National Pubs Week: Boost trade

National Pubs Week is almost with us and CAMRA hopes that even more licensees will take the chance to generate some fun and boost profits. Daniel Pearce reports.

With National Pubs Week set to enter its third year and the development of the initiative at a crucial stage, it is down to the nation's licensees to use the opportunities it presents to boost the profile of their pubs. Either that or risk losing it.

Last year, organiser the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) claims more than 15,000 licensees across the country took up the challenge, and many generated a stir in their local communities - and in their cash drawers as well.

Among them was Michael Elvis, licensee at the Beaulieu Road Inn, near Beaulieu in Hampshire. The pub lies in the heart of the New Forest, and as such is off the beaten track in February for all but the die-hard regulars.

"National Pubs Week created some awareness with local businesses and local people at a quiet time of the year. We are a destination pub as we are in the middle of nowhere," says Michael.

"We don't have a divine right to expect people to walk through our doors and we feel that more than most at the beginning of the year when there are no tourists around."

Last year the pub celebrated Pubs Week with a range of cask ales and dedicated food menus, as well as promotions on food, using some of the publicity material sent in by CAMRA.

Michael advertised the event in an inventive way. In addition to promoting it via the pub's website, www.beaulieuroadinn.co.uk, he asked local shops and businesses to spread the word among his customers.

"We also asked local businesses to put posters up - our nearest town is four miles away," he says. "Our local petrol station also backed us by putting posters up. Working closely with other local businesses is crucial to the success of something like this, otherwise people might not know where we are."

Events were also supported with advertising in the local newspaper and with leaflets, dropped into the local tourist office.

Putting on a show​

Having a different event every night is the key to making the most of National Pubs Week for Warwickshire licensee Mark Roskell.

Mark, who runs the Little Lark in Studley, near Redditch, says: "Most of what we did last year focused around food, although we are more of a pub grub merchant than a restaurant. We ran a curry night, a steak night and a fish night."

The pub also held quizzes, a traditional pub games night, with quoits and table skittles, and a mini-beer festival of its own. "It was a good week, and sales were pretty good for the time of year. Put it this way, it would have been a quiet week if we hadn't got involved with it," says Mark.

Mark is another licensee who ensures he promotes the events through more than just local newspaper advertising. "I have the email addresses of most of my customers and I often email them details about what we're doing." he says. "We always get a good response."

Mark is now planning a series of similar events for this year's Pubs Week, and is encouraging other licensees to use their imagination to come up with their own ideas.

"We hold a few promotions of our own - pubs get so much marketing material such as T-shirts anyway, so Pubs Week isa chance to make the most of it," he says.

There's a myriad of ways in which National Pubs Week can make an impact - making it work in the right way for you will be the key to the success of this year's initiative.

What will you do?​

• Beer festivals
• Food promotions
• Traditional pub games and quizzes
• Beer and food matching
• Giveaways and competitions
• Pub crawls

Engineering a success​

For Kevin Machin, licensee of the Engineers Arms in Henlow, Bedfordshire, National Pubs Week is not about putting his pub on the map. It's about celebrating its place at the heart of the community.

Henlow has a population of just 3,000, and Kevin claims most of them know the pub. He regularly organises trips abroad for the locals, among other services for the community. "It is our belief that the pub is for all," says Kevin. "Pubs Week is great as it makes everyone here focus on the Engineers Arms - and the pub needs that. The event needed a bit more of a push than last year and with the support coming through from CAMRA we've got that."

As well as making the most of some of the national CAMRA initiatives, Kevin has been working closely with the local CAMRA branch to develop some initiatives of their own.

Key among them is a tour of pubs across Bedfordshire using local transport. "We are arranging a trip around local pubs listed in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, and we are promoting public transport too - we are going to show how easy it is to travel around the pubs on buses," says Kevin. "We want to take people to the sort of rural pubs that they might not usually think about using public transport to get to."

The Engineers Arms will also be putting on a range of real ales to mark the week, and encouraging customers to taste them. "We do the same when we hold our real ale festivals, but during Pubs Week we will try to educate them about the beer too. We get them to taste them properly and tell us what the difference is. Sales went up marginally last year but it's more about making them aware that the pub is the hub of the village."

Kevin says National Pubs Week is just the tonic the trade needs at a time when licensing reform and the Daily Mail's criticism haves hit it where it hurts. "Pubs need some good PR - and that's what this is all about," he says.