Driving force

Andy Longman is a man on a mission. A mission to quite literally put responsible drinking on the menu. Customers visiting one of his six Leeds Suburban Style Bars can pick up a copy of the cocktail and shooter menu and see exactly what's in their drink. In addition to icons showing the potent combinations in the drinks, alcohol units are given to enable people to monitor their alcohol intake.

As managing director of Suburban Style Bars, Andy was looking for a niche to make the chain a leader rather than a follower in the industry. He believes the new measures to promote responsible drinking on the premises may have done just that. He says: "Suburban Style Bars has traditionally been a follower in the industry, but this is really cutting edge and shows we've gone the extra mile to help our customers."

The unit count was introduced on cocktail menus in April, along with tips on careful drinking. These include knowing your limit, eating before or while drinking to slow alcohol absorption, having a "spacer" or soft drink between drinks and topping up water intake.

Andy says the tips are nothing new: "The tips we've included on the menus are just common sense.

"They're the industry standard but the industry doesn't do enough to tell people about it."

While Andy is pleased with the response from the customers so far and thinks the industry should be doing more to promote sensible drinking, he's unsure about how effective the idea would be in premises with a different clientele.

He says: "We have an intelligent and sophisticated customer base who are interested in what they're ingesting, but I'm not sure if this approach suits everybody."

Andy credits his customers with helping him come up with the idea of the redesigned menus. "It was a customer-driven idea which grew internally with brainstorming from barstaff and mixologists who are at the frontline of serving drinks. People are used to being able to go into a supermarket and see exactly what is in the food they're buying and they wanted to be able to do the same with their drinks."

A focus group involving customers and staff is planned to review how well the new menus have been received, but actually the approach seems to be making positive in-roads in tackling drink-related incidents.

Andy says: "Licensed premises have had a lot of bad publicity following extended licences and reports into binge-drinking. Pubs are an easy target, and the popular press has ripped the industry apart. Now we're getting local press and radio interest in support of something that's good. We're coming back now and leading the way forward."

Far from having a negative effect on profits by making people over-cautious in their consumption, Andy has actually found the new menus are driving cocktail sales. He says: "There's been a change in consumer spending on drinks. Years ago there was not a lot of choice - it used to be bitter or lager. Now people are more inclined to try new things.

"People may try something new when they know what type of booze is in their drink and what the alcohol content is. They can make informed choices about what they're drinking."

The newly-designed menus have received positive feedback from all quarters so far. The Portman Group, which acts to reduce alcohol misuse, has commended the company's efforts to improve people's awareness.

Andy hopes that measures such as these will go some way in countering the negative press that the pub industry has received. With his 20 years' experience in the industry and a genuine concern for the welfare of his customers, he's definitely on the right track to doing that.

Do you have A Pub to be Proud of? Tell us why by calling 020 7955 3710, or emailing proudofpubs@thepublican.com and you could feature in The Publican.