The agent

Graham Allman, managing director, GA Select

I have been privileged in being involved with the licensed trade all my working life — it's been an exciting, enjoyable career.

When I entered the trade in 1968, as the youngest licensee in the country, the "tenant streams" (as they were then known) were complaining rents were too high and they could buy beer a lot cheaper from the cash and carry (which was transported in their Jags) —no change there except the favoured form of transport is now a "Chelsea tractor".

Growth of opportunity within the trade has been no less than outstanding with over three-quarters of the country's pub stock available to budding entrepreneurs by way of leaseholds and freeholds. That's around 45,000 pub businesses, most with good family homes attached.

The holy grail has always been the freehold freehouse. Despite popular belief, there are still many available to would-be freetraders. Free-of-tie leases are more available, with freetraders coming up to retirement and leasing out their cherished pubs, also investors are seeing excellent returns on "buy to lets" within the pub trade as against the riskier and lower-return domestic market.

Tied or partially-tied leases should also be looked at favourably. The measure here should be the potential bottom-line profit and not the tie itself.

It is the ability to return a profit and fund loans that is the real measure of value, but we must not forget that money is not everything. The opportunity to live in a historic pub in a pleasant location becomes a lifestyle decision that many people are making —especially those with a large cash deposit.

As a trade "greybeard"

I have witnessed the closure of pubs, decade by decade — again, no change there, other than during the current climate where the acceleration of closures has been driven by a trade-unfriendly Government.

There is still the opportunity for New Labour to redress the chaos caused to the trade by reversing the smoking laws, something that my firm has been lobbying the Government to do.

The run-up to the end

of the financial year saw historic results for my firm, with a record number

of large freehouses completing at an average price of £935,000. Many of these changed freehold ownership, but remained as a business with the vendor taking back a lease from the pubco.

Exciting but challenging times are predicted for the new financial year. It's most certainly not a year for

the doomsayers and I would advise, when you find a good deal, act fast , or you may be beaten to the post.