From Healthcare to Running a Community Pub: How Your Skills Could Transfer

One of the biggest mistakes people make when changing careers is assuming they have to start from scratch. And while healthcare might not be an industry you naturally associate with the pub trade, there’s a surprising number of transferable skills that could prove useful if you’re thinking about a move into hospitality. 

Running your first pub is, of course, very different from working in a healthcare or social care role, but qualities such as communicating clearly, staying calm under pressure and building trust with others will almost certainly become beneficial. The key is to fully understand how these skills will translate into running a business and whether the pub trade is the right choice for your next career. 

Why can Healthcare Experience Translate Well into Running a Community Pub?

Believe it or not, there’s actually plenty of overlap between working in healthcare and community pub life. At the end of the day, both are built around people. And just like speaking with patients, residents or families, the ability to listen carefully, communicate clearly and treat people with respect all quickly become part of a regular working day. 

Obviously, a pub is probably the exact opposite of a clinical environment, but making people feel welcome and remembering familiar faces matter just as much here as they do anywhere else. It’s all part of what makes a local community pub successful. Over time, many publicans become a recognisable part of the local area, building relationships with regular customers in much the same way healthcare professionals build trust through consistency and reliability.

That’s one of the reasons Admiral Taverns places such a strong focus on community pubs. It’s not just about serving food and drink. It’s about creating a place where local people choose to meet, socialise and feel at home, with the operator playing an important role in bringing that community together.

What Skills From Healthcare Are Useful in a Pub Setting?

Some skills are acquired through doing rather than learned by teaching, and some people are just naturally better at some than others. You may have built up many skills during your time as a care worker without even realising it, all of which can be successfully transferred into running a pub:

• People skills and empathy
• Staying calm under pressure
• Teamwork and handovers
• Clear communication
• Dealing with difficult situations professionally
• Organisation and routines
• Understanding safeguarding and responsibility in a broad, non-clinical sense
• Reliability and consistency

That’s not to say that every ex NHS employee is instantly going to be suited to running their own business, but it does start to paint a picture of the type of skills needed in order to make a pub successful. Most people coming from a background in health related roles understand the importance of building relationships and the value of consistency and trust. Local pubs are no different, and customers, especially the regulars, expect the same. 

How Is Running a Pub Different from Working in Healthcare?

While there are many similarities in the skills and qualities needed, it’s also worth exploring what it’s actually like to run a pub day to day. You see, running a community pub isn’t just about looking after customers and serving a few pints; it’s about running a business, and with that comes a completely different set of responsibilities to what you would have been used to in your previous role.

In order to keep the business ticking over, you need to be able to make a profit, and getting people through the door is just the start. Stock control, pricing, accounting, staffing, events and local trade are just some of the things that need your constant attention from the get-go, and it can be a lot to deal with initially.

You’ll also need to be compliant, and licensing is very different from healthcare regulation in the UK, and it’s your responsibility. You’ll not be expected to know everything right off the bat, but there is a learning curve.

Let’s not forget, when people visit a doctor or other healthcare provider, it’s usually because they need to and have little other choice. With a pub, it’s a very different emotional dynamic. Customers have a choice on where they visit, and whether they return consistently will come down to what you can offer. Being friendly and approachable is still important, but you’ll also need to be making commercial decisions that keep the business profitable.

What Kind of Admiral Pub Opportunity Could Suit Someone from a Healthcare background?

Just as no two healthcare roles are exactly the same, no two pubs are either, so it’s only natural that different opportunities will suit different personalities. Some may prefer the independence that comes with a pub tenancy, while others may feel more comfortable starting out through Admiral Taverns’ Operator Managed model. Neither approach is necessarily better than the other; what it really comes down to is your own experience, confidence and the type of business you want to run.

At Admiral Taverns, community pubs remain at the heart of what we do, but every opportunity is different. The recruitment team will help you understand the options available, answer any questions you have and help you decide which opportunity best matches your experience, goals and preferred way of working.

Admiral offers full support, training and guidance to all its new licensees and operators, including developing skills in hospitality, marketing and management. Our approach is designed to provide the help you need, when you need it; otherwise you’ll be left to run the pub the way you choose. 

How Can Healthcare Workers Take the First Step?

If running a pub is something you’re seriously considering, the first step is to start looking at the different opportunities available. Take some time to browse the current pubs to let, think about the type of business you’d like to run and whether it matches what you’re looking for from a career change.

We don’t expect you to have it all figured out, and that’s why taking some time to speak to the recruitment team is the perfect opportunity to ask questions and learn more about what running a pub with Admiral Taverns is really about.