In the 'happy' pubs, the words credit and crunch are barred

Most who ply their trade in the pubs and clubs sector will usually be found at this time of year drowning their sorrows in the post-Christmas gloom – and never more so than January 2009. But not Rupert Clevely (pictured below), founder of the Geronimo pubs chain.

"We've banned use of the words credit and crunch among staff," says Clevely, who spent 20 years at the French champagne house Veuve Clicquot, latterly as managing director of its UK arm. "My office is now known as the 'happy house'. Staff can only come in if they have something positive to say. I'm fed up with all the doom and gloom."

It's easy for him to say. After what he describes as a decent October, with like-for-like sales up 6 per cent, and a tough November when sales were flat, Geronimo posted a 16 per cent surge in earnings at its London pubs during December and a 9 per cent jump in its pubs outside the capital. Only sales in its airport operation have under- whelmed, staying flat.

"I think we are really benefiting from people trading down from expensive restaurants to our pubs," says Clevely, echoing a trend that has benefited others, including the likes of Clapham House and its Gourmet Burger Kitchen offering. "Things are a lot more relaxed, and at the end of the meal the bill is two-thirds of what you could expect from a restaurant."

His Geronimo chain is backed by Penta Capital, the Scottish private equity house. He runs it with his wife Jo, although the pair drive to the company's head office in Wandsworth, south London, in separate cars – a measure taken to ensure the pair have their own "thinking time".

"You don't want to be spending 24 hours with each other," says Clevely, who left school at 16 without a qualification to his name. "That would be a mistake for any couple."

The successful husband- and-wife team operate 22 gastro-style pubs in the south of England and also recently opened units in St Pancras and Heathrow airport's Terminal Five.

"Now is a very good time to grow one's business and get more people in," Clevely explains. "It's been very difficult to get talent in the last few years but we are seeing some excellent people become available."

But he is aware of the dangers of expanding too quickly. During the 2001 dot-com downturn, little more than three years after Geronimo got started, the company nearly went bust after funding lines from a bank fell through.

"Looking back, the best thing about that time was that it transformed the way I looked at the business," says Clevely.

"We became much more focused in the light of those problems."

Geronimo is believed to have attracted offers in recent years but Clevely claims he is very happy with the progress being made under the current corporate structure.

"We are performing very well at the moment but I'd be a fool not to be apprehensive about the next few months," he says.

"It's traditionally the industry's most difficult time of the year."