Time to raise our game across the pub board

Following on from his decision to up the National Minimum Wage, sorry, I mean introduce a “New Living Wage” earlier in the year, one has to wonder whether good old George has got it in for the beleaguered pub sector!

Wages are one thing, and I’ve been encouraging everyone not to kick against the NLW as it sends out all the wrong signals for a trade that needs to position itself as a great employer, but it seems to be one challenge after another from a government of a political stripe, which, apparently, is supposed to be good for business.

One of the key arguments I had for not complaining about the increase to the minimum wage was that we needed to pick our battles, and we’d be better off focusing on tackling the issue of rates instead.

Now this, on top of the news that rate setting and the revenues accrued are to be transferred to local authorities, is an extremely unwelcome gift in the Christmas stocking.

Allowing rates to be controlled on the local level adds a new uncertainty to the mix — yes, some forward-thinking councils may see the benefit in encouraging a night-time economy and booming pub trade, but I’m not sure of the last time I heard a local councillor say anything of much encouragement about our sector.

However, perhaps the saddest thing to note in all of this is that, for some businesses, the extra burden of £1,500 a year could be the tipping point “between life and death”.

That’s perhaps the bigger concern — the fact that many businesses are running on fumes and that an increase of £1,500 could push them into the red is depressing.

I can already hear the pub campaigners gearing up to point fingers, but there’s responsibility across the board for this situation.

If your business is at risk from being pushed over the edge by a £1,500 increase there are some serious questions to be asked of that business.

I have sympathy for those caught in impossible situations, particularly the ones the campaigners purport to represent, but there are also badly run businesses out there which could be viable, given the right management — should we mourn the loss of those operators from the trade?

Running a pub is a tough trade, and the PMA will fight tooth and nail to ensure that the sector receives every advantage it can when it comes to red tape and bureaucracy. But we can’t defend poor businesses using the smokescreen of red tape to justify their bad operations.

We need to raise standards in the industry as a whole, working together, and lift everyone to the extent where an extra £1,500 increase or loss is a welcome boost or minor irritant, not the difference between limping along or shutting the doors.

We need to raise our game across the board.