MyShout

Accuse me, if you like, of being slow to make the type of connections achieved in a trice by those of advanced intelligence, but it was not until my company took on sponsorship of the 'Best Gastropub' category in this year's MA Awards that I began to ponder the apparent absurdity of why licensees can purchase more or less any food they like for their outlets while they are often forbidden to stock their beer of choice.

If the latter sounds like special pleading, it is - many outlets would like to stock our beer but are prevented from doing so. But we are far from being the only brewers separated in this cruel way from our would-be customers, to the detriment of the whole business.

The seriousness of this estrangement, from the consumer's point of view, is illustrated by the fact that despite all the chatter about genuine imported speciality beers being the drink of the future, about 65% of outlets have never stocked them - mainly because they can't. Apparently cask ales have a similar problem, with some sectors of the trade in one corner and Camra in the other over Camra's campaign to make it a legal requirement for pub chains of 30 or more outlets to be obliged to stock a guest beer.

I hope Camra carries the day, because in the present climate, weighed down by ever-increasing pressure of bureaucratic shackles, a mindlessly hostile media and a Government of po-faced puritans, the poor beleaguered licensee needs every possible aid to keep the customers coming through the door.

Since my company began its regular sponsorship of various categories in the MA's annual awards programme I have become particularly aware of the highly-developed entrepreneurial skills prevalent in the licensed trade. I find it tragic and perverse that these skills are being hobbled by our own industry as well as by the Government.

I am not so naïve as to suggest that being able to sell the beer customers want will be the absolute solution to the current challenge facing pubs - although it would help. That so many licensees are unable to do so, is just one example of the way they have to fight for their commercial lives with one hand tied behind their back and a ball and chain round their ankle.

For some time, food has been seen as a wonder-weapon with the potential to reverse declining fortunes in some sectors of the trade - at the very least it would fill gaps in the ranks left by evicted smokers. This year it seemed that food would account for a larger slice of the trade's purchases than beer, for the first time. It remains to be seen whether that prediction will be upset by the recent tribunal decision that a pub serving more food than drink will be liable for a higher tax band of VAT, under the flat-rate tax scheme.

If I were a licensee, this would make me think that somebody out there was trying to get me.

They probably are.

All of us who are not at the sharp end of the business should seriously consider how we can help the people up there to survive and maybe prosper - if only for reasons of enlightened self-interest.