Don't be the last drinker in your own bar

It's time for operators to recognise the scale of the problems faced by pubs. This is the first step towards saving a great British institution.

There are so many reasons why we've got to this stage with pubs — I'm going to concentrate on just three of them. The first one is: every single technological advance of the past 125 years. In the 1880s it was safer to drink beer than water. I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure, that's not the case these days.

There have been so many advances, developments, improvements in life, services, homes and happiness over the past century or so. Whilst these have made life better for people, they have made things a lot harder for pubs.

From central heating to the cinema, the television to car ownership, birth control to beer in a can, mobile phones to the internet. The list is endless. Almost every single practical innovation there has been has had a negative impact on pub trade.

What's happened to the pub as a social hub, a place to exchange news and information, humour and ideas? People get jokes sent to their mobile phone these days and, thanks to the internet, there's no need to go anywhere to find out anything anymore.

And what has been the pub industry's response to this onslaught of development and innovation, evolution and revolution in society?

What ground-breaking, market-leading changes have kept this national industry ahead of consumer demand and ready to cater to our ever-changing needs? Well there's been one thing. It happened in 1989 and we've had it ever since — Sky.

Has there been anything else? I can't think of anything. The gastropub? That's just a pub with nicer food. Some pubs have done great grub for decades. It seems everything has changed in the past 2,000 years. Everything apart from pubs — and candles, knitting and horseshoes. In that time, everything has changed. The climate has changed. Even the Catholic Church has changed. But pubs haven't.

They have either stood still and perished (village and community pubs) or mutated into something that is no longer recognisable as a pub. The pub is dead. Long live the pub-themed restaurant and other pub-like eating and drinking environments, including coffee shops and cocktail bars and front rooms in flats stocked with superstore booze.

There may be booze there, but they are not pubs. It's not a pub if I'm being served by a South African student on £6 an hour.

That's just an alcohol-based transaction — a generic drinking experience. It's not a pub if everyone's watching football on television.

Just five pubcos own about 35% of the UK on-trade and there is more consolidation coming.

While we are all well aware of the technological, cultural and societal reasons why pubs have failed, the extra squeeze from the past 20 years of corporate culture (from

the not-fit-for-purpose beer tie to maximising rents at the expense of everything) has kicked an industry that is already down.

Pub efficiency​

Pubs should be an efficient economic model — I walk in (no need to book, so no bookings team), I'm sitting over there thanks (no need to wait to be seated and so no need for a greeter), and I'd like a steak and kidney pie and a pint please (I can order this myself from the bar, so no need for a waiter). Easy, simple, efficient, profitable.

But that doesn't mean — as the past 20 years have shown — that real pubs can be successfully sustained by a generic, and often inflicted business model.

As any geneticist will tell you, the problem with cloning, is that the clones are all vulnerable to the same disease, in this case a widespread public walkout.

The rise of the "Stepford Pub" has left the real pub drinkers suing for divorce, while a new generation won't even walk up the aisle. I think it's time to put down the pie chart and get back to the pie. Everyone likes a pie and a pint, a fireplace and a comfy chair.

It shouldn't be that difficult to provide those basic elements. But there needs to be a revolution in ownership and expectation.

But where is that coming from? And when? We can debate the reasons all day long, but there is no denying that there are fewer pubs. And fewer decent pubs.

And there is a generation that has grown up without even considering the pub as a desirable social option.

There are so many other and better places to be — online or on the high street. And this is an opinion that they will likely carry with them their whole lives. We have to realise that. We have to accept that fact if we are to do something about it.

Most of us grew up with a packet of crisps and a soft drink sat outside wishing we could get inside a pub. Kids now won't even slow down as they cycle past. It may or may not

be all your fault but if you're in the pub game it is most definitely all your problem.

It's already closing time, folks. We all know that. Last orders were 20 years ago. The question is — are you opening tomorrow? And will I want to be there? Will anyone? If you are a pub owner and operator, I am with you. We are all in it with you. This is a lock-in.

And now that we're locked in, what are we going to do about it?

As well as all that other stuff, I also own some shares in a small pub in Salford, Greater Manchester, called the Star Inn.

It is Britain's first urban co-operatively-owned pub. Sixty-seven of us put in at least £200 each and we raised the £80,000 needed to buy it at auction in October last year and save it from demolition. There should be more pubs like this.

It is owned by the locals and run for the community, as well as for profit.

Pubs are a national asset. A great British institution that has been mismanaged and irreparably damaged. But we're not talking about the NHS or our education system. This isn't a high priority for Government funding or a vote winner and there's no lottery money available.

We have to deal with the problem. Tourists make pilgrimages to some of our older and better pubs from all over the world. London is the most visited city in the world. What are we going to do to keep our pubs?

Don't be like one of those Japanese soldiers who doesn't know the war is over. Just because you won't surrender doesn't mean they haven't dropped the bomb.

Don't be the last drinker in your own bar, deaf to all the signals that it's time to move on. Unless the industry itself recognises that the pub is in its last throes, it can never be saved.

The only way the pub can survive in any meaningful way is if we all accept that it is already closing time for this industry and then set about doing everything we can to make sure that isn't the case.

Under orders​

Jonathan Downey was asked by ALMR chief executive Nick Bish to speak at its autumn debate last week and propose the motion 'It's last orders for the British Pub'. Speaking to a voting audience of 150 pub-owning industry professionals, he was always on a hiding to nothing, but he gave it a good go in the interests of fair debate and this is an abridged version of his arguments.

He said: "Whilst clearly no one really believes the pub is on its last legs, the industry is under attack from all sides and the message here is clear — as an industry, we first need to accept that there is a lot we should be doing for ourselves if we are to have any hope of making some of the essential changes needed to maintain a thriving business."

Jonathan Downey is managing director of The Rushmore Group, a collection of urban bars in London and other major cities. The above is an abridged version of his comments at last week's Association of Licensed Mutiple Retailers debate on whether it's "Last Orders for the British Pub."​