Convivial London Pubs: little group, big plans

When it comes to doing up one of his pubs, Convivial London Pubs' (CLP) chief executive Kris Gumbrell says he often gets stuck in himself, wielding a paint brush or hanging mirrors on the walls when required.

It's hard to imagine Rooney Anand, Gumbrell's former boss, helping out with the refurbishment of one of his group's pubs, but fair play, he does have rather more to look after.

Gumbrell has got eight freehold pubs to run, but passion for a project appears undimmed in the former Greene King operations director. Sitting in CLP's Crown & Anchor on London's Chiswick High Road he points to various fixtures and fittings he helped choose and put up with other members of his group.

"We do up the pubs ourselves. We don't employ interior designers or get expensive decorators in. We did this pub for less than £20,000. I hung the mirrors!" he says, enthusiastically, gesturing towards other items sourced from local antique shops.

Team effort

Team effort is very much a core principal of the small London-based pub operator, which was formerly called Capital Pub Company 2 until Gumbrell and his team took over managing the fledgling estate back in September 2008.

The Crown & Anchor is a stone's throw from another CLP pub, the Barley Mow, on the other side of Chiswick High Road. The latter has a 'traditional' pub feel to it, while the former tends towards the more upmarket, with its light and airy look, flowers and comfortable seating appealing to women, mothers with young children and anyone else who wants a more modern experience from their local. Gumbrell has been keen to retain its pub credentials, however, most recently with the introduction of a range of cask ales.

The Crown & Anchor is what Gumbrell describes as a 'food local', with others being categorised as 'premium taverns' or 'venue locals', where either music or televised sport - particularly rugby and football - plays an integral part of the offer.

Keen to grow

Like any small operator, CLP wants to grow. Gumbrell says ideally he'd like to be running 10 pubs by the end of the year. While cash generation is on the up - before financing it more than doubled in 2009 to nearly £600,000 - CLP has "very supportive" investors, Gumbrell says - and with pub prices at attractive levels banks are starting to show interest in the sector again, for the right deals inside the M25, the group's desired trading area.

"We're not keen on leases but we never say 'never'," he says. "Investors have liked our results and we've got our heads down. We're adding value all the time, both in terms of financial numbers and the style of operation."

The group's financial results have certainly been getting better. Total turnover for the year to September 26, 2009, rose nearly seven per cent to £5.35m, with like-for-like sales up 5.4 per cent. And, helped by tighter cost controls, the group turned a £1.49m pre-tax loss in 2008 into a £435,000 profit last year.

CLP chairman David Maxwell Scott believes Gumbrell and his team has made an impact since taking over the management of the company in 2008. In its last annual report, Maxwell Scott said it was the opinion of its independent directors that the "marked improvement" in its trading performance was as result of their efforts.

The close knit feel to the Convivial team of around 100 staff is an integral part of the group's success, Gumbrell believes, as a recent team-building exercise hosted by his old employers attests.

Pension schemes and bonuses are available to a number of employees, while inter-pub co-operation in areas such as marketing and product range is encouraged. One-page business plans are drawn up by each CLP pub, covering forthcoming events, and marketing tools for individual sites range from leafleting the local area to text messaging.

No hiding…

Meanwhile, Gumbrell has little truck with those blaming the recession for all their trading ills.

"We won't hide behind the term 'credit crunch' in this business. There will always be people who'll do well in a recession," he says. "You can make your own luck, for example by striking out with a few innovations."

A simple example are things like the group's insistence on hand-cut chips, or specially-made beermats saying where its food comes from. Provenance is a drum Gumbrell bangs hard: "We want our suppliers to know where the produce comes from. It's not the finished article yet, but we're working on it."

With lots still to do, Gumbrell says he is in for the long haul. According to Maxwell Scott, thanks to the "volatility of current valuations", the group's investors are not seeking an exit until the market improves and profits grows further. By which time his chief executive might have built CLP into a pub force to be reckoned with…