Ted Tuppen – This is your life

"What's a good pub depends on the very subjective view of the people who go in it," he says. "[But] I'd say a good pub is one with the actual and future potential to make a profit for the licensee running it." Good brews, good profits. Simple, but it works.

In November 2005, Ted Tuppen revealed that licensee profitability had grown by 5% over the year to an industry-leading average of £42,000.

As well as steering the development of Britain’s second biggest pub company, Ted Tuppen served as chairman of the pub and leisure group at the British Beer and Pubs Association during 2004 and 2005.

Share Holding – Graham (Ted) Tuppen 11 feb 2008 2610533 (0.52%) 7 Jan 2005 847,017 (0.29%)

In addition the third CMA Distinguished Alumnus Award was also presented. This year’s recipient was Graham (Ted) Tuppen (MBA 1981), Chief Executive of Enterprise Inns. Under his direction the company has become the largest pub group in the UK with 9,000 pubs, and became the first pub group to list on the London Stock

Exchange.

Ted Tuppen: Large measures all round as country's biggest publican toasts the FTSE 100

"Getting in to the FTSE 100 became a reality only gradually," says Mr Tuppen. "We've been helped by a fundamental restructuring of the industry with brewers originally being forced to sell 11,000 pubs by the Government in the early 1990s.

"That led to a re-evaluation by brewers as to whether they should be in pubs at all. Most of them concluded they shouldn't. We've been helped by assets becoming available, and assets of ever increasing quality. It could be argued we've bought at good prices as well."

"The British pub is the best unbranded franchise in the world," says Mr Tuppen. "Everybody knows what it is. We own more than 9,000 pubs, every one with a different character. What makes them attractive is that they reflect the demands of the local customers rather than some centralised idea of what makes a good pub."

"The average turnover of our pubs is £5,000 a week and the average licensee profit is £40,000 a year," says Mr Tuppen.

He claimed proposals to ban smoking in pubs which serve food were "ludicrous and unworkable", saying the same rules should apply to all pubs, whether or not they serve food, to protect staff from passive smoking.

Mr Tuppen said: "The legislation as currently proposed will undoubtedly change and potentially damage the traditional British pub, often in rural or community surroundings, which survives by providing an all round service to its customers."

The shares rose 24½ to 888½p.

“The coming year will be difficult for some pubs and we remain cautious about the next six to nine months,” said Tuppen, who noted that 96 Enterprise pubs had been identified for sale as alternative use.

“However, we are confident of a positive outcome as the smoking ban becomes an accepted part of pub-going and licensees and customers alike enjoy the benefits of the more pleasant, healthier, smoke free regime.”

Tuppen meanwhile said Enterprise’s discussions with the tax authorities concerning the possibility of becoming a real estate investment trust were “ongoing”.

Ted Tuppen, chief executive of Enterprise Inns, predicted that total closures could be as high as 6,000. But he added this was the sort of rationalisation the industry was likely to see in any case over the next few years as other factors contributed to a reconfiguration of the trade.

The Enterprise Inns boss Ted Tuppen yesterday told a shareholder meeting that the pub landlord group may have to lend more of a helping hand to struggling tenants, as the pub industry faces what analysts have described as the most challenging trading environment in working memory.

"In a marketplace that is likely to remain difficult for some time, it is especially important that we work closely with our licensees to ... support those who are genuinely struggling, despite their best efforts, to deal with adverse market conditions," he said.

Enterprise said it would continue to offer rent concessions, discount schemes and trading support "where appropriate" to those of its tenants facing hard times. Tenants are individuals who take a lease from Enterprise and take beer supplied by the company.

Enterprise hopes to be able to refinance some of its business later this year and is expected to use money raised to buy back shares and to acquire more high-quality pubs from free house operators fearful of the effects on trade of the smoking ban.