Thanks to the results of a recent satisfaction survey, the tenants for brewer Timothy Taylor seem to be a happy bunch. Phil Mellows reports
Every area manager will know the look. Christine Peacock crossed her arms and glared. "We've been here 22 years and the brewery has done nothing to the place," she said. "Not a thing!"
So what would she like done? "Oh, there's nothing, I love it just as it is."
You just can't win with pub tenants. But you should always try. Christine (pictured with husband Gordon) didn't complete the satisfaction survey Timothy Taylor sent round its estate last summer. She said that if she had anything to say she would say it to its face. And you can believe that.
But others did, and it proved a useful - and encouraging - exercise for one of the country's smallest regional brewers.
With only 18 tenanted pubs in a small radius of Keighley in West Yorkshire, licensee turnover is usually pretty stable.
But such a small estate is also vulnerable to sudden shifts in fortune, and when three licensees departed in a short space of time last year it brought home to managing director Charles Dent the importance of minimising the risk by making sure his tenants are as happy as possible.
The results were not entirely unequivocal, but they turned out to be a good measure of what licensees appreciate in a company of Taylor's size and peculiarity, and what the drawbacks might be.
Asked to mark a series of statements out of 10 according to the extent they agreed with them, they scored one perfect 10 - for the quality of the beer.
The beer is one reason why many licensees choose to take a tenancy with a regional brewer, and Taylor has grown a reputation beyond its size thanks to the freetrade success of its award-winning Landlord bitter.
Cask ale will be at the centre of any Taylor tenant's business, so it's not surprising that the most frequent complaint is about the price they pay the brewer for it.
Discounts are, of course, bigger in the freetrade where a small operator like Taylor has to compete against the big brewers. Even so, Charles thinks his tenants are being a little unfair.
"They only look at the size of the discount, but when you take into account the fact that the basic price for our tenants is lower than to the freetrade, it's not so bad," he said.
Nevertheless, tight margins on beer mean that licensees tend to look at other ways to boost their profitability. Next to beer quality it's the ability to buy wines, spirits and soft drinks free-of-tie that, because it enables them to shop around, they most appreciate, with a score of 9.9.
On the downside, there was evidence that tenants thought Taylor could be giving them more support in some areas. It offers no dedicated training, for instance, but resourcing is difficult in such a small estate.
Strangely, perhaps, rent is not a big issue, and neither is the brevity of the traditional three-year Taylor tenancy agreement. Not being tied to a full repairing long lease also scores high, on 9.3.
Other regional brewers have experimented with leases, and Fuller's in London, for instance, is in the process of converting its entire tenanted estate to a 10-year lease.
The argument is that the assignability of these leases, the ability to sell the business on at a profit, attracts a more entrepreneurial licensee. But Taylor seems to prove there is still a market for traditional agreements.
It works for the brewer, too. "Three yearly renewals give us a chance to thoroughly review the tenant's business at intervals that are just about right," said Charles.
It hasn't exactly put off entrepreneurs, either. Taylor tenants have, for instance, developed their food offers in diverse directions, the latest example being the All Bar One style operation at the Brown Cow in Bingley.
Tenants Tim Prest-Senior (pictured) and Michael Parker have brought to the pub their experience as unit managers for a couple of his chains, putting in sound business systems while taking the opportunity a tenancy gives to bring a personal touch.
"We gave ourselves a year to reach the turnover we needed to make it work and hit the target within a couple of months," said Tim.
The fast expansion of the business means that they are now planning to open an upstairs bar ahead of schedule.
Apart from the price of beer, Tim's only criticism of Taylor is that it won't let them take a second tenancy.
He puts this down to an "old fashioned" attitude but for Charles there is a genuine operational benefit in only allowing one pub per tenant.
"We have tried letting more than one before, and it just doesn't work," he said. "We have realised we need tenants who are going to focus on a single business and are going to be there at the pub all the time.
"It is tempting when you have found a really good tenant to let them have another pub, but we have to be disciplined about it."
The policy will also ensure the Timothy Taylor tenanted estate retains its rich variety. In a mere 18 pubs there are some staggering contrasts, not least between the Brown Cow and the Burlington in Keighley, the pub run by the brewer's longest serving tenants, Gordon and Christine Peacock.
The Burlington is run by Taylor's longest serving licensees, Gordon and Christine Peacock, who have been there 22 years.
It is a no-frills daytime drinking house where the beer starts from £1.20 a pint. Ask Christine about the menu and she will bring you the whole day's potential food sales on one plate.
Elsewhere in Keighley, Arthur Smith specialises in home-made Thai food at the Globe and the pub is also home to pigeon-fanciers and various clubs as well as the railway enthusiasts who use it as a vantage point to spot the steam trains shuttling through from Bingley to Haworth and back.
The Volunteers is a town centre local that houses much of the brewer's photographic history and where Keith and Jackie Wilson are using promotions to make the most of the small trading area.
Out of town, the New Inn at Cononley has built a fantastic reputation for good food in stupendous proportions thanks to tenant Andrew Garside's understanding of the local market.
High in the Dales, the Hare & Hounds at Wadsworth was hard hit by foot-and-mouth last year, but it has survived thanks to the four letting rooms the brewer added to the pub a few years ago.
One of Timothy Taylor's biggest projects, meanwhile, will be at the Fleece Inn in Haworth. New tenants Melanie Waddle and Chris Roberts are getting letting rooms and a restaurant in a £400,000 refurbishment next month.
Nigel Aston, the area manager responsible for the tenancies, said the brewer would probably run the survey again next year to track the results.
Don't expect any dramatic changes as a result, though. Taylor's satisfaction target of seven out of 10 was exceeded almost across the board and, as one tenant remarked on the form, "do there need to be any changes?"