Licensees who put up prices are 'foolhardy'

As the Good Pub Guide 2011 editor criticises hikes on pints, Lesley Foottit and Jo Bruce highlight the good work of the award winners.

Licensees who have hiked the price of a pint over the past year have been slammed as "foolhardy" by The Good Pub Guide 2011.

The guide's survey of 1,100 pubs showed the average price of a pint of bitter is £2.80 — a 4% increase on last year.

Surrey again topped the survey to find the most expensive place for a pint, with an average price of £3.08, compared to £2.45 a pint in the West Midlands and £3.07 in London.

Fiona Stapley, guide editor, said: "At a time of very low retail price inflation, and given people's in-creasing tendency to drink much cheaper supermarket beer at home instead of paying high pub prices, the 10p increase in pub prices strikes us as foolhardy."

Pub food prices have also increased by 5% on average, although 30% of pubs were also shown to have reduced their prices.

Stapley said bad service was as big a crime against pub customers as dirty premises, with four in 10 readers reporting poor service, mainly due to staff shortages.

She added: "Customers hate bad service more than they hate dirt. It is a major problem and people won't go back to a pub because of it. Being short-staffed at busy times is a false economy."

The guide calls for the industry to have a "unified approach" to wine measures and offer 125ml measures of wine as standard. Stapley said: "A 125ml measure is the legal alcohol unit advertised so it makes sense for pubs to offer this. Few pubs are."

Pubs will have to offer a 125ml wine glass under the second half of the mandatory code on alcohol retailing, which went live last week.

The 2011 edition of the guide has 132 new main entries, and 1,500 new small entries.

Pubs are selected for entry through reader reports and guide inspections. Stapley said licensees wanting to be featured should send an email containing details of their pub.

Pub of the Year 2011 — Tempest Arms, Elslack, North Yorkshire​

"With good food and drink, a great atmosphere and comfortable bedrooms, the Tempest Arms at Elslack is Pub of the Year 2011. Always deservedly busy, this 18th-century stone inn is stylish but understated, with plenty of pubby character."

• Licensees: Martin and Veronica Clarkson

• Tenure: Individual Inns

• Wet:dry split: 60:40

New things done this year: Martin Clarkson says: "We have refurbished the pub and are constantly upgrading and improving our 21 bedrooms. The rooms have all had upgraded mattresses and bedding, new bedside lamps and tables. We are always adding bits and bobs. In the trading areas we've had a subtle uplift with soft colours and furnishings and more places to sit. People like to feel as though they are in a home from home when they come to the pub. We are selling so much food now and people like a place to sit and have a drink and a conversation afterwards."

What's on offer: "We've done a lot of different things, such as one-off events like our annual chutney festival. It encourages people to enter the competition and have a weekend away. We also did a day with local suppliers and our weekly quiz attracts 60 people now."

Best-selling dishes: Belly of pork with Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, home-made apple sauce and gravy (£10.99); slow-cooked shoulder of lamb with gravy of mint and redcurrant, and potatoes (£11.95); and sticky toffee pudding (£4.95).

What it means: "Winning The Good Pub Guide 2011 Pub of the Year is a super accolade and really puts the cherry on the cake for us. Our talented team of staff has been with us a long time now — some of them for nearly 10 years — so this fantastic award

is a real tribute to them and their dedication. They have stood by us and constantly worked hard."

Dining Pub of the Year 2011 — Potting Shed, Crudwell, Wiltshire​

"Excitingly inventive cooking, a warm welcome for all, and a slightly quirky, relaxed pubby atmosphere combine to make this a proper country pub. They use their own-grown fruit, vegetables and produce from the villagers to whom they've

loaned allotments."

• Licensees: Jonathan Barry, Julian Muggridge and Laura Sheffield

• Tenure: Enterprise Inns lease

• Wet:dry split: 35:65

New things done this year: General manager Laura Sheffield says: "Last year we won national Pub of the Year and that massively increased our turnover. We are fully booked all the time so we have more or less stuck to what we were doing. We have taken on more weddings, with several scheduled for next year. Our Sunday night quizzes are now even bigger and we have started serving food on Sunday evenings. As an American, I am trying to put something together for Thanksgiving for the other Americans in the area, but I think it might end up being a smaller event."

What's on offer: "Over a year ago we split up some of our land into 10 vegetable plots and gave them out to local families to help people learn about natural produce and where it comes from. They can grow their own vegetables and the children get involved."

Best-selling dishes: Beer-battered cod and triple-cooked chips with tartare sauce and mushy peas (£12.50); braised rabbit lasagne with Gruyère cheese sauce, roasted turnips and carrots and garlic bread (£15.95); Potting Shed fish stew with home-made fennel flatbread (6.95).

What it means: "It is amazing. I went screaming across the garden actually. I think we are on to something here with the warmth that we greet people with, which is not something that I encounter at other places. It is partly an American thing, everybody is so warm and friendly over there and I have hired the type of people who have that warmth too. It is a happy company to work for, from top to bottom, with a really nice group of people.

"It means so much to everyone as everyone cares about the business. We will keep doing what we're doing and remain consistent. We will become busier and busier."

Other Winners​

• New Pub of the Year 2011 — Carl O'Shaughnessy, the Ship Inn, Tresaith, Dyfed

• Beer Pub of the Year 2011 — Brian Coulthwaite, the Watermill, Ings, Cumbria

• Country Pub of the Year 2011 — Jon Oldham, the Royal Oak, Ramsden, Oxfordshire

• Town Pub of the Year 2011 — Stella Berry, Turf Tavern, Oxford, Oxfordshire

• Landlord of the Year 2011 — Chris Gibbs, the Red Lion, Kilmington, Wiltshire

• Bargain Pub of the Year 2011 — Stuart Harvey, the Queens Head, Lichfield, Staffordshire

• Unspoilt Pub of the Year 2011 — Claire and Nisa McCutcheon, the Harrow Inn, Steep, Hampshire

• Inn of the Year 2011 — James Walker, the Bathurst Arms, North Cerney, Gloucestershire

• Wine Pub of the Year 2011 — Patrick Groves, Woods Bar and Restaurant, Dulverton, Somerset

• Whisky Pub of the Year 2011 — Sandy Coghill, Sligachan Hotel, Sligachan, the Isle of Skye, Scotland

• Own Brew Pub of the Year 2011 — Peter Atkinson, the Grainstore, Oakham, Rutland

• Brewery of the Year 2011 — Adnams, Southwold, Suffolk

iPhone app​

The Good Pub Guide 2011 has launched an iPhone app today (7 October) to help customers find good pubs wherever they are. The app uses GPS technology to locate the user's position so it can guide them to the nearest quality pub. It also features the full content of the best-selling annual guidebook along with 15,000 images.

More than 5,000 Good Pub Guide-recommended pubs are listed across England, Scotland and Wales. The pubs can be searched using categories such as "good food" or "dog-friendly" to help consumers find the type of venue they are looking for. Stored on phones for speed of use, the app maintains up-to-date information.