Make 2013 the year you learn from the best

24-Jan-2013 - Last updated on 24-Jan-2013 at 09:15 GMT

Willock: "There are some fabulous oases of fertile growth in the pub sector"

It’s that time of year. When four inches of snow brings the country to a skidding halt. When a few more old-school high-street retailers go pop. And when our new year’s resolutions are quietly shelved.

It’s also the time of year when the PMA team takes to the road to undertake preliminary judging for the Publican Awards.

For those of you unfamiliar with our awards programmes, the Publican Awards (ceremony on 11 March) is the event that recognises the achievements of pub companies, while the Great British Pub Awards (12 September) is the celebration of the best individual pubs.

But that’s not to say that pubs aren’t central to the Publican Awards! Far from it. The judging process involves guided visits to more than 100 pubs — a belt-loosening task undertaken by the PMA team with some gusto — as well as a mystery visit programme conducted independently by HospitalityGEM.

While I cannot give any specific clues about the judges’ findings to date, I can report generally some stunning examples of retail excellence in both managed and tenanted/leased pubs up and down the country. My team witnessed some fantastic partnerships between pubcos and licensees (whether employed or self-employed) working together to raise standards and maximise the opportunities their pubs provide.

I fully accept pub companies that are trying to win awards will choose some of the best pubs in their estate to show off to the judges — and drive past those that are struggling. But the same cannot be said for the mystery visits, which are conducted on a completely random sample of the shortlisted pub estates.

The scores from this programme, which measures first impressions, environment, service, staff, food and drink, payment and departure and reflections, averaged just under 85%. Four out of every 10 outlets scored above 90%; and just one in 14 scored less than 70%. I think that’s a very impressive set of results and shows the progress this sector has made in product and service standards.

Some of you might remember Snifter’s tongue-in-cheek ‘list of 26 things you don’t see in pubs anymore’ from last July. It included things like: Alsatians barking on the roof, punched-in toilet doors, Formica-topped tables, a solitary crusty liver-sausage roll on the bar under a plastic lid etc.

It was a funny list, because we can all remember pubs like that. But the vast majority of those pubs have closed, or are on their last legs. Some of them are now Tesco Metros, or apartment blocks. And some people will mourn their passing. Others have been transformed by visionary operators who have quadrupled their barrelage and introduced foodservice to compete with the best the high street can offer. We should celebrate those.

It is tempting to buy into the notion that British pubs are in serious trouble. A net closure rate of 18 per week equates to 2% of the country’s pub estate being lost each year. That’s about the same speed of decline as the world’s rainforests.

But from what the PMA team has seen in this year’s Publican Awards judging, there are some fabulous oases of fertile growth in the British pub sector that belie the doom-mongers, the vagaries of the British weather and the country’s economic stagnation.

Make a late new year’s resolution to ensure 2013 is the year you learn from the best and join their ranks. Otherwise, as business guru Tony Robbins once said: “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”

See you for judging at the Great British Pub Awards.