The Big Interview: Tim Hulme, BII
People have referred to him as an academic but he is not, insists Tim Hulme, chief executive of the BII (British Institute of Innkeeping). Hulme took up his position as recently as January but has already proved to be a breath of fresh air for the pub trade by openly admitting the failings of the BII as an organisation and recognising that it had, in his own words, become “complacent” and “elitist”.
And he reveals that he was asked to leave one of Kent’s top grammar schools at the age of 15, which he describes as a “pretty hard thing for my family — and certainly me”.
“I had a very working-class father who played professional football and his sole aim was for me to become a professional footballer,” Hulme says. “And I had a middle-class mother who was focused purely on education, so there was that dichotomy. My father used to encourage me to play truant and subsequently I didn’t do well at school.”
Hulme had a varied career before landing the top job at the BII. He spent time as an apprentice for a construction company and even played semi-professional football, including a stint at Crawley Town in West Sussex between 1991 and 1993. But he adds: “My mum sat me down and said ‘you are going back to college’, so at 23 I did just that,” he says.
“I studied [for] a national diploma in construction and ended up obtaining a degree, which was accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.”
After a spell working in the pharmaceutical sector, construction, and 10 years in the education sector, he became deputy principal of Ealing College in west London. “I was then looking for my first chief executive position and I guess fate is a strange thing.” he says. “The BII job presented itself and I looked at the challenges facing the organisation and what its aims were.
“I asked 500 undergraduates and post-graduate hospitality students at the college I was working at and there were three that recognised the BII logo and I thought, ‘wow what an opportunity’.”
Back to its roots
But Hulme walked into an organisation that has come under pressure over the past few years and been embroiled in a series of crises.
It has faced criticism over its heavy financial deficit, falling membership, declining market share and a deal with a Chinese partner to provide accreditation and training services that collapsed.
Hulme is not put off by the challenge and is determined that the organisation gets back to its roots and fulfils the BII mission statement of being the professional body for the licensed retail sector.
He admits the organisation had drifted into areas that took it away from its core, and has already expressed his determination to reclaim its values. “The biggest thing for me is that we have lost members and market share in terms of qualifications,” he says.
Hulme said he understands the appeal of foreign students to the BII. “In the last three years at my last organisation we did £6m of international work and were bringing learners over from as far as afield as Mumbai, Singapore, Malaysia and Colombia to do a two-year MBA [master of business administration].”
Hulme adds: “The notion of an international link is a very strong one, so I can understand the reasoning and rationale behind it.”
However, at the moment Hulme is looking forward to getting the BII back on a strong footing. “We are going to stabilise Camberley [BII headquarters in Surrey],” he says, adding that he is spending a lot of time at head office to make sure the infrastructure is “fit for purpose”.
“When a member says to me, ‘what are you doing with my £100’, I want to say ‘those 40 staff out there are earning their money’. We are a small organisation in relative terms and it is important that we are sustainable.”
Career structure
As part of his plan to take the BII back into being a professional organisation for the sector, he is keen that its logo and membership should mean something.
“There should be a standard set of values, a code of conduct, and a barrier to entry that is very rigorous. Annually you would be assessed and this could be by a range of criteria. It will be a self-assessed process, but I want to have something where people are proud of their membership.”
Fundamental to the revival of the BII is Hulme’s commitment to set up a career structure for people entering the trade. He draws a parallel between the pub industry and the construction trade in terms of the professionalisation and career structure.
“Think back 50 years ago and think of a bricklayer, a carpenter or a plumber. There was very little structure to their career progression. You didn’t need a certificate to service a boiler or to wire a house.
"Today they have regulated themselves and there is a regulated career pathway that tradespeople have to follow. The fundamental link there for us is the connection between qualifications and membership.”
And what of the strong political lobbying role that the BII has been pursuing of late?
Hulme believes that the organisation has some common ground with the British Beer & Pub Association and other organisations on a number of issues.
“If organisations like that are doing a really good job at lobbying and there are some things we can support them on, we will. If there are some things over which we fundamentally disagree, we will take a clear line. But it will ultimately come back to serving the interests of our members,” he says.
“The challenge is, that if you consider our 11,000 members at the moment, they are a mixture of operators, executives and corporates — there is a real challenge in terms of the line we adopt.”
He also feels strongly that the industry needs to be more inclusive and not just along lines of ethnicity, age, or gender split, but with providing jobs and careers for ex-offenders, ex-military, and people with learning difficulties and disabilities.
“If we start to drive this agenda, I think the Government will start to listen to us on a number of other fronts. If we were to start to address some of these really important areas and some of the vulnerable groups in society to create that career pathway and opportunities, it will start to realise this industry has a real role to play.”
And then there is a really big issue for the trade — the relationship between pubcos and tenants and the statutory code.
He says: “The concept of the Pubs Independent Rent Review Scheme (PIRRS) and PICA-Service (PICAS) is spot-on and I am very proud that the BII is associated with that, but I don’t think we make enough of the value we bring to it.
“Bearing in mind I am new to what has gone on I was just hoping they might have given self-regulation a little bit more time.
“When I look back at the last period and the way PIRRS and PICAS has supported industry there have been some outstanding examples where they have backed tenants and avoided costs in going to court. As a form of alternative dispute resolution, PIRRS and PICAS have been very good and have started to work.
“I have some concerns over the 500 number [pubcos with more than 500 non-managed pubs face a statutory code and adjudicator under Government plans to reform the pubco-tenant relationship]. Why is it 500 and not 400? I hope the Government has considered its position and not left itself open to opposition.
“The tie isn’t the issue when operated fairly — it is a valid model, whether it is being used by large or small [operators].”
So Hulme is ready for the challenge and planning to make dramatic changes to revive the BII. How does he plan to do all this?
“The message I am giving to everyone is, ‘if I do anything I will do it properly’.”
Key dates
1978
Leaves Grammar School at 15 and signs a three-year indentured and apprentice contract in construction
1988
Completes HNC and is employed as a project manager by Ballast Wiltshire
1994-1999
Studied for a five-year part-time BSc Hons in Building Surveying, accredited by the RICS
1999
Joins American blue-chip Pfizer Global Research & Development as part of the facilities team responsible for one million square feet of R&D space and $300m of new facilities in Sandwich, Kent
2004-2009
Seconded by the Learning and Skills Council as executive project director to build a new college in Hastings. The scheme valued at £120m also included a primary care centre and 103 social housing units as part of an education led regeneration of the town.
2009
Joined Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College as deputy principal responsible for commercial and corporate services at one of the UKs largest colleges of further and higher education with more than 20,000 students.
2013
Joined BII as chief executive
