Correction: there's been a few mistakes

It is almost exactly a decade since the publication of the finest novel, for my money, of the past 25 years — Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections.

The book's key theme was a series of "corrections" required at the economic, societal and personal level. As handy shorthand perspectives go, it's more useful than most. The story of the past four years for the pub sector is about a series of corrections to directions or positions that were unsustainable.

A non-exhaustive list of the major corrections needed, never mind the minor corrections, would include: the reduction of excessive debt, a lack of operational focus among the tenanted companies, an under-appreciation by the stock market of the quality position of the managed companies, wafer-thin margins of the major brewers, an over-reliance on a beer-focused customer base by a number of pubs, the requirement to release thousands of pubs into the freetrade sector unsuited to ownership by the tenanted companies.

Almost none of these corrections are complete, but at least they are under way.

Other corrections are in the post — a number of tenanted companies will need to sell more pubs than current projections if they persist with blithely imposing RPI rent increases across their estates (the market imposes inexorable rules — or corrections — as inescapable as Newtonian physics).

Meanwhile, as yet, the Government has been slow to correct the mistakes it's making in our sector — the excessive taxing of beer, a great British manufacturing industry, the sometimes Draconian over-burdening of pubs with regulation, the distortions caused by progressive beer duty, the broader burden of tax imposed on business (our Thrive on 5 campaign to reduce VAT to 5% is about, in part, the urgent need to correct the unfair way food is taxed in pubs compared to supermarkets).

There are, I believe, corrections required by some of our major suppliers right now — the recognition that the pub sector is still a robust one, broadly in rude health with a very healthy long-term future. Those companies that switch away excessive budget to off-trade promotions, promote their own self-interest to the detriment of the sector or more generally under-perform in engaging and supporting this great trade, deserve to lose market share to those suppliers who have spotted trends like the year-by-year growth in pub food.

The mass riots and appalling scenes of vandalism over the past two weeks can be seen through the corrections lens. Since the riots fizzled out in the middle of last week, we have seen the re-assertion of decent standards, a collective reflection on what is 'correct' about the way we live our lives and what we should expect from our fellow members of society.

The mass clean-ups, the mothers who have turned in their children, the shaming of greedy idiots amount to a series of speedy corrections. As ever, pubs have their part to play in re-building community relations.

Have a look at our Snifter page for coverage of the inspiring gestures made by Keith Knowles's Beds and Bars Group.