The pub trade's got talent
On Tuesday this week, the BII unveiled its Licensee of the Year. Two weeks prior, I was one of a dozen or so judges who had the pleasure of interviewing the six finalists. It was one of those days that reminds you of all that's great about this trade.
The energy and enthusiasm of the six finalists was infectious. There were Nigel & Sue Anstead who run the White Horse, Bedford, a Charles Wells pub. They mentor new Charles Wells tenants and raised £21,000 for charitable causes last year.
Mark and Lucy Barron-Reid, of the freehouse Bull at Benenden, Kent, have boosted sales 20% in the past year, helped in part by winning our Great British Pub Award freehouse category last September.
Mark Barton, who runs the Taychreggan Hotel near Dundee, is such a good employer that almost half his 28 staff have been working for him more than five years. Gerry Price, who runs Enterprise Inns venue the Inn@West End, in Woking, Surrey, has quadrupled takings over his time at the pub thanks to an outstanding food offer.
Darran Lingley, of the Five Bells freehouse, Colchester, just keeps on getting better and better — it is the second year on the bounce he's made the finals.
But our winners were Richard and Loren Pope, of the Bulls Head, Repton, in Derbyshire. Their pub is an example of what's possible in the licensed trade for a talented couple who are prepared to graft. Loren is an ex-solicitor while Richard comes from a managed background, with spells working for Whitbread, Spirit and Pioneer Pub Company. They took their own pub, a derelict Punch leased site, three years ago. Last year they even managed to buy the freehold of the pub. By my estimate, without breaking confidences, they have created considerable equity in a relatively short period of time.
Their success has flowed from points of difference in product, service and environment. It's a pretty good sign when, as happened at the Bulls Head, all 350 tickets for a New Year's Eve party sold out within two hours. We will be profiling the Bulls Head in much more detail, with other finalists, in the near future (our My Pub features on the retail secrets of outstanding licensees are, I believe, the best read items in the Morning Advertiser).
But there's one bit of innovation at the Bulls Head that is a great example of why the Popes pipped the opposition. They have created a session-by-session mechanism for measuring customer satisfaction. It's simple but brilliant. Customers are given a chip that they use to vote on service on their way out. If voting within a session sees 70% of customers putting their token into the "excellent" slot, staff get a sizeable bonus. Imagine how big an incentive this provides for staff to provide outstanding service.
