If you're reading this, the chances are you've either entered the licensed trade or are considering doing so. If the latter is the case, you may well be harbouring niggling doubts that your lack of experience may prove a problem.
Should that be a barrier? Well, although having previous experience is always a help, it is not always a prerequisite if you have enough ideas and the right attitude, as the couple in this week's How I Got Started column clearly demonstrate.
People enter the licensed trade from all sorts of backgrounds, and many do not have any previous experience, opting to learn on the job, as chartered surveyor Fleurets found in a recent survey.
While Fleurets found that the majority (52%) of its clients buying a pub in the first six months of the year were already owners, more than a quarter (28%) were industry newcomers. Interestingly, a further 8% were chefs looking for their own business, reflecting the inexorable rise of the gastropub [see last week's Your Shout].
But why do people buy pubs in the first place? Fleurets found that nearly two-thirds (63%) of its clients were new to the trade when they bought their first pub. A fairly large percentage of those (18%) were attracted by the chance to be self-employed, or were simply looking for a change of direction (14%). Others (13%) were attracted by the fact that buying a pub offers a relatively easy way to start a family business. Another 13% were looking for a business investment; leaving the remaining 5% of respondents who bought a pub because "it sounded like fun".
Meanwhile, the main reasons given for leaving the business were insufficient money (29%); retirement (20%); or buying a bigger or better business (14%). But just to prove that the industry is not for everyone, 13% left because they didn't like the trade.
www.fleurets.com