Becoming a publican / landlord

Hi M

Do a google on "British Institute of Innkeeping" - I think the website is

I can't necessarily "recommend" it (as its mostly contributed to by major pubcos) but thepublican website is probably worth you browsing :

This newsgroup is almost principally about real ale, rather than nitrokeg, alcopops or other unpleasant drinks.

You'l alsol find lots of interesting discussion and views being posted on the merits of various independent brews and breweries - as well as people posting good and bad experiences of a range of pubs. Make sure yours gets 'reviewed' as a good one ;-)

------------------------------------------------ Digital Media MVP : 2004-2006

Following on from Bigbeers's message. . .

• Ask some of the pubcos. (You'll get a skewed picture but it's a start.)[1]
• There's a big difference between management, tenancy and ownership.
• Stop now if you're not interested in people. Unless everyone coming in the door of your pub is a welcome face with news, history, etc then you'll soon get fed up with the job.
• Are you prepared for the long and anti-social hours?

Good luck if you're determined but rather you than me.

On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 11:34:26 +0100, Peter Fox wrote (in article ):

Save up or find some investment for a free house otherwise you'll be screwed before you start.

Absolutely.Go and buy the longest bargepole you can find and then don't touch Scotco with it.

Theres some links at:

Haven't checked them, but they seem to cover your question.

As an ex publican of 15 years hard toil many of which my pub was in the Good Beer Guide, my advice is to find a decent free house. Most of the leases will bleed you dry or leave you with a tiny income for the 80-90 hours you will need to put in a week. When the rent on my pub went up from 24000 a year to 32000 a year I sold the lease despite having been there for 15 years, I started when it was a traditional tenancy. It is now 52000 a year. I can assure you as well, that it is a backstreet one bar pub, not some megalith. That is 1000 a week before you even open the door. I am now a taxi driver and five of the other guys I work with are ex publicans from the old days so that should tell you something.

Best Regards,

Stuart Hudson

One thing -in many areas the price of free houses have become ridiculously expensive.People think that as house prices have gone up so should pub prices,after all both are bricks and mortar.But a fair valuation of a pub's value is its maximum annual turnover and this is more or less all the banks would lend you anyway. In many areas the option of converting a pub to a private dwelling has been removed by planning rules.