Your Personality

Are you naturally outgoing and able to talk to anyone? Do you like being in the spotlight? Or are you a shrinking violet who finds communicating with people difficult? Being able to interact with customers is a basic requirement of running a pub. The art of small talk has to be well developed and a genuine interest in people is essential. Being able to smile when you are feeling down, and laugh at the joke that you have heard for the tenth time are all part of the job.

Your personality helps develop the atmosphere of the pub. It is important to remember that your personality and behaviour filters through staff and customers alike. A friendly, upbeat atmosphere attracts many more customers than a depressing or aggressive one. Equally, a licensee who appears uninterested in his customers is unlikely to encourage them to come back.

Running a pub involves dealing with many different types of customer. This takes confidence, which can be developed through bar work and other customer-service roles. The more experience you obtain dealing with different types of people, the more confident you will become.

Like running any business, you need to be able to juggle lots of tasks at the same time. Running a pub is not just about bar work; it’s about doing all the behind-the-scenes jobs too: bottling-up; bookwork; cleaning the beer lines etc. You also need to handle the pressures that are associated with running your pub business, for example, paying the bills, managing staff and keeping up to date with legislation.

Your Interests

You may find that some of your interests prove useful in running your pub. Being involved in the local darts or football leagues can be advantageous when it comes to running a sports-orientated pub. A passion for food is valuable in operating a food pub. Your interests can also play a part in identifying the kind of pub you would like to run.

Pub teams and clubs can be the cornerstone of a pub’s trade. Getting involved with teams or starting clubs can help boost business on the traditionally less busy days of the week.

Your Health

Running a pub involves long hours and hard work and you need to be reasonably fit and healthy in order to cope with this. From lifting boxes, moving kegs and standing for several hours behind a bar, a whole range of activities put stresses and strains on your body. If you are not fully fit, or have health problems, taking on a pub can be a recipe for disaster. Many people consider pubs to be unhealthy environments in which to work, particularly due to smoking issues (though this particular concern is to be resolved by Government legislation). It is wise to give some thought to your own health and fitness situation and the impact that running a pub will have on you.

Ability To Hold A Licence

Background

The Licensing Act 2003 states that anyone who authorises the sale of alcohol needs to have a personal licence. In practice, this means that each pub requires a personal licence holder who is designated as the ‘Designated Premises Supervisor’. They will be the person who is in day-to-day control of the premises, ie the tenant or lessee. Other members of staff are authorised to sell alcohol by the designated premises supervisor, and therefore are not required to hold a licence themselves.

Requirements

To qualify for a personal licence the applicant must meet criteria set out in the Licensing Act 2003.

These are:

• the applicant must be aged 18 or over;
• no personal licence held by them has been forfeited in the past 5 years;
• they possess an accredited licensing qualification;
• they do not have an unspent relevant or foreign offence.

 

Subject to the applicant paying the necessary fee and providing a Criminal Record Bureau certificate, the licensing authority is legally obliged to grant the application. If any of the first three criteria are not met, the application will be rejected. Where an applicant has an unspent conviction and the police object to the application, refusal of the application is the normal course of action.