Forget Team GB. Now Pub GB needs help

If the recent Olympics in Beijing has proved one thing, apart from the fact that we are extremely good at sports that involve a lot of sitting down, it was that the British spirit of never knowing when we are beaten is alive and well.

From the coxless four in the rowing to Christine Ohuruogu in the women's 400 metres, seemingly lost causes were turned into glorious victories through belief, skill, a lot of hard work, and in all probability some tears along the way. If the Great British pub is going to win the recession race it is going to have to take the same approach.

Everyone is well versed in the pressures on the sector — falling consumer spending, a drop in custom due to the smoking ban, increasing competition on the street for the casual-dining pound, and rising staff and utility costs.

These forces have already pushed several established businesses into administration including the Massive Pub Company, Herald Bars & Inns, the Food & Drink Group, and most recently Cains. It seems that in the space of 18 months we have gone from a deal a week to an administration a week.

Rather than survival of the fittest the UK's pub sector will be kept on its feet through the survival of the smartest — those operators that understand the market and their customers best.

Some of the companies that have fallen into administration were found wanting when it came to updating their offer. Older-style brands that stood still and then reacted too slowly to changing tastes have been passed along the back straight by food-led operators who have gone that extra yard to stay in touch with their clientele.

Whether it's diversification, going back to basics or even good old-fashioned bartering, those pubs that fail to bend with the chill wind that is blowing through the UK's economy will sadly break.

While there have been, and unfortunately continue to be, inevitable casualties, it is hoped that those companies that have emerged from the ashes of so-called "pre-packed" administrations, and the pub sector as a whole, will be more robust and willing to learn from previous mistakes.

It is also hoped that, like our Olympic champions, the pub sector will get the backing of the Government, whether through cutting legislation or interest rates, or finally coming down hard on below-cost selling.

The Great British pub will survive and will continue to evolve, as it did during and after the last recession, and as it will do through this latest downturn. However, it will take an Olympic effort for everyone to get themselves to the finishing line and have a chance to share in the spoils of what should be a stronger and fitter sector.