The evolution of proper pubs

Sometimes you have to earth all the twaddle you hear about the pub industry with common sense.

Customers are not mugs — they reward or punish pubs with their hard-earned cash, based on whether or not they offer value and/or quality. Greene King's Proper Pubs campaign is clever because it has seized upon one of the bits of verbal shorthand that customers use to pass judgement on whether a pub matches up or not. When you look around the industry there are plenty of beacons of hope as our best retailers excel in running proper pubs.

One such beacon of hope is the Morning Advertiser's 200 club of private multi-site retailers. Our survey of these 200 companies shows that the vast majority

are in growth.

This year we added 50 companies to our list as we came across them. Next year. in 2011, we will add another terrific 50 multi-site companies we've discovered to the list. It's a vibrant and growing community, prospering as the sector throws up more site opportunities than there have been in a generation.

And more multi-site companies are springing up as single-site operators back themselves to repeat their success. This month, James Amico and business partners Jonathan and Tracey Lea, open their second pub, the Talbot Inn at Cuckfield, West Sussex, after their first site, the Half Moon, in Warninglid, established itself with a weekly turnover Mitchells & Butlers would be happy with. In Lewes, East Sussex, Rebecca Misich and Paul Hutchinson re-opened the Kings Head — a former Pubs 'n' Bars venue — after runaway success at their first pub, the Foragers in Hove.

Sensibly priced​

Existing multi-site companies are adding sites as sensibly priced pubs come on the market — or tenanted companies strain to attract them with sensible terms. Proper pubs don't need to be fossils. Serial entrepreneur Martin Webb, who sold C-Side for £15m at the turn of the millennium, is back to open proper pubs.

His latest opening, the Stoneham, is located in an unlikely part of Brighton, but breathes life into an unloved Brakspear pub. Local media describes it as a "stunning real pub" with a log fire, real ale and locally sourced ingredients, but with an excellent pizza-based menu. Our best retailers are looking at restaurant rivals and modernising the proper pub offer.

Take the British Institute of Innkeeping's (BII's) Licensees of the Year Richard and Loren Pope, who are keen to join the ranks of the multiples after huge success at the Bulls Head in Repton, Derbyshire. Their pub blends dining customers with drinking regulars. The Popes have also bought a stunning brick pizza oven, identical to one celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has at home — their fresh, delicious pizza is grabbing take-away custom as well as delighting sit-in customers. They're serving proper pizza in a proper pub environment.