Christmas is hard work......

Christmas Menus

I never continue to be amazed by the number of Publicans that complain about lack of business and then when an opportunity like Christmas comes along do nothing to promote their Pub or Bar.

What do I mean by this?

Well today the owner of the offices in Cardigan (http://www.parchouse.co.uk/) Dave Leonard popped in and asked several of the tenants or guests as he likes to call us, whether we wanted to go for Christmas lunch at a local establishment, I guessed it would be one of the many Pubs and Bars in the area that serve food. But no, it was the Wildlife Centre in Cilgerran (http://www.welshwildlife.org/) and why had Dave decided on this? Quite simply because someone at the Wildlife centre had the initiative to drop a small rather non-descript menu leaflet through the doors of the offices here. They now have a booking for about a dozen people at about £20 per head, nice little bit of business.

How many publicans have done the same?

I know of a few but not enough, the 100's of members of Pubsulike already have the opportunity of displaying their Christmas Menus, which give them an immediate advantage over the competition. In the forthcoming Pubsulike 2009 the ability to choose from over 50 different menu styles all of which are guaranteed to be printer friendly and an emailing option which allows direct transmission to contacts will increase further the effectiveness of Pubsulike as an advertising medium.

I'm reminded of the BT advertising campaign that stated 'work smarter not harder', this is what publicans must now do, it is what the public expect and any less will not bring about the new business they desperately need. We have spent hundreds of hours this year integrating new ideas into the new Pubsulike 2009 system many of which have come from seeing how sites like myspace and facebook operate. Why? Because people have grasped the web and are now using sites like myspace on a daily basis to communicate and inform, Pubsulike is adapting to these new requirements and will ensure it offers all the tools needed to promote your Pub or Bar.

Credit Crunch Killing Rural Pubs

This new blog post is unfortunately not a happy one.

Having just listened to the Chancellor's statement in the House of Commons this afternoon and his announcement of a cut in VAT to 15% from the 1st December 2008 makes me wonder will this help in any small way the Pubs and Bars that are suffering so badly at the moment?

Unfortunately I think not.

Having travelled throughout the UK this year and visited 100's of Pubs I have been most upset to see the number of establishments that were either up for sale or closed up completely. One town in Cornwall had 1/3rd of it's Pubs closed since I had last visited 18 months ago.

The consensus of opinion amongst the landlords I have spoken to is to blame the supermarkets with their low cost drink. I have to say that I am in agreement some tied tenants I know cannot purchase drinks from their suppliers for what they could get them for in their local Tescos. A ridiculous state of affairs!

What can Publicans do?

Over the last 10 years Pubs have changed considerably and the emphasis on providing good food has become a major influence in the general public's decision to favour a particular establishment, but come on not every Pub in the land can become a Gastro Pub!

Other publicans have decided to provide more live entertainment but this comes at a price, assuming you were to employ a solo singer which typically would cost £120 - £140 for an evening. This entertainment would have to bring in an additional £250 - £300 just for the landlord to break even. A real life example would be; Did the pub sell an EXTRA 100 PINTS, the answer is probably no. If the entertainment were to be provided on a Friday or Saturday night, traditionally the busiest nights for most Pubs, then chances are the Pub would be busy with it's regular clientele and whilst the regulars may stay a little longer it is doubtful they would drink much more than they would normally. For the entertainment to attract people from further afield then the Publican would have to advertise. Even a small advert in a local regional newspaper will cost between £30 - £40 making the additional revenue needed rise to £310 - £390 so it get worse. Of course I am writing this from a rural perspective, I appreciate that in larger towns or cities where the cost of getting to and from the Pub or Bar is considerably reduced live entertainment can and does work profitably, but in rural areas where the cost of a taxi would probably have to be added to the evening's drinks bill an evening out at the Pub has now become for some prohibitively expensive.

So will the 2.5% cut in VAT make any difference?

Even if the cut is actually passed onto the public the 2.5% is not going to make much difference to a night out at the Pub. Let's assume that a typical non binge drinking couple come out for a meal; starters, main and dessert and a couple of drinks each.

Before 1st Dec 2008

2 * Starters @ £4.00 = £8.00
2 * Mains @ £10.00 = £20.00
2 * Desserts @ £5.00 = £10.00

2 Glasses Wine @ £3.10 = £6.20
2 Pints Beer @ £2.60 = £5.20

Total £49.40

After 1st Dec 2008

Take 2.5% off the total gives a saving of £1.24

I really do not think this is going to make any difference to a typical couple coming out to the Pub and this is assuming that the 2.5% is passed on, but think about the logistics, the Publican is going to have to re-price his menus and re-print them, not a 5 minute job. Plus many Publicans are using the flat rate VAT scheme, how is this going to work? All in all the 2.5% VAT cut is not going to make any big difference except to say the psych0logical one. You know; the feel good factor, if the media back this as a good step along with the other changes announced then people may actually come out to the local for a couple of drinks and that is all that is needed in many rural pubs, just 5 or 6 more customers each evening can and will make the difference between life and death for your local Pub.

Just listened to the Radio 4 news summary and it was annoucned that the cut will make no difference to drinks or fuel prices!

I hope my next post will be in a more cheerful vein.