My Shout: Let's hear it for warm fuzzy feelings in pubs

Like most men of my age I am not a great shopper.

Since Mrs Linacre began buying the weekly shop online my presence is not required in many aisles. I am a sort of free-range carrot buyer and I can barely resist a perfectly formed cauliflower. I buy clothes once a year in the sales.

Part of the antipathy to shopping comes from the almost ubiquitous "service with a grimace" approach.

It often seems that the "server" must have gone through some form of torture before being let out on the floor.

But I just love — and I mean love — John Lewis. It is not just the stores or the staff or the products or the commitment to be cheaper than others — going into one of their stores gives me a feeling of warmth bordering on contentment.

I have no need to go anywhere else.

Maybe a bond was established when I worked in the old Jones Brothers — a John Lewis shop on London's Holloway Road — when I was a student.

They were very pleasant employers. I am writing this as I wait for a delivery of new furniture — we are investing in the English summer again — ordered in John Lewis last week and delivered at a time to suit me — this week.

A newish theory in management courses is the concept that the best brands transcend doing things efficiently.

Through their goods and services they create a lasting bond that makes customers come back all the time.

For some it's Apple, for others it's Mercedes or BMW — for me it's John Lewis. They create a relationship more like a love affair than just a willing-buyer-willing-seller arrangement.

The same goes for pubs. My really favourite pubs manage to instil in me a state of inner warmth and calm by the time I have got to the bar.

It might be the appearance, the service, the meet and greet, the beer, food and wines — but maybe it is a broader intangible.

Danny Meyer, the enormously influential New York restaurateur in his 2007 book — which I am re-reading — talks of his aim to go further than anyone else.

He reckons the best places are the best places because they create another layer of service.

Service​

Service is what we do to customers but hospitality is what we do for customers. Such a small concept, such a huge area of achievement.

It costs no money to try to achieve this higher level but it does require desire, energy, commitment, perseverance and lots and lots of time.

Companies or brands we love tend to get better over time — they never take their customers for granted. These are really, really tough times in the pub sector — there is grief around every corner.

But there are still shining examples of brilliant pubs that their customers love. If we can get more love into our pubs maybe we can make money from them too.

Oh, by the way the doorbell just rang — those nice John Lewis delivery men have arrived with the summer furniture — and the sun is shining.