Darren Hales tells Ewan Turney how an exciting array of events has made Marston's Red Hart in Kington, Worcestershire, a vital venue for locals
How I got here
I started in the pub trade when I was at university. I was studying sport and business, but by my second year I had run out of cash, so I got a bar job and just fell in love with it. I finished my degree and then went to work behind a bar. I had spells with Scottish & Newcastle, Spirit Group and even spent time in Ibiza. I came to the Red Hart as manager three years ago.
The pub itself was in danger of being pulled down four years ago, before villagers put together a petition. Jane and Barr Pritchard and their business partner Neil Richards reopened the premises in 2002.
My local community
We have always prided ourselves on being at the very heart of the community by making sure we support local schools with raffle prizes. We also organise fund-raising activities and allow local groups such as the Parent Teacher Association to hold meetings for free here.
It really paid off for us last month when the pub was flooded - many of the locals came to help us bale it out. The amount of help we received meant that we only had to shut for a day. We've just about recovered from the collapse of the cellar ceiling.
My marketing strategy
1. Magazine: We produce a quarterly magazine, the Red Hart Times, which goes out to our mailing list. We put a flyer with the bill and people can fill in their contact details if they want to. It is a great marketing method as it targets those people who want to receive it.
I am not too keen on emails because they are likely to be forgotten or end up in the spam filter. I prefer to send a hard copy through the post as it can be read and passed around or stuck on the fridge as a reminder. In return for just the price of a stamp, the benefits we gain are massive.
2. Lunch meal deal: We take part in The Daily Telegraph's two-for-one meal offer; when that has finished we mail the customers in our database to let them know we are continuing the offer under our own steam. That is about all we do on promotions because we don't want to cheapen the venue.
3. Press coverage: We use our events to get in the paper. We have had 57 articles written about us over the past few years.
4. Awards: We won the Morning Advertiser East and West Midlands Pub of the Year award - again that is picked up by the press. It creates a pressure and raises expectations - but that's no bad thing.
My summer ball
Each summer we have a themed ball - last year it was James Bond and this year it was Titanic. We have a capacity of 200 inside and outside in the marquee. Tickets for the ball cost £25 each, and part of that is donated to charity. We ran the Titanic ball in three different areas - so in first class there was champagne and posh canapés, while third class was very basic and rustic, with an Irish band playing all night.
We had a giant ice luge sculpted in the shape of the Titanic and a guy whose relatives had died on the Titanic came to give a talk. He had written a book about it.
We raised £5,000 for charity, and we took about five times the amount we'd usually take over the bar on an ordinary night.
My sausage-eating race
As a joke, one of our regulars said we should have a charity event based on tug-of-war and somehow it evolved into a string of sausages and an eating race.
The event has ten teams of five and is organised as a relay, with each person having to eat two feet of sausages. The winner gets a trophy and the regulars take it very seriously - they begin training about a month before it starts. The relay record is 13 minutes. We hold the sausage-eating race on a January evening during the week - it helps us to fill the bar on what would otherwise be a quiet night.
And of course the race means we attract priceless publicity. Five or six local papers cover it and we were even mentioned in The Sun last year. BBC Worcester invited our chef to cook sausages for the presenters. The race gives us a huge boost.
My guest bar staff nights
One of our really good events is our guest bar staff night. People who want to raise money for charity come and run the bar for the night. The idea is that they invite all their family and friends to come along and have a laugh at them. They can run raffles to raise money and have buckets for tips on the bar; some even bring their own bands. They're supervised by our staff and we give £50 to the charity.
Again, we run it on a quiet week-night so we can double our usual takings of £1,000. The advantage is four-fold - it raises money for charity, it's financially good for us, creates good publicity and brings people into the pub who may not have been before.
My staff
I have never seen such a good team as we have here. I recruit my staff on personality and a good work ethic - everything else can be taught.
We do all the training here in a set way to ensure consistent service. I don't mean that we turn into robots, asking one set question after another, but we do focus on how to serve particular drinks, for example.
All the staff are involved in our monthly meetings and have input into the choice of beer and food we serve. We also have a box for staff suggestions.
When we introduce a new menu we have a cook-off to enable staff to taste all the dishes while chefs talk them through the process.
The staff really feel involved and that is important. A 16 to 17-year-old can start to feel fully involved in the running of the business.
My Pub
Tenure: Marston's Pub Company lease
Turnover 2002: closed
Turnover: £10,000 a week (net)
Wet:dry split: 35:65
Covers per week: 450
GP drink: 58%
GP food: 67%
Staff: 20, four full-time
Wages as % of turnover: 26%
Awards: MA East and West Midlands Pub of the Year, MA East and West Midlands Community Pub of the Year