Most pubs have at least one barstool publican among their regulars - always ready with a word of advice or a helpful comparison with another local hostelry.
None of them would, in reality, last five minutes behind the bar. However Paul Kinnoch is a member of that much rarer breed, a licensee who successfully runs the business where he used to be a customer.
Paul began working behind the bar at his local, the Tyneside Tavern in Haddington, Scotland, just over a decade ago. For the past eight years, he has been lessee of the pub, owned by Scottish and Newcastle Pub Enterprises (S&NPE).
The fact that the Tyneside was named Best Food Pub in the 2007 S&NPE awards shows that the pub, a traditional community local dating back to 1819, is a success. Inevitably, that's not something which happened overnight.
"It was always a good pub, but the previous owner didn't have much of a food operation," says Paul. When he and his wife Anne took over, they saw developing the food side of the business as a clear opportunity. Anne had a background in the hotel trade, but running a pub was new to both of them.
"The kitchen was small, and initially we relied mainly on frozen food - which was good quality, but fairly standard pub fare," says Paul." As both trade and the Kinnoch's confidence grew, the menu was expanded, with more fresh dishes added. One part of the two-room pub became a restaurant area, with the traditional pub trade retained in the other.
Food sales reached the point where the pub could employ a full time chef, and over the past three years the Tyneside's reputation for food has grown considerably.
However, space remained an issue, until last year a £200,000 joint refurbishment with S&N Pub Enterprises added a new cellar and doubled the size of the food operation with a new kitchen and bistro. Working with the pub's chef, Colin Grambin, the core menu is enhanced by a daily specials board and a very successful Sunday carvery.
The addition of the bistro has seen food sales increase by around 40 per cent. The catchment area of the pub has also expanded, attracting regulars from Edinburgh, a 20 to 30 minute drive away.
Paul also took the opportunity of the refurb to make a further improvement to his menu, with beer and wine matches. All the dishes on both the lunch menu and the new evening bistro menu have been matched with champagne, wine, dessert wine or beer as appropriate.
The pub has a wine list produced in partnership with Matthew Clark Wholesale, as well as a beer range supplied by S&N. This includes five cask ales, with regulars having the chance to vote for guest beers.
Paul's approach has not been to assume that, for example, Italian beers go with Italian food, or Mexican beer is automatically the best match for Mexican food, but to look at the ingredients in the beers and recommend accordingly.
Similar suggestions are made for wines, but it is the beer matches which tend to spark the most interest. "Typically, customers who start with a beer when they arrive will switch to wine with their meal, The matches encourage some of them to stick with beer while they're eating. Our sales of both beer and wine are growing, so it's not that one is taking share from another.
"Sometimes people will say that a suggested match was great, occasionally they won't have enjoyed it. What's great is that is starts a conversation and gets people thinking about how food and drink match," says Paul.
"Overall, what we say is that people should choose the drink which most suits their palates and tastes."
Staff at the Tyneside have been given tailored training as part of the expansion of the beer range at the pub. They now take extra time and effort with pouring and presentation and are more confident when talking to customers about the beers, both on their own and as matches with food.
Paul's beer and food matches:
- Kronenbourg 1664 with red meat, game, sausages and cheese
- Corona Extra with spicy food and Mexican dishes
- Deuchars IPA with salads, pasta, chicken and fish
- Foster's with fish, chicken and curry
- Theakston XB with desserts and cheese