Why

is this

such a

rare

sight?

Is the industry doing enough to promote diversity in pubs? With figures showing that only 2.5% of the trade's workforce comes from ethnic minorities, MICK WHITWORTH asks if it's time for companies to overhaul their recruitment campaigns?

It wasn't the pub trade that drew Kwame Tefe to Britain in 1991, but the World Student Games in Sheffield, where he competed in the marathon.

And he has needed the resilience of a long-distance runner at times during his career with Wetherspoon's, which has taken him from part-time cleaner at the Hamilton Hotel, in the City of London, to manager of one of the chain's 10 most profitable pubs, the King James in Cheshunt.

'Nine years ago, says Tefe, a 38-year-old Ghanaian, 'people were still saying they'd never seen a black man running a pub.

But while Tefe's career has been progressing nicely, the wider pub trade's appreciation of ethnic-minority talent doesn't seem to have moved very far at all. Beyond the multi-ethnic urban centres like London or Birmingham you'll see few black or Asian bar staff and even fewer licensees. 'At Wetherspoon's last Christmas party I noticed a few more coloured faces than before, says Tefe, 'but the ratio is still tiny.

The most recent official labour-force statistics, published in 2003, showed only about 6,000 ethnic minority workers in permanent posts in the pub trade out of a total employee base of more than 230,000. The figures may have shifted marginally since then, but they suggest that ethnic minorities, while making up around 8% of the UK population, provide only 2.5% of the trade's permanent workforce, although this figure can rise to as much as 15% to 20% in areas with large ethnic communities.

So what's going on? Why is the trade failing to attract a more representative mix of employees?

It must be said that there are plenty of valid religious and cultural reasons why some don't see selling booze as a wholesome occupation.

Some Muslims shun alcohol

The majority of Muslims, for example, shun alcohol completely. The Koran forbids its consumption and, according to Sheik Ibrahim Mogra, a Leicester imam and a member of the Muslim Council of Britain, Islamic tradition also forbids the manufacture, transportation and selling of alcohol. 'So it wouldn't be appropriate for a Muslim to seek employment in a pub, he says. 'By and large, a Muslim will avoid a pub altogether.

Some Sikhs, too, take a hard-line view on alcohol, although many younger Sikhs have ditched this rule along with their turbans. And many evangelical Christians in the black community take a dim view of serious drinking.

At the same time, there's a new generation of young blacks and Asians who wouldn't give a second thought to the colour of the person serving behind the bar. 'I don't think it matters at all, says Sunnil Punjabi, who runs the Punch Tavern in London's Fleet Street. 'It's only older people who still notice colour. Young Asians today are very self-confident. They've got the world at their feet, and they don't feel intimidated.

However, for some customers from ethnic groups, being served by someone from a similar background reassures them that they are in a friendly, open environment. As one young Hindu woman says: 'I wouldn't purposefully go to a pub where they employed Asian staff, but when I see someone Asian or black I feel that I'm somewhere I am accepted. Some traditional pubs, with all white staff and customers, particularly those outside city centres, can be intimidating.

Proponents of diversity in the workplace diversity of age, gender and social background as well as race argue that there are more reasons to bring variety to your workforce than political correctness. 'There's loads of talent out there that comes in different packages, says Dianah Worman, diversity advisor at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 'People who fail to be interested in diversity aren't doing themselves any favours, because it can throw up all sorts of ideas about products and services. If you're assuming that everyone's the same, then you're stuck in a rut.

So why has the licensed trade been so much slower than other sectors to draw in ethnic minorities? To begin with, you can't ignore history. 'The pub culture is very much a British culture, says Sudarghara Dusanj, joint managing director of Liverpool's Cains Brewery. He and brother Ajmail, who are both Sikhs, became Britain's first Asian brewers when they took over Cains in 2002. But Sudarghara says their parents, who ran a fish and chip shop in Kent, would never have contemplated selling alcohol.

A fantasy for a white person

The Punch Tavern's Punjabi also acknowledges that running a pub has largely been a white, British aspiration. 'It's often a fantasy for a white person to retire and run their own pub, but that's not part of the Indian culture. And you only do it if you love it.

Punjabi believes it would be especially tough for a non-white licensee to make a go of the pub trade outside the major urban centres. 'I've lived in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, and invariably I would be the only coloured person in the pub. That's standard.

'I'm lucky, because I went to boarding school and I'm used to living in the country. But for an Asian who wasn't brought up in the country, running a traditional rural pub could be quite a lonely existence.

But John McNamara, chief executive of the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII), believes the pub trade's long-standing image as bastion of white Anglo-Saxon masculinity is a thing of the past.

'I don't think that's true any more, and I speak with some experience. My son and stepson both work for Wetherspoon's and say that quite a number of their staff are Asian or Afro-Caribbean. So I wouldn't have thought that, these days, it would be a problem. The main thing is service with a smile, conversation the normal things you want from bar staff.

And, he adds that the new licensing regime could increase the racial mix as members of ethnic minorities, who have sold alcohol through the convenience store sector for years, begin to see themselves as part of the wider licensed trade.

'Bear in mind that in future there will be only one licence to sell alcohol. We have opened up our qualifications to the off-trade (with the new BIIAB Level 2 National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders), so you might see a migration of people from the off-trade to the on-trade.

Cagey about racial diversity

Pub companies are cagey about their own performance on racial diversity, although some are making a nod towards the issue. For example, Mitchells & Butlers chief executive Tim Clarke is on the board of the Fair Cities project in Birmingham, which aims to ensure 'inclusive employment and M&B says it will be 'keeping an eye on similar initiatives elsewhere.

But while all pub operators trip out a standard line about 'considering all applicants on the basis of ability, not the colour of their skin it's clear they also have to match their managers to the expectations of their clientele.

'We just want people to be good at what they do, says an insider at one of the biggest chains. 'But if you put a black or Asian face in a village pub, I don't care what anyone says, or how tolerant people are, I can't see it working. Ironically, he points out, there are more Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans working in our pubs and bars than British-born ethnic minorities.

At Wetherspoon's, director of personnel and training Su Beacham-Cacioppo says the chain has never seen ethnic diversity as an issue. 'In 14 years I've only dealt with one race discrimination case and we won. But she does acknowledge there is scope for improvement, particularly in locations with a more ethnically mixed population. 'We're better at it now than when we were expanding rapidly, because we have more time to try to match managers to the team and the area. But I wouldn't say we've been all that successful in attracting black and Asian people. I'd be interested in some feedback about how we c