The recent claim by an incoming lessee that his new business was ruined by publicity over a previous prosecution for hygiene offences is only the tip of the iceberg.
I pick up a number of reports on a regular basis of pub kitchens in the firing-line as environmental health officers (EHO) on a repeat inspection find that little has improved. It is difficult to understand why licensees do not take that first visit seriously enough, because there is almost bound to be a follow-up. It is commercial suicide.
Over the years, my postbag has been full of complaining landlords who say that the EHO has imposed a raft of unfair conditions after an inspection. They say that the requirements mean expenditure of thousands of pounds, which the operating company will not meet (of course) and which they can ill-afford.
The trouble is, they cannot afford not to. Compliance is not an optional solution in these circumstances. All EHOs have diaries which they consult to see how long they have given a pub to comply with their demands. If they return and the clean-up or the refurbishment has not been done then they can prosecute the "proprietor of the food business".
That is not the operating company, unless it is a managed house. It is, in most cases, the people who are running the catering, which means you and your staff. Unless you have
a good reason for not complying, you are in real trouble.
The fines for running a dirty premises can be high but the effect on the business is far more serious. Anyone can tell you that you can lose a reputation overnight but it takes years to restore. In the example mentioned above, the lessor failed to reveal the impending prosecution to the incoming lessee, which was inexcusable.
However, for many years I have been advising purchases and lessees to make proper enquiries before contract - not the standard ones which conveyancers use, but additional ones which are relevant to the pub trade. Although local searches will reveal some things, not all the right questions are asked.
You need to know about possible or impending prosecutions, complaints, neighbours and potential neighbours, about previous managers or staff. Not all of these will come from the operating firm or vendor, but you clearly must ask what you need to know.
I doubt whether the aggrieved licensee above would have taken on the pub if he had known that a few weeks after he took over, the name of the pub (albeit the previous landlord) would be in a damning court report about hygiene failures. Cue cancelled bookings and a negative bank balance.
The warning is not just to incomers, however. The reports I read simply show that there is still an ostrich mentality in the pub business when it comes to "meddling officials". If you send them off with promises and apologies, they will go away and not come back.
Wrong. They do. And then they can do
several things, like close the kitchen down as an "imminent risk to health", or hand out a summons which could result in a fine of several thousand pounds.
Add to that the money that needs to be spent convincing customers that things have changed. Sometimes, the only thing to do is to cut your losses and move out.
That means the incoming licensee, having read this article, asks you the same questions, which you have to answer, about hygiene prosecutions. If you don't tell him, you could be in even more trouble.