Brian King to retire after lifetime in pub trade

Trust Inns boss Brian King retires tomorrow (Friday) after 32 years in the trade. Tony Halstead caught up with him.

Brian King has a thing or two to say about pubs. When you have lived and worked in the industry for more than 50 years, knowledge and experience of the licensed trade is in abundant supply.

King, who is 61, retires tomorrow (Friday) after a 32-year career in pub retailing, first with Greenalls and later as managing director of Trust Inns, which operates a 600-strong tenanted and leased estate across England, Wales and Scotland.

But his experience of pubs goes much deeper than that. His mother and father were licensees and King was introduced from early childhood to an environment where the family's livelihood depended on selling beer.

"My entire life has revolved around pubs in one way or another," he recalls. "I grew up in licensed premises and it was almost pre-ordained that I would either follow dad as a licensee or work somewhere else in the trade."

Pubs in the 1960s, of course, were far removed from those of today. Beer was the be all and end all of the business where manufacturing and heavy industry held sway and thousands of thirsty manual workers were involved in a variety of trades.

"One of our pubs, the Custom House in Connah's Quay, Flintshire, turned over 20 barrels a week and food barely got a mention.

"We were near a massive steelworks and located on one of the main roads from England into north Wales. I remember coach parties were massive business for us," he goes on.

Life changed for King when he joined Greenalls as an area rep in 1980 and from that time, he reflects, the pub trade started to change too.

Beer volumes were beginning to decline and there was pressure on licensees to fill the void with food sales and other forms of revenue.

Revolution​

In 1989 the Government Beer Orders prompted a major revolution in the brewing and pub industry. It heralded the arrival of the big stand-alone pubcos and many operators, Greenalls included, decided to get out of brewing.

It also marked what Brian King believes was the biggest single achievement of his career when he helped launch Greenalls' pioneering franchise lease.

"It was the first franchise agreement the industry had ever seen. Some cynics thought we were going down the McDonald's and KFC road and all our pubs would be branded and cloned with the same identity," says King, who ran the operation as franchise director.

"But it was simply a different way of doing business. Tenants and lessees paid the normal rent and purchased tied drink products, but were also charged a franchise fee, which began as 1% of turnover.

"In exchange our licensees got what I believe was a great package of help and support, including deals on food and other commodities, plus special banking arrangements and accountancy and stock-taking support.

"Taking a franchise was not obligatory, but those who signed up had to make their quarterly VAT returns available to the company. It was probably one of the earliest forms of open-book accounting.

"Critics said licensees would never realise any great value from a franchise business, but when a few years later leases began to change hands for six-figure sums they were forced to eat their words."

When Greenalls was broken up in the late 1990s King moved on to run Trust Inns, the company in which leisure tycoon Trevor Hemmings has a major stake.

He has been at the helm now for 10 years and this Friday officially hands over the reins to incoming boss Lynne D'Arcy, who joins after career spells with Burtonwood and

Admiral Taverns.

King says he looks back on his career with immense pleasure and genuinely loves the trade and what it has to offer. But he is saddened that trade politics have taken such a front seat and tenant-landlord friction increasingly hits the headlines.

He points to the recession and general economic difficulties that have hit the fortunes of many pubs, but says some licensees who fail are often their own worst enemies.

"Pubs inevitably fail due to poor business management, but failed licensees often have a habit of blaming everyone but themselves.

"Too many individuals appear to think that pub owners should operate as charities and provide their pubs for next to nothing!

"But the tenanted and leased pub model does need to evolve. It needs to enable those hard-working licensees who take full advantage of their businesses opportunities to make a decent living.

"But it should not seek to penalise a pub owner when the tenant does not work hard enough to run his business," King asserts.

King believes the pub model should reflect the price the landlord has paid for the property and the risk taken in the purchase, as well as repairing obligations placed on

the owner.

Changes to the tie​

Despite the current debate on the future of the tie he believes it will still be around in five years' time, but concedes it may well be modernised and look quite a bit different.

What King does know from experience and what really angers him is how pub businesses are being drained by charges and taxes from regulatory authorities with "everyone wanting to dip their fingers in the pie".

"Many agencies appear to believe that the pub trade is there to be milked. Business rates are a prime example because they are linked to turnover not profit.

"There are too many licensees in Britain today paying more in business rates than rent and that cannot be right.

"It's the same with Sky TV charges, which, once again, are based on the business rates system. Many small pubs are now paying more for Sky than they pay their landlord in rent and it's simply wrong," he adds.

The future​

King says he does not want to come across as a "grumpy old man" at the end of his trade career.

"I have a genuine affection for the pub trade and want to see pubs and licensees succeed.

"But pub owners must be allowed to seek a fair return on their outlay, which in recent years has been very high with property prices going through the roof.

"Hard-working licensees also deserve to make a good return from their business, but poor operators with poor standards and those who elect to steal from their landlord by buying out of tie deserve nothing but what they get and that is usually bankruptcy," he says.

King says he is looking forward to taking things easy, but has not ruled out a return to the trade in a consultancy or part-time capacity.

"I will take a few months out to collect my thoughts, but would be delighted to keep in touch with an industry that has given me so much pleasure over the years," he adds.

Brian King on:​

•The BII — It should stick to professional development and driving up standards, and not meddle in politics, seek to become a rent settler or oversee pubco codes of practice. At the moment the BII is trying to do everything

and in the process confusing everyone as to who and what it is or intends to be. Stay with what you are good at.

• Independent Pub Confederation — This is a collection of minority groups in the main, all of them with different agendas, but seeking to gain a voice through numbers. Sadly there must be a good number of failed licensees among its ranks and the ALMR and BII have allowed themselves to be used. MPs, including Greg Mulholland, who seek publicity for their own ends draw breath from these people.

• Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers — It should drop the "multiple" and become the representative body for all retailers. The ALMR is good at what it does and deserves recognition, but fewer "networking" events would mean it is better thought of by its critics.

• British Beer & Pub Association — Is this an organisation for pubs or brewers? Should it be for both? Do both these sectors have common goals?