The GUV'NOR Dennis Griffiths

The licensee of the Miners Rest in Barnsley looks back on the FLVA conference

The 2006 FLVA (Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations) conference came to a close last Wednesday with an excellent six-course banquet attended by 230 people.

President for the evening was managing director of Union Pub Company Stephen Oliver.

Both Stephen and his colleague Karl Czinege were very receptive about the problems facing the licensed trade.

Punch Taverns customer services director Francis Patton was also present. Patton is president-elect for next year's banquet on the 22 November 2007.

The conference saw a healthy attendance from most major pubcos, with a range of excellent and informative speakers at Wednesday's seminars.

We learned that fire risk assessments can be made easy by visiting Fire Precaution Services on the web, and some pubcos feature them on their websites.

And it was interesting to note that insurance costs could be lowered by implementing a policy of regular toilet-checks by staff.

But perhaps most fascinating was Tuesday's detailed session on the 2007 smoking ban, including a valuable summary by Michelle Baker from AIR (Atmosphere Improves Results) on external smoking area construction.

People I have spoken to on this matter seemed to think that only 50% construction, including the roof, was permissible, but apparently 50% wall and side areas excluding the roof is allowed, making a massive difference to the process of designing our smoking habitats.

Newly-elected FLVA president Shaun Rennison stated that his objective during his reign would be to create a close working relationship with the pubcos - a goal that I also believe in.

Shaun made giant steps towards accomplishing this last week: the signs are encouraging and the response received from several senior pubco executives was excellent.

Good luck, Shaun!

Generally we enjoyed a

successful conference and I came away with a very positive feeling.

Let's hope this optimism carries on next year.