City Pub Group boosts bonuses fourfold to entice millennials to work in bars

The City Pub Group on Tuesday said it is quadrupling staff bonuses to entice millennials to work behind the bar.

The pubs operator typically paid out £750 annually to each non-management employee as part of a profit-share system. That will be increased to as much as £3000 spread out in weekly payments, and is linked to meeting sales targets.

Chairman Clive Watson said there has been industry-wide recruitment struggles: “Some of that has been Brexit-related, and some is millennials not wanting to work unsociable hours.” He hopes the move will help attract and retain staff.

The firm recorded a pretax profit of £2.6 million, compared to a loss of £260,018 in 2017. Sales jumped 22% to £45.7 million and comparable sales rose 1.6%.

The landlord of 44 sites is on track to increase the estate size to around 65-70 by mid-2021.

Watson said: “Our performance has been driven by both organic growth and the new pubs coming on stream. Considering the continued strong performance we are delighted to increase our dividend, by 22% for shareholders.”