MY PUB: The Venture Inn, Reigate, Surrey

The Star Pubs leased site is operated by John McDonagh, who has been in situ at the Venture for two decades.

Here, McDonagh tells The Morning Advertiser all about the pub.

The pub

The Venture Inn is a family-oriented premium pub offering food six days a week, showing live sport and hosting live music at the weekend.

It is a Star Pubs leased pub, which I am happy with as I have a very good relationship with them.

It was a two-bar, male-dominated pub called the Desert Rat when my father and I took on the lease in 1998.

We completely modernised the interior, creating one bar, and replaced the frosted glass with clear windows to broaden its appeal.

In 2001, we renamed it the Venture Inn to reflect the pub’s change in direction.

We sell a lot of draught beers and introduced wine and gin menus and premium products to give residents a piece of London on their doorstep as many people from London have moved to the town. Since Covid, low & no drinks have become big sellers for us.

The publican

I have been in the licensed trade for 30 years, 20 of which have been at the Venture Inn.

My father and I used to run a holdings company, looking after pubs for breweries, prior to deciding to concentrate on just one.

The location in Reigate really appealed to us. Reigate is near Gatwick, the M25 and transportation links into London.

It’s also on the edge of the Surrey Hills, so lots of people were moving to the area including businesses. It was a case of the right time, right place.

We could see the pub’s potential and, at the time, made changes to the pub that were quite novel for Reigate, such as moving away from optics.

The trade

The Venture Inn is in a residential area of the town opposite a school and near a park.

It has a broad appeal including office workers in the day, residents in the evening and families at the weekend.

Our live sports, which we show on six TVs, is also a pull and residents use the pub as a meeting place.

Some 90% of our trade is drinks.

The team

We have a front-of-house manager with a team of 10 bar staff, who work behind the bar and serving customers at their tables.

We franchise the kitchen, taking a percentage of the food revenue to cover the cost of overheads such as heating, electricity and waiting staff.

The franchisee is responsible for the three members of kitchen staff. We have been working with different franchisees since 2007. We were one of the early adopters of the model.

We took the kitchen back in house for a short while but realised it was more viable as a franchise because Reigate is a town full of restaurants.

We work closely with the kitchen team to ensure the menu works for our customers and monitor sales as everything, including takeaways, goes through our tills. Customers just get one receipt so aren’t aware of the set-up.

The drink

We mainly serve draught beer – it’s about 60% of our business. Our biggest seller at the moment is Guinness. Other popular premium beers include Birra Moretti, Heineken and Cruzcampo.

Over the years, people have started moving towards low & no alcohol beverages. I really noticed the change after Covid.

The impetus is people looking after themselves more and wanting to be more productive the next day. It’s helped that the products have improved a lot. We sell a lot of Heineken 0.0 on draught. It was a real game-changer as soon as it was served in a glass.

We also have a separate low & no fridge and I get invited to give talks on our offer, which is ever increasing.

We used to have a menu of 50 to 60 gins, but gins sales are dropping off in favour of the latest trend, rum. We have 10 to 15 rums. My feeling is long Tequilas, popular in America, rather than shots, will be the next thing, though it will take time to take off.

The food

We serve Spanish tapas food in the evening and grilled food. Popular dishes include fish, chorizo, calamari and patates.

The menu has dishes in Spanish as well as English to underline their authentic origin. This operation is franchised.

The events

As well as showing live sports, we host acoustic live music acts every weekend.

Given our location opposite the school, we get a lot of parents and teachers coming in for socials. The size of the pub and the layout means customers can hire an area for private get-togethers.

Because we have a strong family following, we go big on Halloween and Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we have Father Christmas stopping on the pub on his route around the town, which is a great pull.

The future

It’s important to keep our offer fresh and our surroundings looking great, so we will be doing an internal and external refurbishment in the coming months with Star Pubs.

It will include new signage, lighting and frontage, as well as an interior redecoration and new furniture.