If both parties find themselves locked into deals that benefit neither, maybe an amnesty of sorts would be better all round than the continuation of an antagonistic relationship — even if there’s a bit of paper somewhere with two signatures on it.
I’d like to read more success stories like those highlighted by the 800+ entries into the Great British Pub Awards. From in front of the bar, not behind it.
