How a PR campaign might just have saved your favourite pub
“God I miss the pub.”
As lockdown stretched into its eighth interminable week, those heartfelt words – or variants of them – were sent to me in three separate messages on one day. It was a sentiment shared by millions.
But as much as we pined for a cold pint on a sociably warm evening, the pubs were longing for our return – and that of our wallets – even more.
Coronavirus laid waste to most sectors of British business, but pubs suffered more than most.
At the very heart of their pain lay the issue of rents. Many corporate landlords refused to waive rent during lockdown even though their tenants had pulled up the shutters at the government’s behest.
Pub rent is based on the turnover a pub is expected to make, rather than its square footage. The pubs argued that no turnover should mean a rent cancellation. But most of the big pubcos were at best suspending rent, thereby forcing pubs to build up debt that they said they could ill afford.
This perceived injustice triggered one of the most effective PR campaigns mounted during lockdown.
Lobby groups including the British Pub Confederation (BPC) and the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) joined with grassroots publicans to make their powerful case on social and traditional media.
Cheltenham publican Ed Anderson launched the hashtag #nopubnorent which swiftly gained organic momentum on social media and in turn was picked up by news sites including the Mail Online’s This is Money. A letter appeared in The Times referring to the hashtag which warned that unfair rents could kill off pubs.
The BPC went on the offensive, producing a basic but effective infographic dividing Pubcos into a Hall of Shame or Hall of Fame depending on whether they had waived rent.
The move neatly divided its opponent’s ranks by showering praise on the rent-cancelling likes of Admiral Taverns, Fuller’s, Shepherd Neame and Adnams. (Adnams even managed to capitalise by securing a positive profile interview with its CEO Dr Andy Wood in The Telegraph’s business pages).
The pubcos in the Hall of Shame largely kept their heads down and said nothing.
The BPC wrote an open letter to the chief executive of the Heineken-owned Star Pubs and Bars, accusing the chain of bullying tenants. The letter was picked up by national and regional media. They then teamed up with the Unite union to call for a rent cancellation.
Pubcos suddenly found themselves under scrutiny over their corporate set up. The Sun – perhaps nudged in the right direction by a campaigner – pointed out that Ei Group was based in the tax haven of the Cayman Islands. The pubco had been checking which of its pubs had received a bailout from the government. An editorial in the paper warned that the pandemic had exposed “some staggering greed” and branded demands for full pub rents as a “crazy act of self-harm”.
Regional news sites from the Oxford Mail to the Ilkley Gazette covered the pub rent story, illustrated with powerful case studies showing the financial pressure publicans from their region were under.
Urged on by campaigners – and no doubt sensing which way the wind was blowing – MPs joined the fray. Sixty signed a letter to the chief executive of Ei Group, demanding rent be waived, while more wrote to Chancellor Rishi Sunak asking for more support for pubs including on the rent issue.
Ei finally gave ground by agreeing to waive rent between April and June for about 350 of its near 3,500 tenants who were in receipt of no government grants.
But the campaigners continue to put the pressure on, with Ed Anderson launching a “Keys to MPs” stunt in which pubs, cafes and restaurants send a symbolic key to their MP in protest at rent charges.
The campaign has succeeded in amplifying grassroots pressure through the loudhailer of social and traditional, mean pubcos know their every move will be publicly scrutinised.
When lockdown is finally eased enough to enjoy that refreshing pint or zingy G&T with friends, you might want to raise a glass to PR.
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