In a novel deal with an entrepreneur best known for branded coffee houses, Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises (S&NPE) next month launches the pilots of two new 'lifestyle' licensed café-bar concepts in moribund pub sites.
S&NPE has teamed up with developer Gordon Richardson, original founder of the Glasgow-based Beanscene coffee and music house chain, in a bid to revive pub sites which have been unable to survive as traditional wet-led outlets.
In a "new-wave bars" strategy which he reckons will "redefine" the pub experience, Richardson assumes ownership of all in-house activities in "one interactive social networking platform" - the aim being a 21st century version of cross-trading between venues.
Texts and emails to customers linked to quality entertainment acts and special offers are likely to feature, along with a digital reprise of the traditional loyalty card mechanic.
Richardson's company, Onebiggroove, brings under one umbrella everything from lifestyle/leisure concepts to music recording.
S&NPE, which runs its pubs for owner Royal Bank of Scotland, says the deal is just the latest example of its willingness to develop bold ideas designed to meet the challenge of difficult times.
Two brands
Two brands are involved - Caffé Luna, with "an enhanced, all-day food offering" and Libertine, a "boutique" operation offering everything from acoustic music sets to comedy, poetry and drama.
The first Luna opens in a fortnight on the site of a failed traditional bar on Paisley's High Street and will pitch primarily at students from the nearby university campus.
Price-sensitive Paisley has seen its regular pub trade devastated over the past two years, with a string of closures which have included the demise of an independent bar, the Howwood Inn, which had traded since 1770.
The first Libertine boutique operation will be in the defunct Burns Tavern on Ayr's River Street, close to the burgh's Gaiety Theatre, and it aims to be "more bohemian and edgy" than Caffé Luna's laidback offering.
Depending on the individual site, and licensing board consent, Libertines will have the option of trading as late opening "boutique" versions of what would have been designated entertainment licence premises before the single licence system was introduced by the new Scottish Licensing Act this year. Its offer will evolve from café breakfasts in the morning to live music or drama slots after midnight.
Further sites are said to be earmarked for new Luna and Libertine openings in Glasgow, Edinburgh and other Scottish towns and cities.
For Richardson it promises to see ideas he wanted to develop with Beanscene (which he quit over a strategy disagreement) brought to full fruition. Beanscene never went down the licensed route and hit trading difficulties soon after he left: it has since been relaunched under new ownership.
Evolving the concept
Richardson said: "While Caffé Luna is in many ways the natural evolution of the Beanscene concept in a more expansive space that lends itself to music-based offerings, Libertine is a bar and casual dining facility and is very much performance based through its extension of the 'house gig' concept."
S&NPE's commercial manager Stephen Rooney told The Publican: "The deal is certainly rather different from the standard pubco-lessee arrangement.
"Key elements of the typical lease, like the beer tie, remain, but beer won't be such a big element as in a traditional bar.
"The accent throughout will be on premium products and that will be reflected in the beer offer. The service credentials will be noticeably high throughout, and it will have broad appeal beyond typical pub customers."
He added: "We see the deal as more of a joint venture than the standard idea of a lease, and with Gordon's track record it's one we're confident is going to work very well for both parties."
He points to last year's launch by S&NPE of a major out-of-town newbuild riverside destination venue, The Boathouse, as an existing example of "lateral thinking" designed to create new trading opportunities.
"It's a partnership deal too," said Rooney, "in that case with operator Malcolm Binnie, who has been successful in developing large, food-led canal-side venues."
He added: "At the same time the vast majority of the S&NPE pubs are operating well as good versions of the traditional pub - this is about adapting sites to profitable use where a particular new approach is likely to be a success."