Priorities have changed- but not for the best

In licensed trade terms, last month was both decisive and significant. Not because of the re-elected Government's decision not to announce a licensing reform bill - that was indecision.

Nor was it progress on the reduction of duty levels on alcohol to match those across the Channel - that was insignificant, or to be absolutely frank, nonexistent.

Last month was noteworthy because I decided to end my career as a licensee - a career which began 26 years ago at the White Bull in Ribchester, near Preston, Lancashire.

Renovated in 1707, the White Bull was a lovely oldinn which featured Roman columns and a mounting block at the front entrance. Just behind the walled garden to the rear were the excavated remains of the Roman bath house and less than 100 yards away, at the end of the street, the River Ribble made its way through pastureland towards the Irish Sea.

The rent was set at £8 a week - which included all repairs, maintenance, interior and exterior decoration and insurance. Those were the days when, on the whole, the licensed trade was a happy one and tenant licensees could expect to make a living which was commensurate with the effort involved. We worked hard to build the place up, and before long we were featured in the Good Food Guide, the Good Pub Guide and a host of other guides. We made a good profit, Whitbread sold more beer, wines and spirits and everyone was happy.

That was then. Towardsthe end of the 1970s, a change of government saw rents quadruple when they were unfrozen. Even so, things were manageable and before long we all slipped into a comfortable complacency.

Little did we know that the brewery, with the help of business consultants, was already formulating an even newer method of assessing rents based on what it termed "standard maintainable trade" which was converted into the annual rent expressed as pounds sterling per barrel.

In other words, it had a free hand to charge whatever rent it wished.

Times were hard but they were to get harder still. The long-awaited and radical Monopolies & Mergers Commission's report into the supply of beer, which was stifled at birth, acted merely as a preface to the mind-blowing events which were to follow.

A thousand years of tradition were treated simply as an opportunity to indulge corporate greed, as the newly formed "pub estate operators", with the blessing of the Government, flouted thespirit of the report with breathtaking arrogance.

But those are old grievances. Today's licensed trade has changed beyond all recognition and the transition has seen a shift in priorities. Whereas at one time a licensee's priorities were the nuts and bolts of old- fashioned hospitality, those priorities have now been replaced by the need to remain solvent or to meet targets, neither of which is easy.

Easy to understand, then, why, after 26 years, when the opportunity presented itself, I decided it was time to make a tactical withdrawal. Even so, it would be foolish of me to pretend that those years did not exist. If I did, it would be to disown all the qualifications and awards which I have been fortunate enough to acquire along the way but more than that, it would be to desert the industry about which I care very deeply.

I take my hat off to all those licensees still soldiering on. They are the backbone of the industry and the people who make it possible for the corporate giants to talk in terms of billions. But everything turns full circle and given time, their day will come again.

The trouble with the licensed trade is that it lacks co-ordination of leadership, direction and purpose. What is needed is someone who can balance the equation by addressing the interests of all those concerned, not just the board and shareholders, a sort of licensed trade ombudsman.

Such a person would be mature, qualified, possess an in-depth knowledge of the real licensed trade rather than corporate dexterity and have the ability to communicate at all levels. Hang on a minute… no, surely not… that would be too sensible!

David Best is a former publican of the Bushell's Arms in Preston, Lancashire