Mark Daniels: Cheer them, don't boo them!
We work in an industry that has its roots in providing entertaining, relaxing environments for hard-working denizens of all walks of life to sit, socialise, dine and, generally, enjoy themselves.
To me, there is no better sound than a pub full of laughter, folk sitting around the bar telling their stories of the day, some of them made taller by their tipple. Some of the best comedians I've seen are everyday folk who like to tell tales around the bar.
And yes, I know it's tough right now. As a trade, we're in the "quiet phase," that lull before the Christmas and New Year revelries. For me, the worry isn't my tie, or the supermarkets, or even the fact that VAT is going to go back up at the start of 2010 while the beer tax isn't going to go back down. No, right now I simply worry about whether anybody will actually walk through the door.
But look across other trades, other businesses; many others are suffering too. The automotive industry, for example, is still very much on its knees, with very few manufacturers and car dealers actually making money right now.
Granted, pubs aren't getting the level of financial assistance that car companies are, but have we really got so low as to not be able to congratulate other members of our trade for doing a good job?
I was genuinely shocked to see some of the comments left on a story on this website relating to last week's Publican Food & Drink Awards. The first thing, it seems, that anybody could think of to say was that none of the pubs that won awards were tied. And then, when Lisa Richards of The Somerset Arms, commented to say that their pub, which won the Food Pub of the Year Award 2009, was a tied outlet, one commenter had the audacity to step forward and use that as an excuse to berate the tie further!
"Sell less beer, sell more food, that'll make the tie even less relevant," was their suggestion.
Can we not, for one minute, just stop the bickering, stand back, and applaud those who have worked hard, put their pub forward, and been rewarded for doing so?
The trade is desperate for good news stories right now. The article was just that: a list of good news stories in the face of certain adversity. And yet, some felt the need to rebuke them for it.
Being British we like to support the underdog. That's why Jenson Button and Brawn GP's victory in Formula One this year was made so much sweeter: they were the underdogs who ended up as champions.
Yet it seems that there are many out there who appear to resent free-of-tie pubs for being rewarded for their hard work. And there are others who find it even worse to praise successful tied pubs. It doesn't matter which side of the fence you sit on, every pub out there has to work hard to Make It Work.
It strikes me that the time for bitterness and bickering needs to come to an end. Our customers don't want to walk in to a pub where the landlord is doing nothing but blaming everybody but themselves for the troubles their pub is facing.
There are tied pubs out there that are struggling, but there are free-of-tie pubs that are too. There are pub companies who are not pulling their weight and helping some of their tied lessees facing difficulties, and there are some that are. And there are free-of-tie and tied pubs that are Making It Work, one way or another, in these straitened times.
Lisa and the other winners of the recent Publican Food & Drink Awards are good examples of this: they should be applauded, not castigated, for being so.
