GK's supermarket approach

Major changes announced by Greene King (GK) this week are fascinating because they revolve around two key issues for the industry's future.

Firstly, there's the question of sensitivity to neighbours and the new fashionable trend of "going local". GK's new Local Pubs division - its wet managed pubs - is being set up to create a more "entrepreneurial, individualistic style of operation based on the relationship between the manager, staff, customers and community."

MD Jonathan Lawson, who goes straight on to the main GK board at the same age (36) as did his new boss Rooney Anand, comes from Sainsbury's Local convenience stores.

Given Greene King's problems with some local communities across the country since starting to flex its acquisition muscles in the past 18 months, most notably in Lewes, it's hard not to feel the new structure is designed to address these problems.

How it will introduce more flexibility and responsiveness into a 500-strong managed pub group is not yet clear.

Supermarkets haven't done so, and are getting more and more local stick - so Lawson knows the problems he faces, even if he's yet to find a solution.

JD Wetherspoon has pulled off the trick best in recent times - mainly by introducing local beers. Will Lawson be allowed to do that? The problems in Lewes would never have surfaced if his predecessor had followed the laissez-faire policy he took with the old Laurel pub in Oxford, the Turf Tavern, which still offers a rich variety of non-Greene King beers.

Maybe we will see much more of that - but this would pose problems for the other GK managed division, and even more for David Elliott's group.

Then there's the question of the best type of manager to run tomorrow's pub companies. True to form, GK has parachuted another fast-moving consumer goods executive into its board. Is it thought that only those who know how to sell baked beans can run this trade best? What does that tell us about the new systems and ways of doing business that pubcos and brewers wish to pursue? Surely that people-relationships are becoming less of a priority than take-it-or-leave-it so-called "negotiating"?

The pub trade needs progressive companies such as Greene King. It needs to adapt and become more efficient. But what it also needs is to avoid turning into just another high-street retailer. If it follows that route it will lose its soul - and its appeal.