London

The Blackfriar

Blackfriars, London EC4

The resplendent Art Nouveau design of the Blackfriar has been a magnet for Londoners and tourists for over 100 years. The Grade II-listed pub has always enjoyed a healthy trade, but this rose to a new plane when David

Tate took over as general manager at the Mitchells & Butlers' outlet, three-and-a-half years ago.

David's arrival coincided with the completion of a total refurbishment of the kitchen, which had previously struggled to cope with the rising demand for food, particularly from tourists. Now, says David, net food sales of £4,000 per week are common during the summer.

No smoking pays dividends

Turnover has also been boosted by David's decision to open the pub at weekends and by turning the Blackfriar into a smoke-free zone in November 2004.

He explains: "A very high percentage of customers at the weekends are tourists and they particularly like the non-smoking policy."

Originally, banning smoking was intended more as a trial, but as David remarks: "It went so well, we just had to keep it."

Ales boost wet trade

Two other steps taken to boost sales have been adding more cask ales and installing £5,000-worth of stylish outdoor furniture in the courtyard at the front of the pub.

David comments: "We have increased

the number of cask ales from four to six,

of which two are guest ales. This has helped us increase cask-ale sales by almost 25%

over the past year."

The increase in sales led to the Blackfriar being named in December as the real ale pub of the year within M&B's

Nicholsons estate. During one week last summer, wet sales topped £27,000. David comments: "That was a tremendous achievement, when you look at the size of our bar."

Smashing the target

At the beginning of December, David was transferred to another M&B outlet in London. In his 40-something months at the Blackfriar, turnover has nearly doubled and despite being set a hard target for the year, takings were ahead of budget by £139,000 with two months still to go.