Camerons’ fears to cheers?
CAMERONS Brewery is in the running for a UK Publican of the Year award, despite a gloomier than average forecast for the Tees Valley’s pub trade.
According to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), Landlords are calling time on a record 39 British pubs a week as the credit crunch and adverse effects of the 2007 smoking ban begin to bite.
Hartlepool-based Camerons, however, plans to increase its pub estate to 150 by the end of this year, moving away from “wet-led” outlets to pubs with multiple income streams such as food. It currently has 65 tenanted outlets across the North.
Meanwhile, the UK’s biggest pubs group Punch Taverns yesterday said it had massively increased help to its struggling landlords.
The group, which owns around 80 pubs in the area and is now spending £1.6m a month in rent concessions and beer discounts compared to £400,000 a year ago, said it was too early to see whether the support had made any difference.
The BBPA’s North of England secretary Lee Le Clercq said Teesside was one of the areas worst hit by the downturn in trade.
“Pubs that can’t diversify by expanding their kitchens and a lot of older premises that haven’t the outside space to cater for smokers are being affected the most,” he said. “These types of community pubs are most affected, and it’s these types there is an abundance of in the Tees Valley and the North-east.”
He warned the industry could be hit with an estimated £300m bill for extra red-tape this year, after the Government amended the Police and Crime Bill.
He said: “At this time of deepening recession and rising unemployment, the Government should be actively looking at ways of supporting the pub as a community asset.”
Camerons tenanted estates manager Tony Wardley said the company had introduced training schemes for all its tenancies and developed marketing campaigns aimed at increasing footfall into the outlets.
Camerons will be up against three other breweries and pub companies for the awards. The winner will be announced at Grosvenor House, London, on March 24.
In its trading update today, no-frills pub owner JD Wetherspoon said it was to scale back new openings during the current financial year and cancel future dividend payments. In the year to date like for like sales increased by 2%. Operating margins for the half year ending January 25, 2009 were expected to be approximately 1% lower than the same period last year as costs began to fall back.
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