'Sunset industry' danger warns new BII boss

The pub trade is in danger of becoming a "sunset industry" in the eyes of Government and officials, warns the new chief executive of the BII.

Neil Robertson told the MA: "My experience working with politicians and funding bodies tells me they don't want to support failing businesses — or as they call them, sunset industries. So headlines about the worst times since the Great Depression aren't always helpful. It's important to let people know what's going on but you have to strike a balance. You can certainly do too much about 'the crisis in the pub trade'.

"We are not a sunset industry. But there's a terrible risk that we could become one. We have to take a lead from Barack Obama's message of 'positive realism'."

Robertson believes the pub trade suffers in Whitehall "because it is an industry punching below its weight." He added: "We can be seen as weak because we don't have a consistent message across the whole industry, and that includes on and off. There are so many interest groups. It's too easy for government to play us off against each other. The BII can't pursue a political agenda but we can encourage and promote excellence in the industry and help our trade partners with their lobbying."

Robertson points to the Federation of Small Businesses as a role model. "Compare us with the FSB, which has been very effective on many fronts. We need to be more like them — stubbornly insistent and persistent."

Robertson, whose background lies in skills training and qualifications, is hopeful he can help secure access to greater public funds for licensee training. "Training is one of the answers to our current problems. If we can get more small business funds from the skills sector bodies, pubs will benefit.

"That whole funding world is quite an impenetrable jungle, but I've spent much of my working life wading through that jungle so my experience will be very useful in getting pub interests better represented."