The Only Way Is Essex

When Darran Lingley held aloft his Licensee of the Year Award to thunderous applause at the BII Annual Lunch in May, he and wife Caroline were experiencing a dizzying range of emotions, enormous pride at winning the trade’s supreme accolade, intense satisfaction after losing out in the two previous finals. But also, sheer relief at making the correct call on a fateful decision just 12 months earlier. For amazingly, the country’s newly crowned top licensee had then nearly walked away from the Five Bells, his Essex home for eight years, as the pressures of the business threatened to outweigh its pleasures.

That will surprise many, who see only a successful couple who’ve been recognized for years as top class licensees, always looking to innovate and drive the business to new heights. Yet the problems Darran and Caroline were facing last year were those of so many other licensees across the land – they were working far too hard, for too long hours.

And with two young children, family life was suffering. Just as worryingly, although turnover had been rising strongly over the years, converting it to profit was proving much harder altogether. At the end of the day, all their work was bringing in was a sub- minimum wage existence.

And after last year’s Licensee of the Year Award, trade had started to dip and Darran felt flat and sensed he’d stopped innovating. It was a very tough time for them, and caused much soul-searching.

While agonizing over the future, Darran received a cold-call that was to change their lives. It was from a local business coach, offering his services plus a business health check, initially for free. Intrigued, Darran agreed to watch a DVD from the coach, which arrived the next day. That night, he and Caroline sat in bed watching it, and according to Caroline, it was as though the coach had been looking deep into their souls.

All thoughts of throwing in the towel were instantly banished, and Darran and Caroline signed up a few days later. They have never looked back, and Darran is convinced it’s made all the difference in the world to his business. The Licensee of the Year Award judges clearly felt so too.

The key to the coaching has been to set in place a range of systems and management disciplines that allow Darran to measure how well the Five Bells is doing, on a day by day, month by month, year by year basis. It sets targets and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for him and his staff.

But if the past year has marked a step change for the Lingleys, the first few years after they took over the freehouse in 2002 were pretty dramatic too. When they bought the Five Bells (for £320,000). Standards of hygiene and décor left much to be desired, and the kitchen was geared only to basic grub.

Winning over the locals was a crucial first step. But Colne Engaine, the village their pub has been serving for over 500 years, has a population of 1,071 so success depended on the Five Bells winning a reputation as pub worth driving to.

He enlisted staff on regular leaflet drops in the surrounding villages, always looking for an opportunity to introduce himself to residents. He hired a PR assistant to create Five Bells publicity (paid by results). And his website and Facebook have also been key trade drivers. Mate and ex-Five Bells barman Matt Cardle winning X Factor last year was a massive publicity boost, but in truth the Five Bells had been a very successful destination pub long before that.

Basic facts:

• Turnover £700,000 (400 barrels, of which 7,000 are wine bottles).
• Wet-dry split 52-48; GPs 63% wet, 69% dry;
• Spends 31% of sales on wages for his 32 fulltime/ part-time staff, of which four are chefs.
• Overheads of £461 per day
• Pays £11,000 a year for Sky.

Has come up through the classic manager-tenant-freeholder route (managed a caravan park, Greene King tenant for two year). “It’s given me a great perspective on the trade.
I’ve always treated each place as my own, and had a vision of what each business should be.”

Firm believer in Investors in People, which he’s just got for the second time, it costs £1,100 but finds it invaluable as an outside check and great for devising staff training programmes. Has invested over £200,000 in the Five Bells in the past nine years.  “Everything we’ve made, we’ve put back into the pub,” says Darran. Highly untypical of licensees generally, noted the judges.

Uses top-of-the-range EPOS system and shares all information with staff to highlight who’s brought in the most sales, how many pints of real ale sold, how many fish and chip takeaways and other key business trends. Is considering issuing i-pads for staff ordering at table.

Always on the lookout for new products. Introduced a tequila flavoured beer, Desperado, a few years ago spotting it on a day-trip to Calais and gave it a go. Was soon selling eight cases a week and it’s still a best-seller, despite no UK promotion from the brewer. Latest
best-seller is a snacking salami bar, positioned temptingly on the bar

Deeply embedded in the local community: parish council chairman; school fund-raising and many other school activities; fetes, charity work, and Help for Heroes nights; local shoots and traction engine rallies; and fish and chip takeaways on Thursday and Friday evening (5-7pm).

Committed to extensive staff training. Darran makes great efforts to instill the right service culture; all are asked to commit to the "Five Bells Vision", which requires consistently excellent service and team work.

Interested in becoming the next BII Licensee of the Year? You can register interest here