David Bruce
An interview with David Bruce OBE, founder of the Firkin pubs and Bruce’s Breweries, and author of ‘The Firkin Saga: Brewing up entrepreneurial adventures and pioneering tales with the Prince of Ales’
David, you managed to turn a failed pub into a thriving chain that you went on to sell for millions! What do you attribute your success to?
After becoming unemployed and hating having a boss, I stumbled upon the opportunity to start my own business. Following that initial flash of inspiration, I became absolutely determined to bring my dreams to fruition, regardless of all the obstacles I had to overcome along the way as a pioneer and a disrupter of the brewing industry. Somehow, I never doubted that I would eventually succeed, so I was passionately confident and doggedly determined to do so.
How did you manage to grow a business in a declining sector?
When I opened my first Firkin pub in 1979, the UK pub scene was dominated by six Big Brewers who owned most of the pubs. Those pubs could only sell the bland, tasteless beers brewed by whichever Big Brewery happened to own them. There was very little customer choice available, except in a rare “free house” where the owner could buy and sell any beers they wanted.
I was lucky that the Big Brewers were selling some of their leasehold and freehold failed pubs just at the time I was looking to start and develop my Firkin pubs. By installing my own brewery in each previously closed-down and boarded-up pub I bought, I was able to offer customers not only a choice of my own unique beers but also those of other new, small, independent brewers. Offering customers a choice beat the Big Brewers at their own monopolistic game!
With pubs closing across the country, the once English social tradition is slowly disappearing from the landscape… Why do you think this has happened?
Pubs are now closing down at an alarmingly consistent rate of one per day, which is a heartbreak. Various factors have led to this:
- The introduction of the breathalyser
- The introduction of the smoking ban
- The government’s lockdowns on the hospitality industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic have changed people’s drinking habits forever, and they do not go to pubs as often as in those pre-Covid days.
- Continuing to work from home since Covid-19 means people are not leaving their offices to go out for pub lunches and/or having a drink after work before going home.
- Supermarkets have benefitted from people WFH, especially with offering cheaper prices than pubs and also making home deliveries.
We’ve seen many industries and brands decline for not moving with social and technological trends. How should a business owner keep ahead and thrive?
Keep reviewing one’s position against competitors in any highly competitive market. Try to stay ahead of the game by focusing on being a provocateur and disrupter of the establishment, whatever product or service one is providing.
Growing a business in such difficult market conditions makes your achievement all that more impressive. What top tips would you give to a business expanding?
Once one has proved that one’s business idea can work, then start to work out how best to develop it and how to actually pay for the cost of its development. Constantly review one’s progress and identify what one’s competitors may be doing, and always try to stay ahead of the game in the marketplace.
Secure sufficient development capital, either from equity or debt, and control the cash 24/7. Don’t be tempted to expand too fast.
Follow your instincts and ignore the advice of self-acclaimed experts, the prophets of doom and the naysayers!
Develop your own corporate culture and build a trusted support network, preferably people that have specific skills: finance, HR, marketing, operations, etc.
Be brave, ambitious and determined to overcome all obstacles, as they will inevitably keep being thrown at you.
Seize opportunities as they arise and be prepared to diversify if necessary.
Delegate as soon and as often as possible.
You have authored ‘The Firkin Saga: Brewing up entrepreneurial adventures and pioneering tales with the Prince of Ales.’ Why did you decide to write this book now?
Ever since selling Bruce’s Brewery and the Firkin Pubs, I have been wanting to find the time to write specifically about starting, developing and selling the Firkin Pubs between 1979 and 1988. Having created my own charity following their sale, I focused on developing that for a couple of years but then missed the buzz of my entrepreneurial business life. So, I started all over again, all over the world, and soon became too busy again to even think about writing my business memoir.
Only after selling my last pub company (The City Pub Group PLC to Young’s for £162m.) have I had time, in my 78th year, to recount my adventures, both good and bad (!), and also my only corporate role now is as the Founding Chairman of my chain of farm shops (www.cobbsfarmshops.co.uk).
The main reason for writing my book is that I want to try to inspire aspiring entrepreneurs to take the plunge and follow their dreams. If I can do it, then anyone can – if they really want to! Just as long as they are passionate about what they want to achieve and pursue all their objectives with dogged determination.
How did you find the process of writing about your experiences?
I have always enjoyed writing, even from an early age, and it was always my favourite subject at school, unlike maths and any science subjects!
Also, I am a great hoarder, much to my wife’s chagrin, and have kept box loads of archives and old diaries ever since 1966, when I first learnt to brew. Using those extensive archives as points of reference, I started to write around that framework and then found that all the anecdotes, flashes of humour and even the horror stories all started to fall into place.
Having never written a book before, I found the whole process both therapeutic and cathartic. However, I was amazed when, recounting many years later, some of the bad times I had experienced caused me much disturbed sleep in the early hours as I relived them and then included them in the book to share with everyone.
Tell us more about ‘The Bruce Trust’ and ‘The Bruce Foundation’ and your work with the disabled, disadvantaged, or elderly…
Having sold Bruce’s Brewery and the Firkin Pubs, I soon became bored, so I decided to apply all the lessons I had learnt in business to benefit a more philanthropic venture. Trying to start my own charity proved to be nearly as hard as starting my own business. However, after over a year of wrangling with the Charity Commission, I was able to invest £80,000 of the Firkin sale proceeds in my own charitable trust. This was invested in a specially designed, purpose-built, wide-beam canal boat to enable disabled, disadvantaged or elderly people to enjoy holidays cruising on the Kennet & Avon Canal.
Several years later, I created The Bruce Foundation in order to design, develop and operate a motorhome, specifically to enable wheelchair users to enjoy camping holidays by road rather than on the water.
How important is it for a business to have a social ethos?
I think it is absolutely integral to the success of any business that it should have a strong social ethos and continually focus on developing its own unique corporate culture.
As I only started my own business “to get off the dole” and “never again have a boss”, I never had the ruthless desire of many entrepreneurs to make loads of money for myself – perhaps that is why some of my ventures failed, or could that be the reason so many of them succeeded?!
Developing teams of kindred spirits and enjoying working with them as we all pursued our corporate objectives was a key factor in my success, far more than the ruthless pursuit of profit to the possible detriment of all else.
Proof of working closely with my teams is the fact that my boards and the senior management enjoyed owning share options so they could personally enjoy the success of their financial achievement. Also, most of my employees were eligible for some form of regular, performance-based bonus scheme over and above their salaries.
What made you decide to go from an executive in the brewery industry to starting out on your own?
My epiphany moment was when I was refused my request to own equity in a family-owned brewery, so, as the Head Brewer, I told the Chairman to get stuffed and that I would go off to start my own brewery, which I duly did, several times over! If that chairman had not believed so strongly in nepotism, then he might have let me own shares in his brewery, in which case I may never have wanted to leave his employment and become an entrepreneur. Serendipity, eh?!
What were some of the early pitfalls that you encountered, and what advice would you give to a new business starting up in the services industry?
There were innumerable pitfalls from the very moment I decided to open the first brewery in London for over a century. Most people thought it was a mad and/or bad idea. A top brewing and leisure analyst in the City of London scrawled across my business plan: “This project has absolutely no chance of succeeding; I suggest you abandon it immediately.”
The Midland Bank (advertised as the “Listening Bank”) did not listen, and its bank manager said, “If it’s that good an idea, why hasn’t somebody else thought of it?!”
As a pioneer of craft brewing and a disrupter of the long-established brewing industry, everywhere I turned I seemed to only attract the prophets of doom, the naysayers and the bureaucratic jobsworths employed by the Civil Service and local authorities.
Also, being on the dole and with absolutely no private financial means, everything had to be paid for by debt; even the £100 to register my new company had to be borrowed from my wife’s boss.
The bank loan for £10,000, which I finally managed to obtain, was secured against our house, so if the business failed, we would lose our home as well as have a bankrupt business on our hands….
The advice I would give most strongly is: Know exactly what you are doing before starting your own business, whatever it is, i.e., when I started my brewery in a pub, I had at least trained as a brewer before also gaining extensive experience operating pubs.
Raise equity capital from the start, but don’t sell it too cheaply to angel investors, as they can be greedy, and always remember that you only sell potentially valuable equity once! It’s better nowadays to have a smaller share of a bigger enterprise, unlike me, who owned 100% of the equity but could have gone bust at any time servicing my debt – The bank rate in 1979 was 16%, and I was paying 3% over base, i.e., 19%, when I was 200% geared!
Control the cash 24/7 – just because you may be busy with good sales doesn’t mean you are making any money!
How did you stay motivated during difficult times?
Patience, perseverance and passion are my key factors to survive the hard times, of which there were all too many coming at me from every side.
Total and unwavering commitment to succeed, prove one’s many doubters wrong and pursue one’s ambitions with dogged determination through thick and thin times.
I was also very lucky to have a long-suffering wife who believed in me (rightly or wrongly!) and what I was trying to achieve and has loyally supported me and my various entrepreneurial escapades for over 52 years!
How do you keep a work-life balance?
When one first starts a new business, it demands such devotion and hard work all the hours God gave that there is a danger one can become a complete workaholic in the early days.Friends, family and social life are sacrificed in the ruthless pursuit of creating success and a viable business for the future.
However, that level of activity can soon prove to be counterproductive, leading to exhaustion, being unable to see the wood for the trees and the risk of making the wrong decisions at a really critical time – beware of burnout!
Always make time for fresh air and exercise, eat sensibly and regularly, try to sleep at least six hours a night, don’t neglect family and friends for too long and somehow manage to escape for long weekends and holidays once one has recruited and developed one’s own team, i.e., delegate asap!
Which entrepreneurs in the services industry do you most admire, and why?
Only my old pal, Sir Tim Martin, who founded J.D. Wetherspoon pubs around the same time as I started my Firkin pubs. Tim started with one pub in North London, and I started with one pub in South London.
The big difference now is that he owns c.1,000 really busy pubs, and I’ve sold all of mine so don’t have any, which I don’t regret at all – been there, done that, got the T-shirt!
One of your main mantras is to have ‘fun’ when running a business. Why is this so important?
I’ve found that the key was maintaining quality while having fun. Food, drink, music, ambience – everything had to be genuinely good. We looked after our staff and rewarded loyalty, and I personally visited every pub regularly, day, night and weekend, to ensure the culture was right.
For example, with the Firkin pubs – each pub had its own character but shared the same sense of infectious fun. The Fox & Firkin, with its “For Fox sake, buy me a Firkin pint!” slogan, and the Pheasant & Firkin, where customers had to announce they were “a Firkin pheasant plucker” to get their free pint.
The puns got progressively worse, but people loved them. We put the slogans on T-shirts and car stickers, and punters started buying them and spreading the Firkin brand around the world ─ from Santiago to Svalbard. Almost by accident, we’d ended up creating one of the first pub fan clubs – the Firkin Club – complete with membership cards and newsletters, all well before computers, emails, etc.
How do you feel the pubs will evolve over the next decade?
I do fear for pubs in the future. The city and town centre pubs will survive, especially as more people are being forced back to work in their offices, following a long period of WFH caused by Covid 19th. Rural and village pubs continue to close daily due to people not wanting to go out so much since the Covid-19 lockdown changed all their eating and drinking habits.
“Going for a drink” in a pub just does not happen any more, and only the pubs that provide good, well-priced food will attract customers who, in any case, tend not to drink much alcohol in view of the breathalyser.
What are the main challenges for running a social enterprise and foundation?
Getting started and registered with the Charity Commission is the first hurdle.Then fundraising, PR, attracting and keeping volunteers to help develop the social enterprise. A lot of charities rely on volunteers, and there just aren’t enough to go round.It is the older generation that tends to volunteer, and they are now helping out with their grandchildren.
How did you find the fundraising process?
Fundraising for my first business was horrendous! Most people, especially “the experts”, all said it would fail, so no-one wanted to invest equity capital into it, meaning I had to borrow all the money to start and develop it. The only good thing was that I had managed to hang on to 90% of the equity when I sold up, so I had more than enough cash to pay back all my debts and a huge amount of tax (£1.3m in 1988!) and still keep a few bob for myself. Cash is always king, but so is equity, so hang on to it if you can!
What is your next business venture?
I have reluctantly agreed with my wife that, at 77, I will not start any more new businesses! However, that leaves me free to invest in other people’s start-ups! However, I still enjoy chairing the chain of farm shops I started 18 years ago (current sales £10m p.a.), and I have investments across the drinks industry, including BrewDog and Hattingley Valley English Sparkling Wine. My latest investment is in Hawkridge Distillers (www.hawkridgedistillers.com) where we started off distilling gin and vodka, etc., but are now producing an English whisky to rival the Scotch whisky industry, so I’m still having a lot of fun as a disrupter and provocateur!
20. Lastly, if you could give your top three tips to anyone contemplating a new business venture, what would they be?
Tip one: The best opportunities often look like disasters to everyone else. If something looks obvious, someone else has probably already done it.
Tip two: You don’t need to spend a fortune on design and brand consultants. Authenticity beats strategy every time. Our “professional standard of amateurism”, as one brewing industry director called it, was worth more than any slick corporate identity.
Tip three: Entrepreneurs who hate numbers need to find people who love them. Your passion for the product won’t save you if you can’t read a P&L account and a balance sheet. Hire people who are better than you at the things you’re rubbish at and listen to them.
ABOUT DAVID BRUCE
David Bruce has enjoyed an extraordinary career as both an international entrepreneur and a philanthropist. After his early days in the world of beer at Courage and Theakston breweries, David struck out on his own, founding the eponymous Bruce’s Brewery and the first of its Firkin pubs in 1979. Following their sale in 1988, David not only co-founded and invested in several craft breweries across the globe but also eleven new pub companies in the UK, as well as developing the Slug & Lettuce chain of bars. He also created The Bruce Trust and The Bruce Foundation to provide canal and motorhome holidays, respectively, for the disabled, disadvantaged, or elderly.David was awarded an OBE in 2021 for his services to charity. His memoir, ‘The Firkin Saga: Brewing up entrepreneurial adventures and pioneering tales with the Prince of Ales’, is available from Amazon and all good bookshops. www.david-bruce.com