Family brewers: ‘They have longevity and resilience in their DNA’

Family brewers and pub operators’ ability to adapt, and their position in local communities, has held them in good stead during the pandemic, and will aid their recovery, according to Emma McClarkin, chief executive, British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA).

“They have longevity and resilience in their DNA,” said McClarkin. While the sector has “never seen a crisis like this”, she said that businesses such as these have learnt to adapt over years and are in a good position to recover well.

“We have learnt to appreciate our locals throughout this crisis and the special relationship they have with their communities and I think that is absolutely key to building a strong recovery,” she added.

William Robinson, managing director, Robinsons Brewery, said he believed the key to maintaining that relationship was being out and about talking to licensees and their local communities. “Be part of it and encourage them to be part of it as well. Communities are the heart of your business – never turn your back on them.”

Robinson said the Stockport-based business’ approach had always been the same: invest for the long term, look after your employees, engage with your licensees and talk to them. “As a family it has always been about looking at ourselves as custodians of the business to pass it onto the next generation.”

The brewer’s strong balance sheet and cash reserves meant it was in a good position to ride out the worst of the storm, and take quick decisions early on in the pandemic, such as charging licensees zero rent. “Even under the worst scenarios we could survive for two years without cash. It then didn’t become our first determining factor,” he explained.

Robinsons’ long-term plans are to grow its managed estate, which it launched in 2014, while continuing to invest in the tenanted side of the business. He said that over the past seven years it has not diminished of the investment in its tenanted estate, although it has converted some pubs to managed. “We can see a great opportunity to take those learnings back into the tenanted side.”

Also on the panel, Heydon Mizon, joint managing director at McMullen & Sons said that as a non-family member of a family brewer it was about balancing the needs of those in the business today with the needs of those who will be in the business in the future. “It’s about making sure the business performs strongly so it generates a dividend. It’s also about reinvesting capital into the balance sheet for the future so that growth is ongoing,” he said.

Mizon said that its cash reserves bought the business some time when the Prime Minister announced that pubs were shutting in March last year, and that when it could take comfort from its trading figures once back open it got cracking on its development programme. “We will have opened eight freehold pubs post reopening,” he said.

McMullen’s remain acquisitive, he said. And while buying quality freehold property in the south east of England is challenging “it is our primary goal”. “We would happily be 50-75% bigger in the next few years if we could. We are adding 10% to our estate this year alone,” added Mizon.