Demanding consumers in a tough economy

The latest jobless figures - nearly 2.5m out of work in the last three months of 2010 - made for depressing reading last week. That youth unemployment leapt to a few thousand shy of a million was also worrying.

Before the last general election all the political parties said there would have to be some tough decisions made in order to restore the country's economic health. Most people recognised the public sector would take a hammering and within the pub industry there was an acknowledgment that pubs exposed to areas of (hitherto) high public sector employment would suffer from the sub-sequent ripple effect.

The survey conducted by Local Data Company - showing that 14 per cent of UK high streets are effectively devoid of operating shops and that 10,000 high street retail units are set to close this year - illustrates the sort of sea-change taking place across the country.

Meanwhile the North/South divide rarely looked more gaping, and the shadow of unemployment could well follow similar geographical fault lines.

What has this got to do with pubs, you might ask? Consumers - at least those with some vestige of disposable income after all the bills have been paid - still want to go out and forget their cares, don't they? What better place to do this than a pub?

But sadly it's not that simple. I've lost count of the number of surveys that land on my desk which conclude spending patterns are changing beyond recognition; that while people still want to treat themselves, they are more demanding than ever before.

Mike Saul, of Barclays Bank, echoes these sentiments (see page 14) and urges pubs to use a variety of tools to ensure the punters walk through their door and keep coming back.

Seasoned operators may already apply such techniques, while others may regard advice from a banker on how to lure and keep customers as being the last thing they need.

Yet those with an open mind will surely stand to benefit.