The year 2008 has just passed. It leaves a bitter taste for the licensed trade and even as it drifts into the past, the country remains in one of the deepest depressions ever known in recent years. The effects of the smoking ban remain, and bar prices continue to rise in line with costs which appear to increase every day. The only problem is that for the licensee, selling prices are close to the hearts of customers and excessive increases are not always acceptable, resulting in an exodus of “punters”. This combined with natural wastage and a substantial drop in spending money spells disaster for the trade. As costs and overheads increase the already small margin of profit narrows even further as licensees take the brunt rather than risk loosing customers. Who knows what the current year will bring, but I hope better news than 2008 did.

For my first blog this all sounds rather pessimistic. Not a deliberate ploy to attract or concern readers. It is a statement of fact, but the good news is that things cannot get much worse. The pub trade for better or worse will hopefully come out of all this stronger and more streamlined. A sad fact is that too many premises are boarded up and unfortunately more will follow. I do of course commiserate with the poor licensee who has lost his or her business, but there were clearly too many licensed premises around and a thinning out might be the best thing for those remaining.

Despite the comments above, some premises are still doing very well and long may that last, but all licensees must tighten their belts and cut costs as far back as possible. The leasing companies must help by recognising the difficulties currently being incurred by their tenants. The substantially discounted price of beer offered to some companies or individuals is obscene and creates unfair competition against those having to pay full price.

My job is not to preach to the licensed trade, but with over forty year’s experience of it in one capacity or another I do feel qualified to comment. It is a great profession and many wonderful people work in it. Their personality and skills make the whole profession work and without these people our pubs and hotels would lack atmosphere and cease to attract any trade at all, so keep up the good work, fight this recession and be determined to not just succeed, but come out better afterwards.

Together with Derek Burgoyne who joins us as a consultant, I have extended the list of services offered by Adstock and am in the process of launching our new business. This website will detail our activities, but please rest assured that the policy of the company is to offer excellent service at sensible rates. Being small, we do not have massive overheads and are able to pass these savings on. Please contact us for further information or advice.