Think running a pub is just for men? Well think again!

Pub managers are employees retained by either a brewery, management company or another owner to run their business.

Often, part of their salary is the accommodation offered with the premises, usually on the site. Employers will retain either one or both members of a couple, or even a single, unattached person.

The taboo against women alone running pubs has long gone by the board, and opportunities are these days quite equal. Even the custom of employing at least one male bar person to deal with the cellar work is no longer necessary, since lifting and moving directives from Brussels mean some sort of mechanical handling devices are provided to help deal with the casks.

Running a pub involves a clear knowledge of the law as it pertains to licensed premises and the public consumption of alcohol.

It is also necessary to be up to date on all regulations applying to the preparation and serving of food and drink, even if the establishment only offers filled rolls or packet snacks.

Care of the beer and cleaning of the pipes are a very important part of a pub manager’s responsibility. Even if he or she doesn’t actually do the work, it is necessary to know and understand what has to be done, and of course be able to do it if the appropriate person is off sick or on holiday.

In fact the manager should be able to fulfil all the jobs carried out on the premises, even the cooking if the chef is absent.

In addition to all this, the manager has all the usual administrative responsibilities of cashing-up tills and keeping accounts, ordering stock, planning menus, ensuring and maintaining security, maintaining discipline, hiring and firing staff, checking rules and regulations are being kept, inspecting the cleaning, ordering maintenance and repair work, dealing with staff wages and generally supervising all activities.

And, of course, he or she must never forget their prime responsibility is as host to the customers, so being around to chat to customers is essential when the pub is open. Naturally, in the smaller pubs, the manager will be also be an important member of the bar staff.

Managers are generally trained by their employers before being given the responsibility of running a pub unsupervised.

Training depends on the size of the employing organisation and can take from a week or so, to several months.

In a really large organisation, trainee managers will spend time circulating around training pubs, of varying sizes and types of business, for a year or more before graduating to a pub of their own.

Naturally salaries reflect the degree of responsibility managers hold. Trainees receive commensurately less than fully-trained personnel, and managers of very large, busy establishments will receive rather more than those running a small, quieter establishment.

Training may involve in-house qualifications or certificates of competence, or be linked to nationally recognised qualifications. It is now possible to hold a personal licence which is available to people 18 years and over who have a licensing qualification, usually the British Institute of Innkeeping Awarding Body (BIIAB).

Vocationally recognised qualifications include: BIIAB Level 3 Diploma or Advanced Certification in Licensed Hospitality; Wine and Spirit Education Trust qualifications (Levels 1-3); NVQ in Hospitality Supervision at Level 2; NVQ in Food and Drink Service Level 2.

A successful pub manager will be fit and healthy, energetic, enthusiastic, hard working and interested in promoting the success of the establishment they are running.

Long hours have to be worked. Legislation allowing pubs to be open extended hours mean the manager will still be responsible for his establishment, although not necessarily be present in person for the duration of opening.

For further information, contact the British Institute of Innkeeping, Wessex House, Park Street, Camberley, GU15 3PT. Tel: 01276 684449.

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