MEET the man determined to improve the fortunes of many of Dorset’s embattled publicans.

Matt Kearsey, the new director of pubs at Hall and Woodhouse, has high hopes for a new agreement for tenants of the Blandford brewery amid reports that more than 35 pubs a week are closing nationally.

Just 10 months after joining the family-owned business after roles at Greene King and Scottish and Newcastle, Mr Kearsey has announced a new “business partner agreement” in a bid to increase his publicans’ profits and, ultimately, the brewery’s.

“We have seen five to 10 years of change in the last 18 months – the smoking ban, super-market prices and, of course, the recession. They’ve all had a big impact. There’s no doubt it’s been challenging. We want to get ahead of that by reflecting the changing environment in our new agreement.”

A report published last year by the Institute of Public Policy Research reported pubs were closing at the rate of 36 a week. Nearly 2,000 inns went to the wall in 2008 and more than 1,400 closed the year before.

The national trend is mirrored in Dorset: The Three Choughs, Blandford and the Green Ridge, Upton were among the Hall & Woodhouse pubs to call time in the last two years.

“I’ve been here just less than a year and I’ve spent that time talking to people. We commis-sioned a survey and had a very detailed response. Publicans told us they weren’t making the returns they wanted, and they wanted support to change that.

“When you boil it down, it’s about making the business more profitable to them.”

Hall & Woodhouse recently announced plans which could see work start this autumn on a new £5 million brewery at Blandford St Mary, where it employs nearly 200 people. The brewery will continue to “tie” tenants to the purchasing of its beer – a form of contract under investigation for a second time by the Office of Fair Trading.

But Mr Kearsey says changes in its new business partner agreement had improved the beer supply deal for tenants, and said the tied relationship was crucial to the brewery’s future.

“They’ll find it more competitive than it was. We’ve held our beer prices for two years in a row when a lot of independent breweries put theirs up. We’re now dropping prices, and our business partners will feel the benefit.

“The tied relationship is important to us. It’s one of the reasons that’s allowed us to invest £5 million in a new brewery. We see the beers as the glue which holds the business together.”

Mr Kearsey is convinced running a pub remains a profitable enterprise for both brewery and tenant.

“It’s a low-cost way to run your own business, and for people who get it right, it’s rewarding financially and in terms of lifestyle.”