Opinion: Decide the future of your drinks offer

Speakers at the recent Publican Pub Trade Summit made one consistent point above all - and I believe deciding whether you agree with it is vital to the role drinks will continue to play in your pub.

The point is that alcohol represents an ever-shrinking proportion of pubs' sales, and you need to accept that and adapt. Analyst Geof Collyer pointed out that Mitchells & Butlers' sales figures this year are expected to show it sold more coffee and soft drinks than beer. He also suggested that eating out was "ingrained in people's lifestyles" to the extent that customers are less prepared to give that up than booze in a recession.

New Century Enterprises chairman Alastair Arkley referred to Darwin's principles about species adapting to change and warned that the pace of change in this case may catch the pub species out. Changes are undoubtedly happening, as nose-diving beer sales in the on-trade confirm. Lamenting this situation is easy, but when it comes down to cold, hard business, filling up ThePublican.com's message boards with moans and reminiscing of days of yore is not going to help your pub survive.

It's make your mind up time.

Either… diversifying away from what was the conventional pub model is a genuine trend, here to stay, so you need to alter your operations to suit present conditions. Or… this is hype, and the real hope for your pub remains the beer, wine and spirits drinkers that have been its bread and butter. If that's the case, prove it with the most innovative, profitable wet offer that you can.