Pub & Bar preview: Visiting time!
The Publican's forthcoming Pub & Bar show is the biggest and best yet. Find out why a visit will help you sharpen up.
In the nine-year life of The Publican's Pub & Bar Show, the 2006 exhibition, which opens at Olympia in just over a week, is arguably the most important yet. Pub & Bar has always tried to bring licensees up to date with the latest products and services and introduce them to the tools and support they need to run a successful business. This year's show, previewed in detail over the following pages, faces more challenging times, however. And its brave new format is designed to meet that challenge.
One difference is that this is the first Pub & Bar to be staged under the new licensing regime, in place in England and Wales since November 24.
The impact, so far, has been less than dramatic - for which the trade might give itself a pat on the back considering the breakdown of civilisation that was prophesied in certain circles.
Where pubs have been able to work marginal business gains, it seems to have come down in most cases to offering something extra rather than just more of the same.
Last Sunday's Mother's Day was a good example, as some food-led houses opened at 11am to pick up families lunching early. Pubs offering music beyond 11pm have also found benefits in the new system, with no Public Entertainment Licence to apply for.
The lesson is that publicans must find new ideas and they must do them well. And that will apply equally, if not more so, to life under a smoking ban.
Life after the ban
Scotland has already experienced a week of this, and England and Wales will follow in what will seem a surprisingly short period of time. The business response to this has mostly been concerned with developing outdoor areas, so smokers have somewhere to go to light up. Undoubtedly this "continental" solution will be important. But it is by no means the whole story.
What about "landlocked" pubs with no outdoors to develop? It is a vicious irony that these tend to be local community houses that have most to lose from a smoke ban, and warnings of pub closures are not unfounded.
If these businesses are to survive, though, they will need a positive approach that is not about excluding the smokers but in making a serious attempt to include wider numbers in the community.
For a start, smoke-free pubs have the potential to attract back all those people who have cut down on their pub-going because the pub is too smoky. They aren't all going to rush back overnight, but you can do something to lure them in, with food, entertainment or just sharpening up what you offer now - and putting a bit of marketing behind it.
That's where the Pub & Bar Show comes in - giving you the time and space to step back and think about where your business is going, in a place where the ideas are flying.
