Jobs round-up
Interest in bar jobs jumps 98%, New SBPA president, Monzo co-founder joins Tipjar
Beautiful Pubs Collective creates 40 jobs ahead of reopening
Independent pub operator the Beautiful Pubs Collective is advertising 40 new full and part time positions across its three pubs in and around Leicester, according to reports by Leicestershire Live.
“Throughout the pandemic we have fought hard to ensure the survival of our business, worked with indefatigable energy to retain and support our amazing pub teams while doing everything within our resource to play our part in supporting the communities that our pubs are part of the fabric of,” Sam Hagger, who founded the group in 2008, said.
“Through the pandemic we have learned with intimacy so much about our brilliant people and have now formed what we believe is our own roadmap to recovery and beyond.”
Pub companies review late-night working practices following Sarah Everard's death
While the Government has outlined a controversial pilot scheme to send plain-clothed officers into pubs and clubs, recent events have compelled a number of hospitality firms to review late shift practices on the other side of the bar.
The death of Sarah Everard following her disappearance on 3 March has sparked a national conversation around women’s safety and prompted a number of pub companies and stakeholders in the late-night economy to reassess what steps they’re taking to safeguard female staff members.
Speaking to The Morning Advertiser (MA) as part of its International Women’s Day coverage, Ema Harker, general manager of the Star in Belgravia, London, stated that “even something simple like deciding how to get home safely after a late finish could pose a particular challenge to women,” when discussing what she perceives to be the biggest barriers facing women in the on-trade.
As such, a number of operators contacted by The MA have confirmed plans to review their working practises, with further schemes and training initiatives to be announced in due course.
“Everyone should be able to go about their everyday lives without fear of attack and recent debates on the issue have spurred us to re-evaluate our current working practices, to check that we are indeed doing everything possible,” Jackie Burn, HR director at Punch – which operates around 1,300 pubs across the UK – told The MA.
“We will be sharing any revised training and safety measures in due course.”
Whitbread HR director to step down
The parent company of Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Premier Inn, Whitbread has announced that HR director Louise Smalley will step down from its board on 31 August.
A successor has been appointed to the role, but the position is not an executive director position.
“I would like to thank Louise for her very significant contribution to Whitbread over many years,” Alison Brittain, CEO, said.
“She has been on the board since 2012 and has played a pivotal role in a period of significant change and development for Whitbread.
“She leaves with our very best wishes for her future success and happiness.”
How has Covid-19 impacted tenant relationships with their pub company?
With 20 March marking a year-to-the-day since last orders were called in pubs just days before a first national lockdown, The MA quizzed its readers on how their working relationships have changed in the past 12 months.
When The MA asked what impact the pandemic has had on the working relationship between operators and their pub company or commercial landlord, more than one-in-ten (12%) of respondents stated “very good”, while a quarter (25%) described any change as “good”.
However, 20% of those quizzed stated that the pandemic has, so far, had a “bad” impact on their relationship with their pub company or commercial landlord, with a further 4% claiming the pandemic's effects have been “very bad”.
Hawthorn COO appointed president of the Scottish Beer and Pub Association
The chief operating officer of Hawthorn, Edith Monfries, has been appointed president of the Scottish Beer and Pub Association (SBPA).
Monfries replaces Brian Davidson, who steps down after four years in the role.
“I am proud of my Scottish roots, so it's an honour to become president of the SBPA, an organisation which plays such an important role in providing a voice for our sector,” Monfries said of her appointment.
“Pubs are a crucial part of Scotland's social fabric, and I'm looking forward to working alongside the many talented and hardworking members of the SBPA to protect and promote the beer and pub sectors in Scotland."
Emma McClarkin, CEO of Scottish Beer and Pub Association added: “I am delighted that Edith is joining us as president.
“It has never been a more pivotal time for breweries and pubs in Scotland as they face the huge task of rebuilding their businesses following a devastating year. So with Edith’s experience as an operator overseeing more than 100 pubs across Scotland, her guidance will be invaluable as we navigate going forward.
“I speak on behalf of all members when I say how grateful we are to Brian Davidson as his tenure as president comes to close, for championing pubs and breweries in Scotland on behalf of SBPA so passionately and effectively.”
How are the fourth and fifth self-employed grants different?
Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed at the Budget on 3 March the fourth Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) taxable grant will be set at 80% of three months’ average trading profits, paid in one single instalment and capped at £7,500 – as the previous grants have been.
It will take 2019 to 2020 tax returns into account and will be open to operators who became self-employed in the tax year 2019 to 2020. The rest of the criteria for eligibility remains the same.
The eligibility for the fourth grant will be based on the submitted 2019 to 2020 tax return. It could mean the amount received in this latest round of funding could be higher or lower than previous grants received.
In regard to who can claim, operators must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership.
New toilet toolkit launched to support gender accessibility
As more and more operators offer customers gender-inclusive bathroom options, a new toolkit titled ‘We All Need The Toilet! An All-gender access toolkit’ has been published by Good Night Out in tandem with Galop, the UK’s LGBT+ anti-violence charity, to combat misinformation.
The toolkit offers a detailed guide for any business that provides toilets for visitors, on how to comply with regulations while safely and sensitively ensuring facilities are gender inclusive.
It provides suggestions on signage, refitting and redesignating, evidence from academic studies and research that debunk common myths, as well as testimony from trans and non-binary people who face stress, harassment and even violence when trying to use existing facilities.
Galop’s 2020 Transphobia Report found that nearly two thirds of respondents felt unable to use public toilets due to transphobia, with a quarter of respondents experiencing or been threatened with transphobic physical assault and one-in-five experiencing or been threatened with sexual assault.
Similarly, women who are not trans but present in a ‘masculine’ way often experience harassment for being in the ‘wrong’ toilets.
“We know sexual harassment and assault are deeply gendered, impacting women and LGTBQ+ people disproportionately,” Good Night Out Campaign’s director Bryony Beynon said.
“However, enforcing gender norms by policing bathrooms through compulsory segregation or assuming where someone ‘should’ be does not prevent violence and can actually help create a conducive context for it.
“Given the atmosphere of fear and disinformation, we wanted to cut through the noise and provide some caring, common sense guidance on this issue.
“What’s more, when bathroom options that work for everyone help trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming visitors to feel safer and more welcome, that makes business sense, too!”
The toolkit can be accessed here.
How to ensure new tied tenants go in with their eyes wide open
The upheaval in the pub trade from the Covid-19 pandemic will undoubtedly lead to pubs changing hands.
As the sector starts to recover post-lockdown there will be people who see taking a new tied tenancy as a business opportunity. It is a testament to the resilience of the pub trade as a whole that we can be sure that will happen.
The pubs code is there to make sure that any new tied tenants go in with their eyes wide open because they have full disclosure from their pub company. Under the code, regulated pub companies have legal duties to provide tenants with a wealth of information about running a pub.
These duties are there to ensure that new tenants – and some of those renewing their tenancies – have enough information to understand what they are signing up for, their rights and responsibilities under the tenancy, and their code rights.
Parliament’s aim was to tackle the tenant’s lack of bargaining power and pub companies having better information than tenants in the business relationship.
Monzo co-founder joins Tipjar
Cashless tipping firm Tipjar – used by firms including BrewDog, Mission Mars, Punch and Rose Pubs – has announced that Gary Dolman, co-founder of challenger bank Monzo, has joined as an advisor to its board.
Dolman will join Tipjar co-founder James Brown, chairman Alex Moore – co-founder of Rosa’s Thai – and CEO Ben Thomas, on the firm’s board.
Dolman is a former PwC qualified chartered accountant who played a key role in establishing Monzo’s full banking licence, growing its customer base to 5m and achieving a market valuation of £1.2bn before stepping down in March 2019.
Discussing his appointment, Dolman said: “When I met James, Alex and Ben and heard their story, their mission and passion for solving the problem of tipping for millions of tipped workers, I was impressed and knew this was a project I could add value to as they scale their product around the world.”
Tipjar co-founder Brown, added: “Gary joining our team will help us navigate the fintech world and reach our potential. Our ambition for Tipjar is that we become the world’s leading cashless tipping solution, as each year an estimated $100bn of tips (more than £70bn) are given globally to individual workers and teams. Tipjar aims to provide technology focused on the millions of workers, performers and entertainers, helping them transition in the cashless future.”
Hospitality sector hardest hit by job losses
The hospitality sector bore the brunt of pandemic job losses, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics on 24 March.
Payrolled employee numbers fell by 693,000 since February 2020, with more than half of this figure – 368,000 roles – lost in the hospitality sector.
UKHospitality boss Kate Nicholls said the sector provided a vital “first step” for young people, as it was revealed that some 611,000 jobs were lost to under-35-year-olds.
What’s more, job hunters are eagerly looking for opportunities in pubs and restaurants as reopening nears, according jobs board Indeed.
Interest in bar jobs grew by 98% in the past two weeks while searches for waitressing jobs increased by 60%, the jobs board said.
The board revealed that job postings in the hard-hit hospitality and food service sectors were almost 70% down on pre-pandemic levels.
The food preparation and service sector had seen a 21% increase in new job postings since 22 Feb 2021, when the Government set out provisional reopening dates for hospitality.
Jack Kennedy, UK Economist at global job site Indeed, said: “Roadmaps out of lockdown and the success of the vaccine rollout are building optimism that the labour market will bounce back, as the release of lockdown unleashes pent-up demand for jobs in the hardest-hit sectors, including beauty, gyms, retail and hospitality."
