BII mixes business with pleasure in Cornwall

l Entertainment for Westcountry licensees is provided by the Trigg Morris Dancers, flanked by Steve Skinner, left, managing director of Skinners Brewery, and Keith De Bruin, chairman of the British Institute of Innkeeping South West Region.

June 29, 2006: Sixty Westcountry licensees attended the visitor centre at Skinners Brewery, in Truro, for the main Cornish event of the year hosted by the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) South West Region.

The five-hour session, including lunch, combined business and pleasure, with entertainment from the Bodmin-based Trigg Morris Dancers, a tour of the brewery and sampling of its award-winning ales.

A highlight of the business programme was an address by Ali Carter, of the Bay View Inn, Bude, the BII’s new regional secretary and 2003 national Licensee of the Year.

She offered delegates “ten tips to transform your turnover” and advised on the importance of training for both licensees and staff, adding: “Running a pub is the best fun you can have with your clothes on!”

Delegates were welcomed by regional BII chairman Keith De Bruin and were briefed and updated on a large number of industry issues, as well as being told of new fire regulations by a representative of Cornwall Fire Authority.

The event further cemented links between the BII and brewery managing director Steve Skinner, who was founding chairman of the BII in Jersey before he and his wife Sarah moved to Cornwall to set up their namesake brewery in 1997.