Will the Guild of Master Victuallers' efforts to reverse the trend for falling membership figures have any effect? Caroline Nodder reports
When the Guild of Master Victuallers announced last month that it needed to make a concerted effort to recruit new blood to bolster dwindling membership, it must have set alarm bells ringing for many within the trade.
The situation for the Guild, which has seen its membership fall to a record low, is not unusual in the world of small local Licensed Victuallers Associations (LVAs), which have been in decline for the last 10 years or so. But the Guild is a much larger organisation and its apparent failure to recruit new, younger, members is likely to unsettle many and is a sign of the changing market.
The LVAs were once seen as lifelines for licensees, offering a chance for fellow publicans to exchange views, advice or information relating to any number of issues or problems.
They also provided counsel on legal issues and could assist by negotiating value for money deals for local products and services. Not forgetting, of course, the LVA events and get-togethers that offered over-worked publicans the rare chance to let their hair down and, more often than not, raise some money for a good cause into the bargain.
But times have changed and in many cases those overworked licensees are now so over-worked that they do not have the time to devote to such associations. As the old membership retires, there is rarely an enthusiastic young replacement waiting in the wings and in many cases that means the end of the LVA altogether.
While the Guild is maintaining its funds with very successful fund-raisers, the issue is likely to become critical in the next few years as the current membership retire.
John Madden, secretary of the Guild, said: "It concerns us that the traditional LVA membership is going out of the trade and new licensees, because of pressure from pub companies or whatever, do not have the time to attend LVA meetings.
"It used to be that the husband and wife would run the pub together and one would attend meetings while the other was behind the bar but that is often not the case now."
He added that LVAs could still play a vital role in representing licensees in disputes or offering advice, and urged existing members to help promote the organisation to new licensees to help boost membership.
With the demise of the National LVA in 1992, regional groups were set up to provide the same levels of trade protection.
The strongest groups to survive included the Guild, the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations (FLVA), which covers Northern England, the Licensed Victuallers (Wales) and the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA).
But the total number of LVAs has fallen by half in recent years.
So what is going wrong and what support do licensees have now?
Tony Payne, who heads up the FLVA, told thePublican.com he believed the demise of such institutions could be blamed on an increase in workload.
He said: "All-day opening hasn't helped, as finding people who are prepared to give the time needed to run LVAs is now a real problem.
"Many LVAs also hold their meetings in the evenings - which is no good for many licensees. Those that have survived hold their meetings on a Monday morning at 10am for example."
But he said that despite the trend for LVAs to turn to dust, the FLVA had continued to flourish.
"Membership has increased by 8.6 per cent in the last 12 months," he said. "I don't know what other LVAs are doing wrong but we are successful because we offer an in-depth service, covering health and safety, contracts of employment, food hygiene, and recruitment."
He agreed with Mr Madden that the support and experience of other people in the same trade can be of huge benefit to a licensee when the pressure is on.
Lobbying the government on various issues has also become an important part of the work of trade associations, as has imparting news of any changes to the law.
In this respect, the last few years have seen a huge rise in national associations representing sectors of the industry.
For example the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII), which represents its membership of licensees, the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) and Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR), both of which represent pub operators and brewers.
There has also been a huge growth in the number of local Pubwatch schemes - led partly by the need to address rising crime and disorder levels and the blame licensees have been, unfairly in the trade's opinion, receiving for such problems.
But while Pubwatch is great at tackling this one issue, and the national organisations are good when it comes to the bigger picture, is there still something missing when it comes to hands-on help for publicans?
Mr Payne thinks there is. He warned that such associations and organisations do not replace the support offered by an LVA. "Institutions such as the BII offer a completely different service to LVAs," he said. "We offer a more hands-on service, where we take on the licensees' issues."
Georgina Wald, spokeswoman for the BII, said she felt there was a place for LVAs as well as members' organisations like the institute. But she also acknowledged that the industry and perhaps the role of the licensee had changed over the years.
She said: "I think it is very sad that some LVAs are struggling - there is certainly a role for them to play and they would be sorely missed around the negotiating table.
"But I think over the years licensees have learnt to work with the business development managers from the pub companies to solve disputes rather than fighting through the LVAs."
Indeed, it seems the demise of the small regional LVA does indeed mirror the rise of the pub owning giants - but debate will no doubt continue over whether this is because licensees are working more closely with their landlords or simply working harder.
Listing of trade unions and associations
The following is a listing of some of the major trade unions and associations, which represent individuals and businesses involved in the licensed trade:
- Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers:
- Tel: 020 8579 2080
- British Beer and Pub Association:
- Tel: 020 7468 4831
- British Institute of Innkeeping:
- Tel: 01276 68444
- Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations:
- Tel: 01484 710534
- Federation of Retail Licensed Trade (Northern Ireland):
- Tel: 028 9032 7578
- Guild of Master Victuallers:
- Tel: 020 8540 1275
- Licensed Victuallers (Wales):
- Tel: 01873 830415
- National Association of Licensed House Managers:
- Tel: 0161 848 0909
- Scottish Licensed Trade Association:
- Tel: 0131 225 5169
- Transport and General Workers Union:
- Tel: 020 7 611 2617
The Guild: (back row, from left) Tony Powell, John Madden, Jon Bristow, Paul Dickson, Bill Crossfield. (front row) Godfrey Page, Russell Roberts, Bill Smith, Jimmy Knowles