David Glass, president of the Dundee Licensed Trade Association, tells Karen Peattie why being part of a strong trade group has never been more important
BUSINESS is challenging for all licensed trade operators but for David Glass, proprietor of the long-established Doc Ferry’s in Broughty Ferry, there’s no point moaning about it. “You just have to get on with it and do your best,” he says. “We all have issues but if you remember you’re not the only one it’s easier to deal with.”
Wise words indeed from the president of the Dundee Licensed Trade Association who is regularly called upon to make informed comment to The Courier or Evening Telegraph on local licensed trade issues.
“One of the benefits of being involved with your local licensed trade association is that you get to meet up with other publicans who are facing the same problems as you,” he points out. “You’d be crazy not to be part of it because you can help each other and share good practice.”
Glass first got involved with the SLTA about seven years ago and has been president of Dundee Licensed Trade Association for three-and-a-half years. “It’s a great way to keep up to date with what’s happening in the trade because you get regular communications via email and social media,” he continues.
“When you’re busy it’s easy to say ‘I must read up on this legislation’ – but when you’re a member of a trade association you get the information you need when you need it. That’s really useful for a small business.
“I also think what the SLTA is doing to help the trade in important areas like training is fantastic because it’s saving us money.”
An upbeat Glass is encouraged by a “fairly buoyant” local market just now. “We have about 14 pubs in Broughty Ferry and we all feed off each other,” he explains.
“Everyone does their own thing and has something different to offer – there’s a couple of premises that open until 2am for people wanting a late drink, there’s a Wetherspoon which is also a hotel and we’ve found a wee niche for ourselves too.
“There’s plenty of business to share around which is good for the licensed trade and good for Broughty Ferry.”
While Glass isn’t looking at the world through rose-tinted spectacles by any stretch of the imagination – he believes that the availability of cheap booze in supermarkets remains a serious problem, for example – he says the fact there is enough variety to keep people in Broughty Ferry can only be a good thing.
“People were saying Wetherpoon’s arrival would be the death of Broughty Ferry but that is not the case,” he points out. “On the contrary, many of us have become busier. It also made operators smarten up their premises – ahead of them opening you could smell the paint so in a strange way it’s had a really positive impact.”
All the same, he points to the “well-worn path” of supermarkets selling cheap alcohol which affects pubs and people in different ways. “It’s becomes a social problem,” Glass suggests. “It is one thing buying cheap booze to drink at home but some people get into the habit of doing that too often – and then it becomes a lonely and dangerous thing.”
Glass points to Doc Ferry’s in Union Street as a prime example of a pub adopting a wider community role. The premises open at 10am for coffee and provide a meeting place for local people, many of them older members of the community. “Some mornings you can’t get a seat – they’ve all been taken by 10.15am,” he says.
“We’re a good, old-fashioned local – we’re not trying to be something we’re not,” Glass continues. “If one of our regulars doesn’t come in when they usually do we’re on the phone or knocking on their door to make sure they’re OK. That’s what being a publican in a place like Broughty Ferry is all about.”
Doc Ferry’s is very much a family business with David and his wife, Jillian, at the helm. Nephew Jamie McGregor, who worked for Mitchells & Butlers in Perth for five years, has recently joined the team which includes another full-time member of staff and 10 part-timers.
“We’re very strong on customer service – you’ve got to be in this business – and I think that’s one of the reasons people keep coming back,” says Glass. “We’re 1% up on this time last year and when you consider all the challenges the licensed trade has to face – from the reduction in the drink-driving limit to competition from the supermarkets and all the other red tape we have to contend – we’re really pleased.”
Food – homemade soup, toasties, sandwiches and snacks – accounts for 12% of turnover. Would Glass like to develop this side of the business? “It’s not an option because of the size of the kitchen, or should I say glorified cupboard,” he laughs. “Jillian does a fantastic job out of such a small space and our customers love it.”
Dundee itself, he goes on, is a much more confident city than it was, pointing to the new V&A Museum that is scheduled to open in 2018 as “potentially being massive” for the area. “The licensed trade will get a kick-back from it and hopefully Dundee and the surrounding area will boom.”
Meanwhile, Dundee City Council is refurbishing the railway station to the tune of £38 million as part of its Waterside development. “There’s so much change in Dundee – it’s unbelievable,” says Glass. “There’s also still a positive effect from the Oor Wullie activity.”
For those who missed it, the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail saw 70 statues of DC Thomson’s cartoon rascal placed all over the city ahead of their auction to raise funds for The Archie Foundation to help establish a twin theatre suite for the Tayside Children’s Hospital.
David Glass started his career in the licensed trade as a part-time barman in Dundee city centre. “I was 19 and had been doing what my mum called a ‘proper job’ in insurance for a year,” he says. “But it wasn’t for me.
“My Tennent’s rep owned a pub so I went to run it on the proviso that if he decided to sell it I’d get first refusal. After six years that’s what happened. I’m 45 now and if I didn’t love this industry I certainly wouldn’t still be here.
“I think it’s also in my blood – my grandfather was a publican in Dundee in the 1970s and ran the old Volunteer Arms in Bell Street.
“The licensed trade is part of society’s social fabric and our communities wouldn’t be the vibrant places they are without our pubs.”