Lifestyle Report: The Pub

Our survey represents a wide range of businesses.

The Publican Lifestyle Report, sponsored by Carling, is a fair reflection of what's going on in the core of the British pub industry.

Publicans who responded to the survey represent a good cross-section of the trade from all parts of the UK, 71 per cent of them describing their business as a traditional, community house or country pub.

Some 27 per cent run a traditional tenancy, mostly with a regional brewer, 31 per cent a long lease, mostly with one of the pubco giants - a quarter of the survey are either Punch or Enterprise licensees - and 36 per cent own their pub freehold. More than 92 per cent of those are owner-operators with the rest putting a manager in.

Two-thirds of respondents are sole licensee of the business and most are well established in the trade.

Two-thirds have been in their current pub for three years or more, with nearly one in four going into double figures, showing a high degree of stability in what is often presented as an unstable career.

Some 16 per cent have been in their pub for less than a year, so there's a dose of fresh blood in there too.

Most of those surveyed are also experienced in terms of the number of different pubs they have run during their career, with 63 per cent having spent time in two or more.

A substantial contingent seem to like to move around, with 18 per cent having operated five pubs or more.

A larger proportion of freetraders have settled in the one pub, reflecting the lifestyle choice that many make in that sector of the industry.

When choosing to become a licensee, many people will look for a pub they like in an attractive location and perhaps not be as bothered as they might be about developing it as a business. They are happy to keep it ticking over and enjoy the way of life.

Tenants and lessees are more likely to move around and are under greater pressure to grow their business as rents and beer prices increase. They may find that moving pubs gives them more options to do that.

They will, of course, also be on agreements which need renewing, at typically between three and 20 year intervals.

Although the big high street venues get all the publicity, the true heart of the pub trade still lies in community houses, and four in 10 licensees surveyed describe their business as just that. Village and rural pubs may have declined in number over recent years, but they continue to perform an important role in British life and 31 per cent of respondents operate a business in the country.

Food-led pubs are growing in number, but only nine per cent of our publicans would describe their business as such.

Pubs, after all, are not restaurants and by definition the wet side of the business is the core of their trade.

Just seven per cent run a high street pub, this part of the industry being largely left to managed house operators not hugely represented here.

Family pubs are another growth area, but still only four per cent would call their outlets that.

For all the talk of segmentation it seems pubs remain many things to many people, and that, indeed, is as good a recipe for success as any in this business.