Straight and narrow

I wish I had more time to post, I really do, unfortunately there is so much going on here I haven't got time. I'm getting bogged down with all sorts of administrative stuff that keeps me from more fun activities. Plus, we've got a pub to open for the season and the list of jobs to complete isn't getting any shorter.

It really does perplex me the amount of hoops one is expected to jump through when running a pub. Environmental health, accessibility issues, licensing objectives, advertising, fire safety, accounting and tax, electrical testing and many, many others. Now I'm not saying that these things are not worthy of some form of regulation. Indeed I do not want the death of one of my customers or staff on my conscience, but I do wonder sometimes if we have gone well beyond the point of diminishing returns with many items of legislation.

When licensees get together we often lament some of the pitfalls of the job. It is also the case that we share our high points as well, we're not miserable all the time. However, we often have subjects of joint complaint with which to mutually commiserate about. One such subject for me is legislation. Most publicans I know try to keep up, but are really unable to.

One evening, in a friends pub, I was mentioning the problems of keeping everything above board and legitimate. My friends reply was along the lines of "why bother, you'll never keep up so just ignore legislation".

This was something of a surprise to me. I consider myself to be an honest and law abiding citizen. I like to remain legal. This guy was actually suggesting that it was impossible to run a pub and remain legal so you might as well ignore legislation.

I think this is one of my problems; I try to do things right. Perhaps I should take this guys advice and forget about legislation.

Cause and effect

Newtons Third Law Of Motion states: "To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."

Now although in economic and social terms it would be harder to apply this law absolutely, there is, I'm sure, some parallels.

The smoking ban is a clear example. From my biased view point I am now very pleased about the smoking ban, primarily because the style of pub I run has probably benefited and also because I am now a non smoker as a result. It is clear that there are many pubs not in this situation. It is one of the myriad of effects that are causing problems with some pubs as smokers who might not smoke in their own homes, now feel they might as well smoke on their own door step. I might be the case that for the health of the nation and to weed out the poorest of pubs this is worth the pain, or maybe not.

The CAMRA full pints campaign claims that the pub industry is ripping of consumers to the tune of £481 million a year. Firstly, if this were to be true then the pub industry would not be in the terrible state it is in. The truth is that many pubs are struggling to make a profit. Many larger brewery's are reporting dropping profits. So where is this mystical £481 million going?

It may well be the case that more clarity is required for the pint measure. A lined glass does show clearly the pint mark. The reality is that if legislation were to be brought in to ensure pints were uniform, to the line, then more product would be used, costing the pub more and so the only way to maintain profitability would be to put up the price of the pint. Cause and effect.

Since owning my own pub I have become more aware of the number of people who have tried to make a living out of the pub industry and failed. I know a significant number of people that have tried very hard to make their pub work and found the rewards just not significant enough to be worth the effort. Many of these people are significantly disillusioned and would never run a pub again, despite having gained significant experience along the way.

The Community Pub Inquiry there is a mention, if disappointingly brief, about how increasingly difficult it is to find people to run pubs. (see para 40 page 12). It would be useful for the industry to find a way to make running a pub attractive again. This would be especially good if we could find a way to retain valuable skills lost due to failing pubs.

Kipling often comes to mind during our days here, and at the risk of going against the quote, I find this useful:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

I believe a prerequisite for being a good licensee is a desire to achieve the aims of Kipling in "If" His advice is hard to achieve and I regularly fail on the first two lines:

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

I do believe many achieve this, and go on to "build 'em up with worn-out tools". The great shame is that they rebuild away from the pub industry, and often without breath of the loss they suffered at the hands of the industry.

The inability of a freeholder to achieve market value for a failing pub drives many away from the industry vowing never to return. Having lost their all, but perhaps not wanting ever to share the experience of their failure with others.

One of my criticisms of the Community Pub Inquiry, and I hesitate to criticise an otherwise excellent piece of work, is that it suggests that it should be made harder for pubs to have their uses changed. I believe that there are huge numbers of past licensees who have lost much, and gained nothing other that skills that the pub industry needs. Failing to allow individuals to sell their property for it's true market value is driving people out of the industry. Cause and effect.

It may well be true that this pub or that is an important part of the community. But if the community is unable or unwilling to financially support the establishment then is it fair that we burn out an increasing number of good people and insisting that there is an ever decreasing value for pub property?

I believe there are many CAMRA campaigns where the end result of the campaigning may be doing more harm to the pub industry than is realised. I believe that the message from the Inquiry towards planning restrictions on change of use comes from CAMRA HQ. I strongly believe that we need a shrinkage in the number of pubs to make the remainder better and to match the number of available people to the number of pubs - otherwise, the likes of me, the enthusiastic licensee, will disappear completely.

Government - "Not in the business of keeping pubs open"

In the Community Pub Inquiry the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) are reported to have stated that they are not in the business of keeping pubs open. It is my view that government regulation and legislation is a major contributor to the failure of the pub as a small business.

DCMS are responsible for government policy on tourism and leisure including licensing laws. They are the main department that could do something to prevent the demise of the small pub.

We should remember that every small business that needs to employ a few people or has public areas are all having similar problems. The small corner shop, the little greengrocer or butcher are also burdened. There may be some advantages of the legislation that has been brought in. It is much harder now for rogue traders to do a bodge job on your electrics or your gas central heating. Perhaps this is good. Perhaps the small independent pub is just one type of small rogue trader that needs crushing.

The difference between the corner shop and a pub is complexity of the business, and if you are a small shop owner please don't be under the illusion I think you have an easy job. A pub has nearly every aspect of legislation to deal with. Health and safety at work, food safety, public safety, alcohol licencing, public disorder, employment rights, building regulations, fire safety, public entertainment, performing rights licence, etc. On top of this, because of the vast range of products that the pub goer expects to have available, has very complex accounts. A pub is possibly the most complex type of small business there is to run.

The problem is, for the small pub, the regulations are completely pointless. Take for instance the fire regulations. Last year their was a fire at a hotel in Newquay where 3 people were killed. That was tragic. The interesting thing is that the event made a major news story as would any hotel fire that killed people. The fact is that this incident, though very tragic, is extremely rare and despite continual increases in legislation there is little if any reduction in fatalities in the small community pub. The current situation is that the fire safety inspection is now the responsibility of the pub owner - the fire service is now just an enforcement rather than inspecting authority. This is a measure brought in to save costs for the government but puts these costs disproportionately onto the pub.

A similar situation arises with food safety. The new HACCAP regulations are designed to reduce the incidence of food poisoning by less than 20%. If you knew the complexities of HACCAP then you would understand that for a small business this far exceeds the laws of diminishing returns. In fact I imagine this sort of regulation simply distracts the licensee from actually running a safe kitchen as he or she is often the one in the kitchen telling the staff to keep the raw chicken away from the lettuce. If the licensee is too busy filling in paperwork then this is time away from safety supervision. HACCAP should not be required where the business owner acts as a daily on the job supervisor.

I am no fan of the Pubco. I am unlikely to ever be one unless I end up owning a chain of pubs myself. I am sure that they have a commercial advantage by having the resources to tackle the swaths of regulation that exists. The sole freehold trader does not have the advantage of this support. It is with some surprise then that several Pubco's have contributed evidence to the inquiry and they all seem to be supporting the idea that regulation has gone far too far.

So consider these things next time you are canvased by a Parliamentary Candidate. Ask them what they are going to do about regulation that has gone far beyond the point of sensible diminishing returns. Specifically ask them if they are going to simplify legislation that affects the pub industry. Ask them if the Government would like to make it their business to keep pubs open or if they think the small pub is a rogue trader that needs to be eliminated.