Former Punch director Jackie Moody-McNamara returned to the sector at the end of last year when she was appointed the first ever pub portfolio director at NewRiver Retail. James Wallin met her to discuss the creation of a new pubco and how NewRiver is applying lessons learnt from its shopping centres portfolios into its pub estate.
Former Punch director Jackie Moody-McNamara, who joined UK REIT NewRiver Retail as its first ever pub portfolio director last year, has a unique insight into the sector that not many of her peers can claim.
She says: “When tenants talk to me about the uncertainty of being taken over, I can genuinely say that I know how they feel. I grew up in pubs and I remember the feeling of getting a new landlord and not knowing what was going to happen next. I know better than anyone that our tenants need certainty.”
The appointment of Moody-McNamara was a public sign from NewRiver, which has traditionally operated retail parks and shopping centres, that it was serious about being a big player in the pub sector. The group acquired a 202-strong portfolio of pubs from Marston’s in 2013 and added a further 158 pubs from Moody-McNamara’s former paymasters at Punch last year.
She adds: “I have been able to make a running start because I already knew a lot of these pubs. There are some I’m now handling for the third time, having had them as a BDM, a regional director and now with NewRiver.”
The company has received some scepticism from licensees, especially around its plans to add convenience stores on surplus land, and in a few cases replacing the existing pub. The appointment of such an experienced operator was a sign that it was in for the long haul. The company is now recruiting an estates manager and a conversions manager to handle the eventual integration of pubs from the original portfolio, which is still managed by Marston’s, into last year’s addition, overseen by LT Management under direction from NewRiver.
Moody-McNamara started her career with Allied Domecq before spending the next decade in a variety of roles at Punch, culminating in the position of programme director – helping with the restructure of the group which took it down from 16 regions to 10.
Having taken some time out to spend with her children, Moody-McNamara then forged a successful career in the care sector – most recently setting up a franchise business for Carewatch.
On her reasons for returning to the sector, she does not hesitate: “I really missed it.”
She adds: “I left Punch because I felt I was at the stage where if I didn’t spread my wings and learn something new, I’d never do it. I left as the smoking ban was coming in and when companies like Punch were still growing – so in hindsight it was the right time.”
It was Admiral Taverns chief executive Kevin Georgel – another familiar face from Punch - who alerted her to the role at new pubco on the block NewRiver.
She says: “Coming into NewRiver is different – it’s not like going back into Punch or Enterprise. I don’t think there will be many opportunities in this sector to set up a new pubco on the scale we are doing here.
“We’re doing things differently and I’m learning a lot from the shopping centres side of the business as well as bringing my experience in. What’s clear – and it’s backed up by the retail insight here – is that we need to be more consumer focussed. Too often I go out to pubs and the standard just isn’t where it needs to be – in terms of service, the range that’s on offer and if it’s relevant to the market.
“We have got a very small part of a huge market and that gives us the advan-tage that we are generally not competing with ourselves. It gives us the space to get our offer right.”
Moody-McNamara says the company is still evaluating exactly what that offer will be, but appreciated the need for flexibility in the modern market.
She says: “The advantage we have is that we can look at every site individually and say what agreement works best for this pub. We’re not handcuffed to doing it one way because that’s the way we’ve always done
it. We know we are competing for the best tenants and, a lot of the time, what makes a pub company attractive to a tenant is the ability to be creative in the sorts of agreements they can offer.
“We are working through a suite of what our agreements will be going forward. We are looking to be flexible, but it has to be commercial. It has to work for the company and be viable and it has to suit the site. We’ll work that up over the next quarter.”
She adds: “We want to get a robust structure in place, so that we are set up for further growth.”
Asked if the company would turn down opportunities before this structure is in place Moody-McNamara says: “If the right deal came along, we could make it work. “We’re always looking. We probably buy 5% to 10% of what we look at so we’re very active.”
The deal with Marston’s to manage the initial portfolio expires in December 2017 and discussions are already underway as to whether that will be extended. Sites are already being transferred across to the control of LT Management including the first site to have a convenience store added – the Old Sal in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs. LT has recruited an operations director to work exclusively on the NewRiver portfolio.
On the c-store conversion, she says: “The Old Sal will be our showroom, if you like. It looks great – you drive in and the c-store is on the left and the pub is on the right and the car park behind. It still has about 30 spaces and it’s right in the middle of a residential area so a lot of their trade will be walk to anyway.”
The company is also currently working out the investment programme across the two estates.
Moody-McNamara is clearly enjoying every minute of being back in the sector and helping to write the next chapter in
the ever evolving story of the Great
British Pubco.
