McNamara: Future is bright for pubs
Q: How has the industry changed in a good way since you joined BII?
A: "There have been lots of positive changes in terms of perceptions about the importance of professionalism and training, the effort our members have put in to staff in the frontline and the welcome they give to people when they go into a pub. It's what differentiates a good pub from an ordinary one.
"Pubs I go into are far more aware of the customer, far more aware of the market. They understand that you have to do more than just open your door at 9pm on a Friday night and close then at midnight on Saturday and expect that to be your entire business model. That has changed. There's a couple of people I met in Cardiff [at a BII road show] who said they are doing ok, these are difficult times but we are doing well. I asked what kind of things they were doing differently and they said things like opening from breakfast at eight o'clock, hosting the local mother and toddler groups, they had sports clubs, a whole programme of events. When you add that up that's a real retail pub business.
Q: Have the difficult trading conditions led the change?
A: "It was going on already, but [the trading climate] has accelerated it. People like Chris Lewis [BII licensee of the year] have been doing this stuff for 10 years plus. There was a business person seeing the opportunity, seeing the gap in market and going for it."
Q: What about in a bad way?
A: "0ne thing I've definitely noticed in the last six and a half years has been the pace of legislation being forced on small businesses. The legislative red tape burden on our small industries in this country is absolutely enormous. Business in Sport and Leisure did a survey up until 2004 and found over 100 separate Acts of Parliament that directly or indirectly affect small businesses, whether it's the working time directive, VAT or health and safety legislation. People are often at their wits end to keep up with it and one of the roles of the BII is to try and bridge that gap. One of the reasons why our legal hotline is so popular.
Q: Has there been an acceleration in enforcement around areas of social responsibility, and if so why?
A: "I think there has been. The research shows that a minority of people abuse alcohol. That minority cause mayhem. That minority get reported in the press. The fact is we have instant media these days. It's in the headlines. They are looking for adverse stories - that's what sells. That's what has accelerated it. If you look at the success of the industry in terms of test purchasing and underage campaigns it has been dramatic; from 50% to 15% failure rate in the space of four years. That's a massive achievement that BII and members have been part of. What distresses me sometimes is that Government has a short memory. We came out heavily against the KPMG report, condemning its lack of real research and recognition of what we've achieved."
Q: How can the trade fight back?
A: "We won't ever solve some of the accusations thrown at us until we reach the point when everyone in a pub who looks under 18 is challenged to show an ID card, and anyone who is drunk in a pub doesn't get served. Those are the two key tests. That's the standard we've got to aspire to and get to.
Q: Will that happen in near future?
A: "I think it will. If you travel to the United States, no one cares if you get asked for an ID card. It's one of those things that's accepted. It's a cultural thing. We are on the road of doing it."
Q: why does Government hammer the trade, particularly around areas like alcohol duty?
A: "From the Exchequer's point of view we generate millions of pounds worth of revenue and the Exchequer wants to balance its books it's fairly easy to put and extra levy on alcohol duty. What we didn't expect was the swingeing four-fold increase with an escalator put on it. Why? Because we are a traditional easy target. I suspect they didn't predict the response they got. It's quite unusual for the second most senior minister in Government to be barred from most of the pubs in Britain!
"My personal view is if this continues there will be a consumer backlash. People will say we've had enough. We've had enough of the nannying and telling us what to do. There's going to be a line and I think were getting close to that line. Many MPs I know go to pubs and listen to their local electorate. That turn around in consumer sentiment is out there. It's palpable."
Q: BII reported a deficit of £500,000 in 2007 compared to a surplus of nearly £200,000 in the previous year. Do you predict long-term financial problems for BII?
A: "Not really, no. We deliberately built up a very sizeable war chest, mainly because of the success of our awarding body and publications activity. That war chest enabled us to buy our freehold property in Camberley outright and to put substantial cash reserves by for rainy days. We are very well placed for the future, very financially secure to weather any storm that's thrown at us. It's also important to remember that BII is a charity. We are ¬not in business to provide a shareholder return; we exist to help and support members and raise standards of professionalism. The key thing is to make sure we have the ability to support members. Six years ago we offered 22 or 23 major benefits. Now that's more like 40 support services, from HR benefits to the legal helpline to our monthly magazine BIIBusiness.
"As a charity and a not-for-profit organisation, we are here to protect and serve members and the trustees are prepared to do that and make those investments. The key thing is to have that bedrock of reserves that we've got, both in terms of fixed assets and substantial cash reserves."
Q: Are you concerned about competition, particularly from CPL [the Confederation of Professional Licensees]?
A: "We always had competition in the awarding world and CPL aren't an awarding body - they use EDI, which is a competitor [awarding body] in the market. We've got 83.5% market share for NCPLH and for other qualifications we also have significant market shares. Competition is bloody good. It has driven innovation, such as in 'e-learning'. We've won a lot of customers back from our competitor awarding bodies on the back of service levels, and the price and discounts we can offer. My personal view is that without competition you end up doing the bare minimum and you want to avoid that at all costs. The fact we've gone into all sorts of areas: doorstaff provision, the Scotland portfolio - we've now got over 800 members in Scot, three years ago we had 400.
"I don't knock the competition. They are out there doing their job and we'll do ours."
Q: How seriously are pubcos sticking by the BIIBAS pubco code of practice accreditation scheme?
A: "So far we've got seven pub companies through, with another four being signed up and coming through assessment. We know that, certainly at head office level, all of those companies have made commitments to make sure their BRMs [business relationship managers], their BDMs [business development managers], uphold that code of practice. Where there are clear breaches of the code these are fed back to us and they go straight to board level at the pubco. We know that in those cases where issues have been referred to us, action has been taken to sort them out."
Q: How many?
A: "It's around 10. We will provide evidence to [the Business and Enterprise Select Committee inquiry into pubcos] of enquires we have had under the codes."
Q: Do you think pubcos treat tenants fairly?
A: "All I can do as a representative of a professional body is try and ensure that people coming into the industry are as equipped as they can be to understand what the business offering is, and have the chance to see the full detail of the proposed relationship."
