MAGAZINE

Optimistic dynamism 

As you might expect, last month’s Budget announcements triggered a wave of responses that flooded into the Pub & Bar inbox. Trade bodies, operators, law firms, suppliers… everyone had a passionate opinion, and they wanted that opinion to be heard clearly. 

If you followed our coverage on the day of Labour’s first Budget since returning to power, you will have noticed that the majority of people quoted were represented by the larger pub companies across the sector. The reason for this, of course, is because they all have either internal or external PR folk working hard at collating their comments and distributing them to trade and national media. We report on the announcements, add in quotes and reactions, and the cycle is complete. 

What this process doesn’t automatically generate, however, are the opinions of the smaller operator. For those, you have to dig a little deeper. Since the bombshell around Employer National Insurance contributions landed in the on-trade, I’ve had numerous chats with licensees and landlords about how they were feeling about the future, given the already tough act of balancing the books. And you know what? Their sentiment is less sombre or scathing. There are shrugs of: “Well, what are you gonna do? We just have to get on with it.” Perhaps this is because they feel they have less sway or a chance of influencing government policy (does anyone really?), or maybe it’s because their revenues are substantially smaller. Whatever the reason, within this air of acceptance there is almost always a gust of optimistic dynamism that fuels future trajectories for the independent operator. It is always so encouraging to witness.

One such conversation was had with Rob Hattersley, MD of Longbow Venues, who features in our lead interview slot this issue. Despite him seeing the lowering of the contribution threshold as “dirty”, he’s clearly an industry leader who’s determined to make a success of his sites no matter what is thrown at him. As we move into another new year, Hattersley’s take on myriad matters in the pub world are buoyant and inspiring when it comes to why so many value this industry. Thanks for reading Pub & Bar this year – we’ll see you in 2025. 

Tristan O’Hana - Editor