publican wannabe

Stubbarama

I agree GavP.

Chilled Mole, Are you just looking to become your own boss ? or is becoming a publican a life long dream ?

Before making such a big commitment, I would enrol in a few courses (Yes you will need them) and look at becoming a relief landlord to see if it is actually something you will like doing.

Being a publican is seriously hard work with long unsociable hours, if you think you are going to be sat at the end of the bar supping (if your a notherner) then you will surely fail.

Also as GavP says, not knowing the demographics of your business is a serious minus. Dont go investing into something that you dont know how to run.

Debt_Free_Chick

Chilled_mole wrote: »

they only outline G/P at being 58% ...

They would, wouldn't they

That's after deducting cost of sales i.e. cost of food and drink bought for resale.

You then need to deduct overheads ...

HOWEVER! the rent is in the region of £700 p/w

That's £36k p.a. .... then you've got heat, light & power, all other running costs, insurance, advertising, staff pay.

which in my opinion! is extautionate! ... would you agree? ... short of it being a missprint?!

Not necessarily - depends on the market, depends on the property, location etc. Rents are what can be demanded.


To be honest, you need to see the accounts. It's impossible to comment when we don't know the place. Some of us may be able to comment on the accounts - but that still doesn't help us to evaluate where the opportunities might be for the future.

Identifying your market is the most important thing - both in terms of current market; who buys? What do they buy? What is most profitable ... and for future expansion.

Debt_Free_Chick

Many people in the pub/restaurant trade have seen huge falls in t/o since the smoking ban.

Whether you agree with the ban or not, in some pubs (my local for example) the vast majority of regulars smoke. They now stay at home & drink.

Also, location is important. In a good tourist area, you may do well April-August but be "dead" for the rest of the year. In effect, you need to make a whole year's money during the summer, only.

SquatNow

Probably not a good time to be buying a restaurant. People are starting to struggle financially, and the first thing to go at times of hardship is nights out.

There is a reason the current owner is selling up... they don't think it will work, and are selling up while they can before they go bust. They just need some sap to buy it. Don't be that sap.

=> If it sounds like it's too good to be true, it probably is.
=> There no such thing as a free lunch.
=> Geese that lay golden eggs are never for sale.
=> Add additional motos here.

Chilled_mole

SquatNow wrote: »

Probably not a good time to be buying a restaurant. People are starting to struggle financially, and the first thing to go at times of hardship is nights out.

There is a reason the current owner is selling up... they don't think it will work, and are selling up while they can before they go bust. They just need some sap to buy it. Don't be that sap.

=> If it sounds like it's too good to be true, it probably is.
=> There no such thing as a free lunch.
=> Geese that lay golden eggs are never for sale.
=> Add additional motos here.

This was basically the information I was after!?!?! .... lol .... from my original post, which basically said 'is it such a good idea in this day and age etc?!' ...

For all those people that thought I'd honestly be nieve enough to go out tomorrow, buy a pub and just 'assume' I'd know what to do on the day thanks also you also gave me some serious food for thought?!

thanks for you time guys, all of you, it's much appreciated!?

worrypants

be very very very very wary!!

Been there done that and had the nervous breakdown!!!

We bought a pub and I mean bought ie a freehold we had nil experience and learned fast, got the personal licence the food hygiene cert

Im glad we gave it a try otherwise we would always have wondered but the relief on the day we sold last year was unbelievable, the property was in the same area that you are considering

we had no brewery tie in obviously and could change suppliers playing one off against the other and we did so frequently throughout the 2 years we owned the business.
We still bought sprits from tesco and asda as they are a third of the price you pay at a wholesaler we paid about a quarter of the price for a barrel that you would pay as a non freehold owner and as a leesee you are not allowed to source your own wine and spirits either.

We worked 7 days a week 365 days a year and put in a minimum of 16 hours a day
we did not make a penny imagine that for a 112 hour week 7 days a week!! even if we had made a profit who wants to live this sort of life????

the area was very upmarket but we still got skanky scum in the pub the great unwashed etc

the overheads are unbelieveable as you are business you pay 10 times as much for everything even though its also your home
eg for power , business rates, business waste collection
the red tape is a full time job in itself
the smoking ban has all but killed the trade everywhere
expect to sit for hour after hour after hour with nobody in from september to may but you still have to be open and you still have to pay staff and you still have to spend hours on food prep just in case only to bin it all as nobody comes in iits heart breaking stuff

i could write a book on it but will ramble no more

fc123

Hi, my cousin was facing bankruptcy this yr........he was experienced in the pub trade for a decade before going it alone with a partner...they ended up with 5 pubs.
I have been S/Employed for 20 yrs (leases / partners etc etc) and, secretly, would LOVE a nice PAYE, proper job!

My advice would be as follows;

1; GO WORK IN A PUB, behind the bar for at least 6 months. The actual work is the SAME, whether you have a boss or you are one in charge.

2; NO NO NO partner...please trust me on this.

3; in retail; a rule of thumb for turnover is 10 X RENT; £35k rent pa target.T/O £350k.

4; got a big chunk of savings?? Go for it...my BIL just lost £100k on a venture....it gutted him but he had the 100k saved up prior and decided to go for it (mid 40's, if I don't do it now etc etc)
He lost the cash but didn't build up debt (the killer) as he shut it down when he realised it wasn't going to work.

Hope this helps:D

elisebutt65

Have to repeat some of the advice given here.

DON'T DO IT!!!

:rotfl:

Seriously - If you just want to run a pub - go to one of the breweries and get a job as a trainee manager, then after a year or so you'll get your won pub, a regular salary and bonus if (very big IF) you make target - Then when you eventually do make target, they'll whack the targets right up the next year!

I did this in the 80's and OMG - I was so shattered after a couple of years - This was in Central London where you'd think you'd have no problems making target - in the end I just went back to being a barmaid - less hassle, less responsibility, a roof over my head, no bills, all the food I could eat and got paid as well. Then worked my way back to Restaurant manager and decided the catering business wasn't for me after all and am now training to be a teacher as it's about a 1000 times less stressful (:eek:)

Loads of pubs around here(Midlands) are closing down since the smoking ban - my local was just being done up and now the owners have just got it looking perfect and BOOM - bankrupt!!!!

If you have a huge heap of disposable capital and you don't mind losing it then go ahead!!!:D

ManAtHome

Some good advice from Debt_Free_Chick, Worrypants, and fc123.

[edit] LOL and Elsiebutt65 - not even safe knocking up a quick chinese between posts these days!

Is this from one of the big "pubcos" (aka "propertycos") Enterprise or Punch? They (and probably others) have been doing a quite bit of moving their low-performing managed houses to lease. Problem is that you pay them rent, pick up a lot of their overheads and make them them an amazing profit on the drinks ties (they sell to you with around a 200% mark-up..!!).

End result is that you're not really working for yourself, but taking most of the risk with not much more reward than the manager they used to employ. After not too long you're likely to be dreaming about (only) working 40 hours a week.

lynzpower

PLease please take some time to read the fairly active ish forums on the publican.com website.

We considered it, and then honesly the risk was too great for me and the business was the wrong size. other locations hadjt worked for us, and I just feel now the risk is so large, I couldnt.

Id sooner run a resturaunt !!! wone bar type affair than a pub.

the other difficulties of peak dstrict pubs ( i know the area fairly well) is that they are situated sometimes on treacherous roads, and sometimes not that many locals in walking distance.

Saying that my uncle runs a freehoold in wales and is very happy doing well, but he works ridiculous hours and only has half of Xmas day off a year. For the money, and the sacrifice, I dont think I have the wherwithall to do it. certainly, bar work experience for 6 months minimum is a must.