British Pub Week deserves even greater trade support
John Ellis, licensee of the Crown Inn in Oakengates, Shropshire says Pub Week went well but there is more to come.
In 15 years of running a pub, I've seen quite a few 'promotional weeks' come and go. Perm any combination from 1) British/National; 2) Pub/Beer/Cask Beer/Cask Ale weeks; organised by 3) IFBB/CAMRA/Cask Marque/others: have any lasted more than one or two years?
The concept of a promotional week works in lots of industries. So, why has the pub business started so many and given up so quickly? My view is that they have not addressed the fundamental needs of the licensees and their customers. Most weeks have lasted seven days only. Now that may sound logical but there is no reason why, in a promotional activity, a week should be so precise.
In a leisure-based industry, every 'week' should have two bites at the 'weekend-cherry' by running from a Friday to the Sunday nine days later. It should meet the needs of the licensee, by trying to gain trade at a slack time of year. It should meet the ability of the customer to participate by taking place when they have (at least) some discretional spend available and are not likely to be away on holiday. Putting on events when there is no additional revenue to be gained serves no-one's benefit!
British Pub Week (BPW) has the potential to meet these requirements. I was told in preparing this article that it had run last year but I don't remember it. This year, BPW certainly had a higher profile, so it is clearly moving in the right direction. However, although there can be few in the trade who were unaware of it, I suspect it largely passed by the people that we were trying to attract — the public. For example, I hosted my local CAMRA branch's meeting a couple of weeks before. I asked the branch what it was doing for BPW — blank looks all round. I showed them one of the five BPW full-colour posters I had on display, yet it seemed I was the only person there who had heard of it. Come on, CAMRA, get a grip and get on board! More time spent nationally on supporting pubs and less on advertising bottled beers would be appreciated.
At the Crown Inn, we had a successful week. I had events or bookings every night from a Halloween party on the Saturday, through to live music on Thursday. All events would have taken place anyway and BPW made no difference to the takings in the till. I know of no other pub in my area taking part in this nationally available week and I saw no (non-trade) media coverage. However, I encourage the organisers of BPW to stick with it. It takes time and repetition to get recognition.
It is held at the right time of year — with Halloween and Bonfire Night, it is such a good time to arrange events, but please extend it to 10 days to run from a Friday to a Sunday. Get more bodies on board — CAMRA must be involved as a consumer-based organisation. It will grow if you stick with it!
