Pubsulike.co.uk

All new and FREE Pubsulike

2010-10-25T17:45:00.015+01:00

The all new FREE Pubsulike is delayed until September 2011

We are delaying the re-launch of Pubsulike as the recent Google (Farmer / Panda) update which reached the U.K in early April 2011 has affected our visibility and rankings. We are conducting a thorough review of how the information is presented to ensure we regain the prominent position we had prior to the Google update. We are going to undertake a 'soft' roll out of the new features so that we can monitor it's effect on our site traffic.

Over the last few years we have seen the rise of social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter all of which provide free access in return for the advertising revenue they receive from adverts placed on the site. We have been trialing such a system ourselves and have decided to re-launch Pubsulike and provide completely free access together with dozens of new and improved features. Look at the list of features below and be sure to return during September 2011 to join, remember it's free and we get over thousands of visitors every day.

New and Improved Features

Add/amend details of your own Pub immediately

Full control of your Pub Reviews

Dozens of new page Styles, Drag n Drop Page Layouts

'Add friends' facility to allow regulars to be kept upto date

Newsletter and Menu Emailing feature, PDF Menus

Google Streetmap views of Pubs

Mobile friendly page designs allows easy access from Mobile Devices

Unlimited Photos and Photo Galleries

Embed Youtube videos in your pages

Free downloadable SatNav files

Mobile App coming soon for Iphone & Android devices

Pubsulike Reviews Abuse

2010-04-09T14:47:00.002+01:00

Over the last few months our reviews system has come under attack from hackers from various Countries. This has led us to have to develop an amended review system, that will be more secure. You may find over the next few weeks that reviews are all sent for manual checking prior to publication, please bear this in mind as we test our new system, it is a fine balance of making the reviews easy to use but also very secure.

Apologies for intermittent operation

2010-02-22T13:29:00.002Z

Quick post to say please accept our apologies for some intermittent operation of the Pubsulike website over the period 19th-22nd February 2010.

The problems have no been fixed and the site is operating normally again.

Bad service won't help Pubs!

2009-04-21T17:13:00.004+01:00

I'm very disappointed to report that the number of bad reviews coming into Pubsulike has escalated. This, at a time when you would expect most publicans to be pulling out the stops and doing their very best to encourage new customers into their establishments. I have selected a few of the reviews received over the last 3 weeks and hope that you will see my point of view.

The Bell Inn, Winterbourne Stoke, Salisbury

"Making a stop at what I could recall as being one of the few options for a meal on the return journey from Thruxton to Frome, my wife and I were annoyed by and very disappointed with our visit to the Bell Inn at Winterbourne Stoke.I don't wish simply to replicate earlier reviews, but the almost all of the details of poor service listed so far also occurred to us. I asked the thoroughly miserable young barmaid for two highchairs for our two children (2y 3m & 8m) to be told in a grunt that they didn't have any. I was astonished by her manner and by the reply. We decided that we'd manage as we were all hungry, despite the fact that there was a very limited menu with few options offering any kind of fresh vegetables. " [Read the full review]

The Rising Sun, Lacock, Chippenham

Have just got home after a lovely day out with friends. We travelled from Cardiff and they travelled from Reading meeting at the Rising Sun for lunch, what a disaster ! The Roast of the day was beef,chewy and tasteless, the accompanying vegetables were cold and tasteless, and the Yorkshire pudding !!! I don't know how they dare call it that. To add insult to injury it was all smothered in the most tasteless and greasy gravy. I have never complained about a Sunday roast before but I must say that I found it quite inedible. [Read the full review]

The White Hart, Pirbright, Woking

Sad to see that there are a number of people that have had similarly bad experiences here. Great looking pub, with a good beer / wine list, let down terribly by the food and service. We went on an admittedly busy bank holiday weekend, and were told that there was a 35 minute wait for main courses, which was fine as we weren't in a hurry. We ordered some bread with oil & vinegar to tide us over (which took 40 minutes to appear) [Read the full review]

The above are just 3 samples of bad service being dished out to customers. The interesting point is all these customers were in the Pub for food and therefore would have been spending a reasonable amount of money. I'm at a loss to see in these hard times why the managers/landlords do not take heed of peoples complaints. It would seem looking through the tens of thousands of reviews that many of the bad reviews are not isolated incidents but indicative of the sort of service the particular establishment provides.

Come on Publicans the British public are out there trying to support you but please give them some decent service and at least some courtesy that costs nothing after all!

Rural Pubs hoping for a good Spring and Summer

2009-03-16T16:02:00.002Z

Having visited many rural Pubs recently, the concensus of opinion seems to be that if there is a good Spring and Summer this year the trade should be good as more people are preparing to holiday in the U.K.

The only problem with this reasoning is how many of you would put money on 2009 being a bumper year weather wise?

Pubs are closing at the rate of 39 per week. On a recent drive from the North of England back to West Wales I counted over 30 pubs closed and boarded up. Some were advertised for sale and others just looked deserted a very sorry state of affairs.

Pubs now need to examine every aspect of their business and look for new ways to entice the customers in and more importantly make sure they return time and again.

Conventional advertising has become increasingly expensive. I was talking to one landlord who had spent over £100 just to advertise a weekend event recently, he has since joined Pubsulike and advertises his events on his Pubsulike pages and intends to put smaller adverts in the papers in future directing them to his Pubsulike pages. He reckons this will save him several hundreds pounds a year!

We have decided to continue with our Credit Crunch busting offer of a completely free trial membership for 6 months to prove how Pubsulike can help your business.

Christmas is hard work......

2008-11-26T16:14:00.005Z

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

2008-11-24T16:36:00.006Z

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.

Threatened by Landlord over Pub Reviews

2007-09-19T18:46:00.000+01:00

Well here's a first. This evening I took a call that had 'knocked on' from our Sales Office. Our new IP based phone system routes calls to whoever is available at the time to answer them, in this case it was myself.

The caller insisted on knowing my name but refused to give his or his Pub's name, then went on to say that 'his' Pub had just had a £300,000 refurbishment and he was fed up with hearing that it had been reviewed badly on; http://www.pubsulike.co.uk/ I asked him twice as to the name of the Pub concerned but he refused to let me know the name.

Instead he said:

I WANT MY PUB TAKING OFF YOUR SITE NOW!

YOU'LL KNOW THE NAME OF THE PUB WHEN YOU GET A VISIT!

Well if that's not threatening behaviour I don't know what is. I'm a member of the BII and doubt very much if this individual is as his attitude indicates he is clearly not a 'fit and proper'* person to be running a Pub.

If he had the courtesy of providing me with his name and the name of the Pub concerned I would have looked into the situation. We receive hundreds of Pub reviews every day of the week and with over 56,000 Pubs, Bars and Inns listed it will take the Pubsulike researchers some time to trawl through every bad review to see if we can identify this individuals Pub, my view is if this is his normal attitude any negative comments are probably well deserved.

The phone number he used was 05601 766290 this is a non geographic number normally issued with a broadband calling package. We called the number back but did not get an answer. All our calls are recorded and upon replaying his original call to a legal colleague he agreed that it definitely constituted threatening behaviour.

I'll ask the 75,000 plus weekly visitors to Pubsulike to help identify this person, why not look through the Latest Reviews and check out the bad ones see if you know which Pub has the misfortune of being run by this individual.

If you know the identity please email reviews@pubsulike.co.uk

Oh well you can't please all of the people all of the time!

* Fit and Proper was used by magistrates a few years back to describe the suitablity of a person to hold a licence.

Pub or Restaurant?

2007-08-17T13:21:00.000+01:00

Now here's a good question:

When is a Pub not a Pub?

Answer:

When it thinks it's a Restaurant.

The reason I mention this is more and more often I am receiving comments from Pub customers all over the UK saying, things along the lines of:

'My Pub isn't a Pub anymore it's turned into a b****y Restaurant!'

'Can't get served a decent Pint anymore, they don't seem interested in the regulars'

'Kids all over the damned shop, I only came out for a quiet Pint!'

Well unfortunately for those amongst us that just wanted to come out for a quiet drink this is becoming more and more common.

The reason?

Quite simply economics, it is extremely difficult nowadays to make money out of selling just Drinks.

I will recount the tale of a Pub owned by one of the major Pubcos. The previous landlord who was lucky enough to own the Freehold, sold up and moved on, the purchaser was the aforesaid major Pubco. The Pub then went on the market. Although it was based in a reasonably busy Town the Pub was a little off the beaten track and had gained a reputation for underage drinking and permitted consumption of certain substances! Basically it needed a good clean up and start afresh. This is what the new tenants then undertook and having spent a considerable sum on acquiring the lease and refurbishing the Pub, reopened to initial good reviews. However the tenants had not run a Pub before and did not have the capital behind them in order to re-establish the Pub as a Pub/Restaurant which was essential for it to survive financially. It would take far longer than 6-18 months for it to become established and within this time the major Pubco had put the rent up to a figure that was completely unrealistic.

I remember sitting down with the tenants and working out the number of Pints they would have to sell just in order to meet the rent, it was over 775 pints each week and that was before Council Tax, Electricity, Gas, Oh and of course WAGES!

Now I know some of you landlords out there will say 775 Pints that's nothing I do that in a busy weekend, but you are probably running a Large Town Centre Pub with lots of passing trade.

So getting back to the point, this Pub had based it's business on Food being the major earner and not Drinks, all the plans had been based on the takings being 70/30 or perhaps 60/40 Food and Drink. In the end the business failed and the tenants moved out having lost their entire savings!

The Pub has since been taken over again and also decided it needed to be supplying Food in order to make it pay lets hope they have better luck than the last people, because if the Pubco gets the rent it wanted 18 months ago this Pub is going to have to be serving a lot of Pints to pay it's way.

It's a sad fact that traditional Pubs can no longer exist on just the Drinks trade, perhaps in a large Town centre it's ok, but in the rural areas where Taxi costs are exhorbitant no Pub could expect to survive on a couple of Pints from each of it's regulars.

The major Pubcos aren't worried though because they have a queue of hopefuls just waiting to part with their hard earnt/borrowed cash, so I'm afraid to say the Restaurant/Pub is here to stay and the little Country Pub serving a Pint and a Packet of crisps is going to fade into oblivion.

What's happened to good service?

2007-08-15T13:28:00.000+01:00

I don't know if it's the miserable weather causing us to get an increasing number of bad reviews, but over the last few months we've seen a decided increase in the 'BAD COMMENTS ' received for Pubs. In a few instances we have even been sent recorded delivery letters with photocopies of the bill and a detailed letter asking us to approach the managem,ent of the Pub on their behalf. In these instances we pass on the comments to the Pub concerned in the hope that they will rectify the situation.

A few people have been known to put on a review in the heat of the moment and then email us a few days later to ask us to remove it, which is fine, but I always remind the person that they should always address any complaint to the managment at the time. This is where I'm finding an increasing number of Pubs seem to be completely devoid of any visible managers! Where are they all when they are needed? I can tell you in more than one instance when I accompanied one of our researchers to a Pub, the managers and his mates were all upstairs watching Sky Sports and couldn't be bothered to come to the bar to answer a Ladies complaint.

There seems to be too many 'unsuitable' people going into the Pub trade now, I was told by a senior manager for a large Pub group that it is easier to get a Pub than a mortgage on a house, so they have lists of people just queuing up for Pubs!

Please continue to let us and the 75,000+ visitors a week that visit Pubsulike.co.uk know your views on any Pub, Bar or Inn you visit I can assure you that in an increasing number of instances the Pubs have taken notice!

Pubsulike Blog now back online!

2007-07-30T18:15:00.000+01:00

Hi,

Well after quite a while the Pubsulike Blog is back up and running. We will now be creating regular posts from our new Sales and Marketing Office in Cardigan.

There has been a lot going on in the Pub world since we last posted an entry not least of which is the smoking ban. Now the dust has settled we'd like to invite you to comment and let us know what you think. Has it depressed the trade even further? Is it yet another nail in the coffin of rural Pubs? One comment I was told by a landlord in a small village Pub was that it had caused people to me more sociable, this was because as they gathered to have a 'fag' outside, the smokers would talk to each other, whereas in the past they may have been at opposite ends of the bar and not spoke for the whole session!

More soon......

Sorry Pubsulike 2007 is a little delayed.

2007-02-27T20:26:00.000Z

Just a quick update with regard to Pubsulike 2007. Beta testing always throws up some problems and our testing of our downloadable points of interest GPS files for Garmin, NavMan and Garmin have highlighted a few anomalies. However we think we've cracked them all and hope to upload the new site so it will be live on Monday 5th March.

We have tested the Pubsulike points of interest files on SatNav systems old and new in the hope that we will be able to make them available to the largest audience possible. We are sure that the final result will be worth the wait.

So, apologies for the delay and look forward to Monday 5th March 2007.

Pubsulike 2007 free .co.uk Websites for 1000 Pubs!

2007-02-14T22:49:00.000Z

Free .co.uk website for 1000 Pubs!

We Have postponed the launch of Pubsulike 2007 until 19th February 2007 as we have negotiated a fantastic deal which will enable us to give away 1000 .co.uk websites!

The first 1000 Pubs, Bars or Inns that join Pubsulike from 19th February 2007 will be given the opportunity of having their own .co.uk website completely free. This will include the Domain name registration and hosting, completely free!

How will this work?

Well it's very simple, our associated Companies have designed and hosted so many websites in the last 12 months that we can purchase .co.uk website names at vastly discounted prices, so we will give these to our new (and existing) members. The websites will be hosted on our own servers and will utilise the Pubsulike system to provide all the information, when you update your Pubsulike pages your own website is updated automatically!

Further details will be on the Pubsulike 2007 website on the 19th February 2007.

Pubsulike 2007!

2007-01-29T21:45:00.000Z

Coming soon Pubsulike 2007!

Following a substantial investment Pubsulike and it's sister Websites are having a major makeover.

Having recruited more full time researchers we are now able to contact over 1,000 Pubs, Bars and Inns per week. Ensuring that our information is the most up to date available, and we will now be displaying the date the Pub was last contacted, to assure our visitors the accuracy of the data.

Pubsulike is the only internet Pub guide with real people on hand to answer your queries.

Pubsulike 2007 goes live on Wednesday 14th February and now has over 55,000 licenced premises listed.

New facilities include:

Enhanced reviews section.

Members have a choice of over 50 styles for their Pub pages.

Multimedia pages, allow for enhanced 3D and Full movie tours, larger Photo Galleries.

Online booking forms, with availability calendars.

Enhanced menu pages all with enhanced styles and fully printer friendly.

Clip Art Gallery of stock images to help members make their pages look even better.

Free Classified Advertising for Pub Jobs throughout the UK.

Free Live Music Directory, completely free online updateable directory for Live Music.

Enhanced search system for large Cities, such as London, Birmingham and Manchester.

Enhanced Breweries and Pub Groups pages with over 100 comprehensive entries.

Full cross referencing of Cask Marque and Good Beer Guide members (2006 and 2007)

Over 30 Pub/Brewery Groups fully indexed the most comprehensive Pub Group search in the World.

Members have detailed statistics showing visits to their Pubsulike pages.

Hundreds of additional photographs.

Both Google and Microsoft Virtual Earth mapping.

Fully accessible all pages are DDA compliant.

The only Pub guide to be fully W3C compliant.

Pubsulike is fully linked with our sister sites, Takeawaysulike, Restaurantsulike and BedandBreakfastulike driving even more visitors to your Pub, Bar or Inn.

Tom Tom and Garmin compatible points of interest download section. Get your own personalised Pubsulike database for your GPS.

Too many other new features to list...........................

And what is more we are making it completely Free to join and try out for a period of 14 days. Yes that's right any Pub, Bar or Inn can now join Pubsulike and try out our advanced easy to use system for a period of 14 days with no obligation.

We are so confident in the Pubsulike system, established for over 6 years, that we can afford to make this offer in the knowledge that their is no other Pub internet guide that can match ours.

So look out for Pubsulike 2007 on 14th February 2007.

Christmas season over, now Pubs have to work hard.

2006-01-07T13:56:00.000Z

Now that the Christmas festivities have ended most Pubs will now have their quiet period. I have noticed in my travels that more and more Pubs are serving excellent food and I was pleasantly surprised to see that The Kings Arms in East Stour, Gillingham Dorset was still very busy in their restaurant area. The new team have really injected life into this hitherto 'tired' Pub. I had often wondered whether the old estate agents maxim of location, location, location, was equally true for Pubs? I had started to believe it was not, as The Kings Arms, located on the A30 2 miles from Shaftesbury is in an ideal location and serves a large cachment area of about 15,000 people. However prior to the current owners the Pub had not really been successful for the last 8-9 years, why? In my opinion it was because whilst the previous owners were pleasant people they were not 'professional' in their outlook, running a Pub nowadays involves much more than the ability to pull a few pints! The new owners have established an excellent reputation within a very short time and it is quite simply because of their professional approach to the business, they work as a well co-ordinated team and it is refreshing to see that they have a 5-7 year business plan. They have previously run a successful Pub in Scotland and have now come South of the Border to show us how it should be done!

This contrasts to a situation recounted to me recently in Sunderland whereby a Tenant of one of the larger Pub groups was telling me that there were so many Pubs available to lease that many quite unsuitable people were going into the Pub trade as it was easier than getting a mortgage! I must admit that on reflection I have to agree with him, many new ventures fail within the first 18-24 months due to lack of business acumen or sometimes capital, I think the Pub Groups should adopt a stricter approach to new tenants, I believe that the prospective tenant should have to put forward a business plan to show that they have thoroughly researched the business. I think too many people tend to take a Pub on for some of the most whimsical of reasons.

As I read the reviews that are submitted on the Pubsulike website it is becoming increasingly apparent to me that the British public, quite rightly, are expecting more of the traditional 'local', don't get me wrong I am not suggesting that all Pubs should become Restaurants that serve beer but it is quite evident that a Pub should provide a warm welcome, be clean and presentable, provide a good selection of drinks and be staffed by TRAINED bar staff. I repeatedly say to people who bemoan the lack of even basic knowledge exhibited by bar staff nowadays, do not blame the bar person, blame the management, I have known Pubs take on a new member of staff and having shown them how to operate the till, leave them to get on with it!

Have your say please feel free to comment on any of the above by clicking on the comments link below.

Where have all the real pubs gone?

2005-12-03T13:03:00.000Z

What has happened to the traditional British pub? They all seem to have become restaurants. Okay, the profit does seem to be in food, but drinkers are left without drinks while staff run around serving food and scuttling about with the credit card machine. Four times this week we have had to wait more than ten minutes with empty glasses while the so called barman is serving food. Don't they realise that its the regulars who keep a constant supply of money coming in? Isn't it better to have £10 per night all week or a £40 meal once a month.

There has to be some balance. Perhaps we could have a rating system, then we could choose whether to go to these pubs.

An open letter to pub-goers from The Publican

2005-11-24T15:19:00.000Z

I received this open letter from The Publican magazine today and thought it deserves as wide an audience as possible and as Pubsulike gets over 30,000 visitors a day I thought I would publish it here. - Graham

Published 24th November 2005

The Publican is urging pub-goers in England and Wales to ignore the media hysteria and get behind their local at a crucial time for the licensed trade. This open letter is addressed to pub customers across the country.

Dear pub-goers of England and Wales

Welcome to a new era – the relaxation of Britain’s archaic licensing laws. How was it for you? Notice much difference? Those who are due to go out tonight may make use of an extra hour of two of drinking at your local. We hope you enjoy yourselves.The new laws have, of course, meant that licensed premises, including pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants and hotels, are able to apply for extended opening. Some have been granted extra hours, some haven’t.

Unfortunately, the majority of the media’s coverage has focused on the idea that pubs will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Scare stories have been prevalent in the tabloids with numerous headlines predicting a meltdown of nuclear proportions.

The right-wing press has clearly used it as a stick with which to beat the Labour Party and unfortunately the pub industry has suffered the collateral damage.

We at The Publican and many in the trade think this is grossly unfair. Latest figures from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport have revealed the real picture. Of the 1,008 premises which we know have been handed a 24-hour licence – 0.5 per cent of total licences granted – only a third are pubs, clubs and bars.

Reports suggest none of the pubs granted round-the-clock licences will use them. For example, at the Swan Tavern in the City of London the licensees have said they will only open significantly later on special occasions such as the Budget, while the Railway Hotel in Blandford Forum, Dorset, wants to allow darts teams to play into the night.

In many of the highly distorted reports which have appeared in the press a number of issues have been glossed over. What about the supermarkets granted licences to sell alcohol round the clock? Where will people find the money to pay for extra drinks during the extra hour or two they have for drinking? A survey on behalf of The Publican found that nine out of 10 would not spend more time in the pub under the new regime.Don’t get us wrong. We’re not claiming you will never see another fight outside your local. But as the government has been at pains to point out the law is designed to give police greater powers to close down problem pubs and tackle alcohol-related disorder. Good pub operators support this and the minority of bad operators should be shut down.

Here at The Publican we strongly believe that pubs are a force for good. Indeed we have recently launched the Proud of Pubs campaign to highlight the excellent things pubs do for their communities and the good practice they follow. You may have even seen a copy of our charter up in your local. Close to 500 licensees have already signed the charter, showing that they are not afraid to shout about how proud they are of their pubs.

As for the new legislation, let’s wait and see what happens. The people who run this pub are grateful for your continued support and custom. Keep on backing your local!

The Publican team
United Advertising Publications

24 hour drinking is here, do we want or need it?

2005-11-24T11:01:00.000Z

Well as of midnight last night approximately 360 Pubs, Clubs and Bars around the Country were legally allowed to serve alcohol for 24 hours.

Is this going to bring about mayhem and disruption? I think not, I believe in the initial stages some Pubs will use this oppurtunity to get some free publicity on the basis that any 'publicity is good publicity' but at the end of the day, my logic is that there is only so much disposable income available and it will simply not cause an overall increase in consumption of alcohol. The fact that a relativley few establishments can now serve, if they choose to do so, around the clock is slightly academic as there is no subsidy in place to pay for the extra consumption that is so widely predicted.

My view is that this change to the law was needed in order to give the British public the choice they should have and bring us in line with many other Countries, however it is similar to a local Pub changing hands, in the first few weeks, numerous people will flock to that Pub to see the new owners and generally 'have a nose around'. This is often short lived and it is only after a month or so that the Pub's new owners will be able to really ascertain their real level of business, the curiosity element is no longer relevant. At this point it is down to the owners/managers of the Pub to attract new custom and re-establish the regular trade that a previous owner may have lost.

In our, admittedly, rural area about 12 Pubs/Clubs within a 25 mile radius have the new 24 hour licences, will I or anyone I know be flocking to them, even for 'a nose around'? No definitely not, but perhaps that's because I'm firmly in the 'middle aged' category. A certain local nightclub has obtained a 24 licence, it will be interesting to see if the 24 licence is used more than perhaps 4 or 5 times in a year because as I said earlier there is no extra money to be spent on 24 hour drinking. In fact the majority of Landlords I see as I travel the Country promoting www.pubsulike.co.uk inform me that the opposite is the case with more and more people staying at home with a bottle or two of wine and a DVD. That, as they say is another story which I will come back to.

The Publican magazine, a trade journal, is currently running a Proud of Pubs campaign. I will be writing a Blog dedicated to this as I for one believe the 'local' is a very important part of our community and too many are going to the wall due to inexperience or to the fast changing drinking culture or our Country, what do the rest of you think?

Adult Only Pubs

2005-11-22T22:59:00.000Z

Why aren't there any directories of Adult Only Pubs? A lot of people I speak to want this, but its so hard to find. We go to the pub to relax and unwind, and do not want screaming kids goiong banzai all around us, with the parents in another room. Especially in a pub restaurant, dogs aren't usually allowed so why are parents allowed to sit down and have a meal and generally ignore what their kids are up to - annoying other diners. The attitude seems to be let them run free, I really don't agree with this. Pubs seem to be concentrating on food these days so yes, they must allow families, as thats where the money appears to be these days, but there must be some sort of control. Publicans must set the rules. otherwise the whole country will be a glorified McDonalds.

Pubsulike Blog launched on 19/11/2005

2005-11-19T08:44:00.000Z

Welcome to the Pubsulike Blog.

What is a Blog?

Blog is short for weblog. A weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption.

We are producing this blog to inform and hopefully entertain. The views expressed are those of the Ulike Systems Ltd editorial team and in this Blog will be concerned with aspects of the Pubsulike website.

So what's new on the Pubsulike website?

Well our researchers are working hard cross referencing the Cask Marque and Camra members so that user will be able to locate Pubs that have been awarded the prestigious Cask Marque award or are listed in the Good Beer Guide 2006, or indeed in many cases both!

Our Seasonal menus are working well with many Pubs already receiving many bookings for Christmas.

Our site statistics are still surging upward, our new hosting company, Redstation, is providing excellent service, and the site is running very fast.

We are adding Pubs every day to our database which now stands at over 48600 Pubs, Bars or Inns.

Well that's all for this initial post, we will be back soon.