Enterprise On My Back

You may recall that last year I went undercover at an Enterprise Inn recruitment indoctrination event. Since then I've been getting regular emails attempting to cajole me into taking on one of their poxy pubs and thereby work 100 hours a week for £10,000 p.a. and then get booted out after two years with a debt of £50,000.


They have a new tack – taking on an Enterprise pub as a way to indulge a passion for cask ale.

"And with Cask Ales enjoying a real renaissance, we can offer you the chance to combine your passion for keeping and serving the very best beers, supporting you every step of the way in your new venture."

At the recruitment meeting last October I asked the nice lady from Solihull about cask ale. She told me that Enterprise could supply "pretty much anything you want to sell." Further probing revealed that the cask portfolio listed 80 beers. 


To get that in perspective, remember that the UK now has over 600 breweries and during the course of year each will brew a dozen or so different beers. Therefore there are approximately 7,200 different cask ales available every year. Enterprise's offering constitutes about 1.1% of the available beers. 


It's not going to work is it? Certainly, a good and varying range of cask ales is a sure-fire way to create a popular pub – but you're hardly going to be able to achieve it with Enterprise's paltry portfolio of national brands.


I shall be continuing to resist Enterprise's kind offer of a pub.