Due to the nature of the business, the vast majority of pubs are owned by a handful of major breweries, such as Bass (0121 420 6000), Whitbread (01582 424200) and Carlsberg-Tetley (01604 668866). Although they offer management and graduate trainee programmes, they do not offer tenant landlord roles. In fact, the only guaranteed way that you can actually own your own pub is to have enough money to buy one from a brewery, which is not cheap.

The tenant landlord, however, is not extinct. There are an increasing number of small pub companies who offer tenancy deals or franchise agreements. Pubmaster (01429 266699) is one such company and they specialise in offering tenancy contracts to anybody with the right experience and/or desire to work in the industry.

If you’re interested in the idea of becoming a pub/bar manager, then there are plenty of options (and pubs/bars) open to you. Most employers in the pub industry will give you the option of stating a preferred location for where you would like to work.

Flexibility is key – both in the application process and the job itself. You progress at your own rate, so if you excel then you will usually get a choice of pubs to manage within a few months. In any case, you’ll probably know if you’re suited to it or not, before the brewery do!

Staff turnover is high in the industry, so be prepared to adapt to new personalities on a regular basis. Management training should enable you to exercise this skill, as well as helping you deal with the occasionally fraught kitchen bar relationship!

— Daniel Crimes 23.05.00