Tuppen: I'm staying put at Enterprise

Enterprise Inns boss Ted Tuppen has vowed to remain at the helm of the tenanted pubco to steer it through the choppy waters of recession and reform.

Tuppen recently faced calls from pubco critic MP Greg Mulholland to stand down or be pushed by shareholders but Tuppen, who is nearly 60 and has run Enterprise for nearly 20 years, dismissed any such speculation.

"I go sailing a lot, and when you're in a storm you don't jump off the yacht, you take down the sails, you avoid risks, you get through it and wait for it to blow over," he told the Morning Advertiser in an exclusive interview​.

"The skipper doesn't leave the boat, and I wouldn't dream of leaving the helm at Enterprise yet."

Tuppen also hit back at critics within the trade and admitted he gets "nice and nasty" letters but aims to answer all within 48 hours.

"I don't know that I'm hated. I don't read the blogs. But being disliked comes with the territory. If you can't take it, you're in the wrong job.

"I'm sure the company has made mistakes, but I've kept my standards of integrity and honesty. And all you have, when it comes to it, is your integrity.

"Money and power are of no interest.

"The people who make these charges are invariably people who don't know me."

Tuppen also revealed he was appreciative of the Business, Skills and Innovation Committee report on the pubco-tenant relationship because it set standards or a new code of practice, for pubco disclosure to licensees and for drawing attention to tenant recruitment, which he admitted Enterprise had got wrong before.

But he does believe the committee failed to take licensee's skills — or lack of them — into account and that the issue surrounding the beer tie is a "red herring".

• Read the full interview: Ted Tuppen: Rider on the storm​​