As change becomes faster and more extreme and technology can do more every day, the role of a pub is surely to be the solid centre of the community, the place we can rely on as the public space not just a hub for drinking.
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A place where we meet, talk and spend time away from screens and devices just being with each other. A place where we look after each other. Britain needs these social spaces.
This takes trust in the publican. Trust that when we arrive in the pub, the welcome will be genuine, the range of drinks and food on the menus suitable, the service fast enough and with care, a smile and genuine hospitality. And that the publican will be there next time we visit.
Many of the pubs in my patch are independents going through real struggles.
Huge numbers of pubs are struggling to make ends meet. I have spent quite a lot of time in the past 18 months, doing a survey asking people how they think the smaller village and rural pubs will survive in the next 20 years and what they would do to make sure we preserve the rural pub.
There were a few lightbulb moments, more of that later, and many people hankering after solidly good service and food and drink but not understanding the challenges of running a smaller pub.
I live in north Oxfordshire and I have a set of pubs I observe in an ostensibly wealthy part of the countryside. It really does worry me. Many of the pubs in my patch are independents going through real struggles.
Pubs, or do I mean communities, change publicans regularly. If the local communities don’t manage to build their own loyalty and confidence up to so they walk in and tap the card often enough to get to the pub’s sustainable turnover level, then the change of publican takes time but it is inevitable.
The minimum turnover for property landlord and publican to co-exist varies by pub depending on rent, but let’s say it’s £5,000 a week.
Tough economics
In a village of 500 people that’s every man, woman, child, pensioner, working or not, socialiser or recluse, spending £10 a week in the pub or £520 per year.
Obviously not everyone does come into the pub, so double that £,1000 per year. This minimum turnover per rural resident that supports pubs is now so high, it makes it harder for communities to be loyal enough.
Publicans find it really hard to be resilient enough to actually enjoy the ride when the pub economics are so tough.
The answer isn’t easy. I don’t believe any Government change will be enough on its own, so I, for one, just ignore that potential silver bullet.
Others are working to persuade Mr Burnham and I wish them luck. We publicans need to make our own luck.
Communities have to actively find ways to support the publicans, in a way the publican enjoys.
The publican needs to be totally focused on building the loyalty of the community so they make every opportunity to support the pub.
They need to be constantly building reasons for the pub to be the centre of the community and the place where we naturally meet, 100% focused on being the host. Too often I see other issues distracting them.
Community engagement has to be in place. In Oxfordshire, if you lose your pub, you lose 11% of your house value, as well as your shared social space, the place where the lonely hang out, where problems are solved.
Communities have to actively find ways to support the publicans, in a way the publican enjoys.
Community engagement
I don’t think any community should think it’s their right to have a pub. Community ownership of pubs is working and sales are higher in those pubs.
Community engagement needs to be championed everywhere. Maybe we industry folk should work out how to teach communities to do it well, instead of vainly hoping communities will work it out.
Better tech in small pubs was one of the lightbulbs from my survey. There is no way the publican can afford to waste time on admin and accounts, they can’t afford extra bookkeepers and spend triple the cost as a % vs larger pubs and the tech has to work really well.
While they are independent businesses, the time spent on “business” has to be really small. I think this is solvable; I’ll write more about that another day.
The drinks and food range has to be welcoming for all types, those who want coffee or low or no alcohol need great options.
Pub resilience flows from publican resilience, which needs some key ingredients to change.
How many rural publicans know how to do this? When my fellow villagers drive three miles to McDonalds to get their coffee fix and three miles in a different direction to Greggs for their their pastry, I know our pub is going to struggle. How do we fix this?
It is possible we will still have solid small village pubs in 20 years, but there’s a lot to do.
Pub resilience flows from publican resilience, which needs some key ingredients to change.
They need time to be the host supported by community loyalty and engagement, better tech and admin, better easier food and drink that meets more people’s needs and wants. And pub profitability.
The best of the pubcos are mastering most of this. If we solve all this, we will have the pubs we want and great publicans who want to live the hospitality life.
