A day in the life of a Newbury publican – crippling costs, 16 hour days and competition on every corner
The Newbury is a staple town centre pub on Bartholomew Street, known for its delicious food and open mic nights.
Its rooftop terrace and function room are popular with business and tradespeople and party bookings.
But as charming and relaxing as the atmosphere is, running the pub is no fairytale, says Jamie Allen, 56.
He said it was his dream to run the pub for years. But now, he said it needs someone with “very big pockets” to continue in the face of soaring overheads, pressure from brewer Greene King and high street competition.
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And to top it off, hikes in employer national insurance contributions and the national minimum wage next month have increased the pub’s costs by £25,000 a year.
So, while younger employees will see bigger boosts to their pay packet, this year is anticipated to be the most expensive on record for businesses employing minimum wage workers, casting doubt on whether pubs like The Newbury can continue to stay open in the coming months.
“Rachel Reeves’ argument is that everybody should pay their bit. But we’re not making any money,” said Jamie, who is also involved in town centre eateries Chego’s, Pachangas and The Sushi Maki and still runs the Hermitage pub, The Fox.
“We are now going to see an enormous number of pubs shut, because more publicans are not recruiting but are getting rid of staff.
“We've been whittling down and whittling down.
“You're going back to the old days where if a pub's going to make a profit or break even, it's got to get rid of its staff and the publican and his wife have to go back to doing it all themselves.”
He continued: “We opened during the energy hike when Putin invaded Ukraine [in 2022]. And we were looking at £15,000 a month in utility bills. That was a whole week's turnover.
“They're probably half what they were now, but they're still thousands compared to what they were five, seven years ago.”
But not only are higher operating costs hurting profits; they are being passed on to the consumer – meaning fewer people want to come in.
“Evenings are busy, but daytime trade is absolutely dead,” Jamie added.
“People come out because they want to mix and chat. They don't come to a pub for the publican to say, ‘I’ve been told to put up a price again, because I'm too cheap.”
But what does an average day look like for a publican?
Jamie explained: “Let's say you're going to get up at 8-9am. We'll mop and clean all the floors. Set the bar up. Look at yesterday's figures.
“When we look at yesterday's figures, we’ll update our laptops on everything that's going on. Look at if we’ve got any events or parties going on.
“It might be the day that I'm doing the stock order. Basically, you might get a delivery once or twice a week. And then you've got to sort the cellar out.
“If you're a smaller pub, you're going to be doing all this yourself.
“You then work service. And then during service, if you've got any free time, you've got to try and run some of the other jobs that you're trying to do, like bookkeeping.
“You'll work through the whole afternoon and then hopefully, come 4pm, you'll start getting a few tradespeople coming in.
“We don't do cheap beer, so we've got to do food. So, I'm employing somebody in the kitchen.
“And while I put an order through, I'm still serving other customers. And when someone rings that bell, you've got to get that food, get it out to the customer and make sure they're happy, then come back to the bar and look after those customers.
“And that'll go on from 12pm through to 11pm.”
Jamie said he never works less than 12 hours per day. His longest shift can be up to 16-18 hours.
But despite concerns for the future, he still believes there is hope for the industry – but not in its current form.
“In the end, I'd say the newer brewers, the Delphics, the Renegades, are passionate about their brewing; all the rest are just landlords now.
“They've overpriced their estates enormously. It shouldn’t be all about what's going to the shareholders. They forgot about the publican.
“The only answer the publican ever gets is, ‘your beer's too cheap’.”
Asked what advice he wish he’d been told when he started out in the trade, he shared the following.
First, if you’re thinking of opening a pub, work in one first. Learn the everyday realities of working in hospitality, not all of which are pleasant.
Jamie used to work as a kitchen porter, washing dishes. He then learned to do the starters and desserts and picked up things up from there, something he says he “absolutely loved”.
Second, if your drinks aren’t cheap, make sure your food is exceptional.
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And lastly, for pubs to survive now, they need to innovate.
“Give [customers] another reason to come,” said Jamie.
“We've got ideas. I'm getting some old-style pub games to bring back that sense of community.
“You've got to innovate now. Otherwise, you might as well sit with four cans in your front room on your PlayStation.”
