Daniel Pearce: Should the family come first?

It's not a bad job working on The Publican​. We get to see a lot of great pubs, and drink a lot of great beer - when not working our butts off to get the magazine out and keep this website ticking over of course!

Which has made it all the more frustrating for me that I haven't had a great local near my house in South West London suburbia.

Now, the pub 200 metres away from my front door has been taken over by new tenants, and it's gone for a family-friendly look and feel. I've had a card through the door inviting me to bring my brood down - there's even a swingball been set up in the garden.

Lots of stats have pointed towards the family market as one way for licensees to grow their business following the smoking ban. But of course this ignores the fact that a lot of people go to the pub in the first place to get away from the other half and the kids!

Many licensees view family-friendly trading as a double-edged sword - something which could put off regulars while encouraging customers who might spend more, but are likely to come in a lot less often.

But the couple of times I've been to my new local the atmosphere has been utterly transformed. Popping in on Tuesday night by myself, I didn't expect more than a handful of people in the bar and looked forward to getting to know the licensee. But the bar was deep with people and the guys behind it looked to be rushed off their feet. There were children around the place, but they weren't causing any trouble and, for my money, added to the warm atmosphere and feel of the place rather than detracting from it.

It's early days for the pub and I'll be looking forward to watching how it unfolds in the weeks to come. But at the moment, a simple change to its trading style - coupled with a refit and other changes - has made a world of difference. Looks like I might finally have a decent local and a pub to be proud of in my own backyard…