Neville Hall: Going the extra mile will win us the battle

The gong was achieved, said the report, as the result of "year after year of hard graft by a small on-trade team which has seen the brand garner some real affection in pubs."

I think that when the pub business emerges victorious from the present multiple-front war the citation will be similar; it will be a victory won by hard graft by people in there for the long haul.

We are too strong to be eliminated and ultimately too valuable for the fiscal health of the nation to be wiped out.

What I believe will happen is that the present massive assault will ultimately be repelled and the process of making a response to this threat will have created a smaller but more efficient, more professional and a much more upmarket and profitable business. We can already see the first signs of it happening around us.

Pubs may be closing but there are also an inspiring number of success stories out there. You read about them in The Publican every week; what better evidence of the survival of the fittest principle kicking in.

It's not a struggle for the faint hearted nor is it a business for anybody wanting to make a quick buck. It's a situation that demands that all of us involved in the business, whether we be suppliers, distributors or retailers, have to learn to empathise far more with each other, and be more prepared to go that last mile for each other.

In our case it has involved getting into play products or services to enable the retailer to offer something attractive and different.

Our unpasteurised yeast beer is a case in point. A thing of beauty but with a very short life we would have declined to even countenance it in the UK in less turbulent times.

Now however, mindful of the retailers need to field that extra something, we may in special cases lay it on.

Likewise by adding a third tap to our duo font for Dark and Original we have enabled our stockists to introduce a third drink- a mix of the two- creating a big talking point in the bar for a negligible investment.

These little squibs all help but, as we have learned at Budvar, success will only be achieved by lots of hard graft over a long period.

Neville Hall is sales and marketing director for Budweiser Budvar​