Stephen Gould: champion of champions
Everards Brewery has been the unlikely source of some radical innovation in pub tenancies since Stephen Gould took charge. He talks to Phil Mellows about what it's like to be part of the family.
Stephen Gould likes to tell the story about the time he got the job at Everards Brewery: the kid from Burton who'd worked his way up to be a director of Punch dragging his shy wife Wendy to the Everard country seat to stay the night as guest of the chairman.
It was a very different kind of world from what either of them were used to, but whatever kind of test was going on, Gould — and Wendy — passed. Unlikely as it seemed, he made the jump from corporate giant to family firm and the relationship quickly gelled.
Gould was soon elevated to managing director and, while he has blended into the company culture, his impact has been significant.
It's summed up in Project William, an initiative named after the company's founder, yet one which takes a radical approach to the traditional pub tenancy, loosening the tie to allow small brewers to open a brewery tap — in another brewer's pub.
There are now 21 Project William pubs shared among 12 brewers and four "cask ale champions" who don't brew but sell a range of beers beyond the Everards portfolio.
Both Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns have copied the idea, though arguably with less risk. How did Gould persuade a family brewer to give up hand-pumps at the cost of filling its mash tuns?
"Actually, the Board was hugely supportive. It regarded it as a piece of research and development that could add to the long-term value of the business.
"We could see there were a lot of brewers coming along with fantastic beers and excellent brands. Perhaps they'd like to integrate vertically? At the same time the pub-acquisitions market was very competitive and we were concerned about over-paying.
"So there was an opportunity to purchase closed and run-down pubs and refurbish them as a brewery tap.
"The agreement itself is not hugely innovative," he adds. "The key is in the after-sales service — how we help them succeed as retailers. We have to be watchful about who we work with. Have they got time to run a pub? Are they ready yet? But so far only one didn't work out.
"We've not only been able to buy sites at a low price — it's also given people a different perception of Everards, as a company that is willing to have small brewers as trading partners."
The enlightened approach stems, in part, from Everards seeing these partners not as microbrewers, which, as Gould says, makes it seem as if they'll always be tiny, but as "first-generation family brewers".
"William Everard brewed for 16 years before he got his first pub, so he was a mid-19th century microbrewer himself, and I think there are a few more like him out there."
Ale appeal
As well as a dozen brewers having the chance to run pubs, Everards has seen some surprising pluses.
"We've benefited from their innovation in cask ale, in appealing to a younger market. They're also cleverer in their pub design, getting away from a classic corporate refurb to create more of an ale shrine.
"Seven out of 10 pints sold in those pubs are cask ale. As a brewer it makes you think, 'wow'.
"It's also given us ideas about pricing, about having greater elasticity, so we can have, say, entry-level pints at £2.20 going up to £3.40."
Indeed, the pub we're lunching in, the Marquis Wellington in Leicester, where Chris Bulatis' Ever So Sensible group is tenant, has on sale Everards' seasonal ale Old Flame with a pump-clip price-marked at £2.40.
There is also a recruitment angle to Project William — part of a broader strategy that is set to see more innovative projects from the Leicester brewer.
"Tenant recruitment is a competitive market and we're not one of the big players. So we have to make ourselves distinct," says Gould.
"We're always looking for new talent to run our pubs, always exploring ways to attract different kinds of operator.
"The pub property market is as lively as ever. Sales by pubcos are creating more diversity and fragmentation and that's really positive. Freeholds and tenancies have become a hotbed for innovation.
"It's a very exciting time. There are opportunities for us to buy pubs and work with new operators.
"Deals with small brewers are only the start. There are lots of people looking to exhibit their skills in a pub. Artisanship is what we're looking for — bread-makers, farm shops, people who want to be in their own business and be part of the revolution in localness.
"So rather than just offer a flexible tenancy agreement, the question is: what do we do with this building? What kind of tenant can we attract for it?"
It's interesting that Everards has always started from a property-development point of view ahead of brewing and retailing, and this fits Gould's vision. He believes that soon the "old way of doing things will look dated".
In his previous life as Punch's recruitment and training director there were experiments in opening up the sprawling estate to entrepreneurs who weren't your typical pub tenant, but it's at Everards that Gould seems to have really found the scope to push those boundaries.
How does he feel now about his time at Punch?
"I'm very proud that, because of the significant investment we'd made in licensee development, we could go into the marketplace and tell different types of operators that they'll be well-trained and equipped.
"It was a very enjoyable time — but it was challenging. Acquisitions were the priority. There was never time to focus properly on the organic business. It was an unusual environment," he notes with a degree of understatement. Did it get too big?
"Yes, but the point is that Punch grew so big only because of thousands of small businesses, so it was highly dependent on the success of those businesses. It's taken until now for it to see that. It makes the management role uniquely complex but there are very exciting opportunities to innovate.
"In the past three or four years things have been different. Roger Whiteside has introduced improvements in relationship management and transparency. But Punch would be even stronger if it was a private business rather than publicly-listed. It's a huge challenge to do what it has to do in the public eye."
Family brewer culture
There's no doubt that Gould himself feels better off out of there. Has he a greater affinity with the family-brewer culture than with big corporate life?
"I probably have. Everards is a size where you know everybody in it, but it's big enough to be complex and challenging. I like the sense of a team, the family ethos. Richard Everard, the chairman, leads from the top and makes it very clear that we are working on a business that will be passed on to the next generation."
The next generation are Charlotte and Julian Everard, working in property and at university respectively, and destined, in the traditional family brewery way, to take over the firm.
The chairman has asked Gould to be mentor and coach to the siblings, meeting them from time to time to chat about their plans and offer avuncular guidance. It's no longer shareholders he has to think about.
"Charlotte and Julian are in my mind all the time when I make the decisions that affect the business," he says. "It's a different feeling, but it suits me."
My kind of pub
"There are too many Everards pubs to mention, so I'll pick out a Marston's tenancy
based in my home town of Burton-on-Trent — the Plough in Horninglow.
"The licensees, John and Linda, are in their 33rd year at the pub. They are always in there to make you welcome and the ale they serve is the best in Burton. And they've moved with the times. There's always something going on.
"They represent what needs to happen in the pub industry — a long-termism that doesn't mean sameness."
Key dates
• 1989 — Stephen Gould joins Bass as a graduate trainee
• 1990 — Appointed personnel & training officer at Bass
