The keys to a good pub: Be unique and have a vision

Being unique and having a clear vision are the keys to running a great pub, visitors were told at Publican Live​ yesterday.

During the Proud of Pubs session, a panel of experts gave licensees a host of tips to make the most of their business and hire the right staff.

Chris Maclean, award-winning licensee of the Railway Tavern, in Faversham, Kent, and a regular blogger for thepublican.com​, said: "Your offer has to be distinctive. If you want to part of the grey you are doomed.

"You need to be delivering something that is over and beyond what people expect and you need vision, enthusiasm and passion."

Attention to detail is also vital in running a good pub, Maclean said. He advised publicans to keep a diary with their regular customers' birthdays and anniversaries. "It can generate so much business," he said.

Recruitment

Multi-award winning former licensee, Ali Carter, urged licensees to "look at the personality" of people they were thinking of employing. "We want people that will interact," she said. "The job of pulling a pint is far easier to teach than a personality." Asking someone their favourite joke was one way of finding out about someone, she said.

"We are an industry that sells fun and we need people that know what they are about," Carter added.

Licensees should always recognise when their staff have done well, she suggested. One way could be to send them a text thanking them after they have finished a shift, she added.

PR

Georgina Wald, Fuller's PR manager, spoke about ways to get your pub in the paper without spending money. "There's no magic hook or silver bullet," she said. "You need news and you need to make it interesting."

Using excellent photographs and thinking about how they are staged helps, she said.

Building relationships with local journalists and learning to take bad news on the chin, was also advised.

She added: "PR is about word of mouth. Tell people about things going on at your pub, make sure everyone is talking about you. You are the star of the show, not your pub."

Art attack

Earlier, licensee Ian Renshaw, of the Star, in Dorking, Surrey, told the audience about how he has converted his pub into a thriving business, thanks to nude life-drawing sessions and poetry, film and vinyl record nights. The pub also displays pictures and paintings from local artists on its wall, which helps bring in customers.

"You don't have to copy what I'm doing," he said. "It's about finding the thing you enjoy the most, then make that the focus of your pub."