To ask what does your local pub do to impress you?

oooo I forgot. If you have a decent car park, Sunday morning car club for bacon sandwiches and tea/coffee! We have big muscle cars we like to take out on occasion to meet others (all middle aged or retired) and love it on a Sunday morning at a country pub! We are not boy racers, don’t disturb anyone but our cars do bring others who like them and the pubs we use love the extra trade and the photos for social media!

The place we always end up going does the following:

Good and interesting beers
A really decent cider
Reliable food
It has a lively downstairs bit and a quieter upstairs bit.
Board games we can borrow and play.

No pumping music so you can't hear the people you've come out with.

Things I wish it did: good, alcohol free beers/ciders - I think Adnams do the best job of this genre. Their alcohol free ghost ship is excellent and their alcohol free cider is pretty good.

Pudding club once a month
Quiz nights are really popular, ticket includes a basket meal
Breakfast club monthly (full English with unlimited tea/coffee)
Craft evening monthly, usually seasonal such as wreath making in December
History talks
Bingo

I have two local pubs. One is owned and ran by a nasty man that resembles Ebinezer Scrooge. The other is ran by a lovely family. The first one never has any atmosphere and the staff are either unpleasant or miserable. The second is always a lovely place and the staff are all great. So definitely the owners and management make a big difference in my opinion. You sound lovely and thoughtful so I’m sure your pub is lovely too

Our local country pub had a toy bit like that for the kids which was great but they had to stop it because people kept stealing the toys!

Some places just have a good feeling. We are in London so it's a bit different but visit a particular village frequently and one pub is rammed constantly, every single evening and its all down to feeling like a local pub. Tankers behind the bar type vibe. They also every night have some local thing going on. So at this time of year its all about wreaths, decorations, etc but other things happen all year. Knitting or crochet clubs slap bang in amongst the pub, not tucked away in rooms right slap in your way so you have to work your way around them.

Sounds a pain right, but it really works for making others want to see what's going on, closing up the space so it feels cosy...honestly even writing it feels bizarre but it's sort of aspirational when you see a big wooden central table all chattering and moving around it...like Santa's workshop or something.

I really hope you do well, the fact you are asking people you deserve it to work.

I would usually pick a pub out of the way because I’m meeting friends and family for dinner. I pick places that have decent, interesting food (not things like chili, hunter’s chicken, lasagne, etc). Good vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free options. A garden with a small children’s playground is a godsend. It allows the adults to have a long leisurely lunch and the children to burn off some energy out the way of other guests so they can hopefully sleep in the car on the way back!

If you added a small indoor play space for kids so they could play while their parents ate in peace, I would drive a fair bit to visit you. It doesn't have to be anything too fancy like a fitted soft play but a few sets of giant Lego, a box of second-hand brio, a robust doll's house or play kitchen or even some soft play pieces with mats in a corner would be great. Yes, children should be learning to sit at table, but the reality is that the u-5s at least want to move and fiddle with things. Though I realise this is a bit niche and depends what market you're trying to appeal to - if not families with small kids, then ignore.

I often Google "pubs or restaurants with play areas" when looking for places to visit. There are surprisingly few with even a small area indoors.

One of our locals does a pizza & drinks offer every night between 8-9pm, one large pizza and 2 drinks (cocktails included) for £10.

It's always absolutely rammed and a lot of the time you have to actually book a table. They have the most beautiful decor, cleanest toilets I've ever seen with lovely hand soaps and lotions, a real fireplace. They recently put up their Christmas decor and it's incredibly cosy.

Weekly quiz nights, at which each table receives a basket of packets of complimentary crisps and peanuts (basket size dependant on table size). Sometimes bowls of chips for each table. It’s not a big draw but it’s a nice touch!

Breakfast with all you can drink tea/coffee. Depending on your demographic really good tea and coffee and homemade cakes.

And if you have one pudding, just one, that is gluten and dairy free/vegan, i would drive to your pub from miles away!

My SIL says the same thing. She struggles to get a decent vegetarian meal because a lot of pubs just go for the lowest common denominator. Our local pub has one vegan/vegetarian option on their limited menu. However, there is usually the option to add cheese or prawns if desired.

Two meals for £12, Monday to Thursday.
Two cocktails for £10.
Live music/comedy acts.

A good quiz. Top prize is a £50 voucher to be spent at the pub - we won and returned the following evening with DH's cousins who were visiting and spent an awful lot more than the voucher value (dinner for 10) so the quiz gave them good custom on two nights.

Another one near us has a coffee and cake guy who rents the space in the morning.

If you have a nice cosy seating area you could perhaps run a book club on your quietest night? Look up silent book club - people turn up, buy a drink and peacefully read for an hour (hopefully buying more drinks!) then have a chitter chatter.

Really really good food. I won’t go out of my way for your average pub grub but we will travel for a pub that serves quality food, decent roast dinners.

Also having an active Instagram/social media page is key. If we look at going to a pub for food then we look up the pub on Instagram and look at the pictures of the food they serve to see if it looks any good.

Decent pub garden, out door play bit for kids in the summer.

Dog friendly.

Pensioners special afternoon, set menu and bingo after.

A really good quiz night- packed in our local every Thursday because the quizmaster is funny and makes it a great night. Questions plus open the box and Play your cards right. Free snacks.

Buskers night, get someone from the local music scene to organise it and bring their pals.

Do you have good walks or cycle rides in your area. My favourite pub has maps on its website and features on social media of local routes that start and finish at the pub.

If you are dog friendly then offer treats to all dogs and make a big fuss of them (my dog drags me into the local pub!). There's also a 'dog of the week' photo posted on the pub's social media.

Good food!

Our village pub used to be like that and it really put lots of people off. It felt like the landlady was running it as her personal social group fir her mates

since she left and a new landlord took over, regulars are welcome to prop up one bit of the bar but the main bit is completely free of stools so no one can sit there. So much more welcoming

Gosh sounds like our village pub , and exactly the reason we don't go anymore

You seem to have a fairly good and varied selection of activities - maybe Themed nights with food to match, e.g Cowboys and Indians along with BBQ and Baked Beans or something out of season like Christmas in July - do the Christmas theme with silly jumpers, put a tree up and serve Christmas Dinner.

Good customer service.
Clean loos
No country and western songs on repeat.

People that care.

local pub to us, reopened after many years closed. Ask people to support the pub etc. When you go in, no one at the bar. You have to wait to be seated in a empty room, then walk back to the bar to order, order drinks, then wait for ages listening to country and western on repeat.

We want to support it, but the staff don’t ever seem bothered if we do or not,

Agreeing with all the above - it's quite a lot, you'll have to pick and choose! Being a focal point really matters; it requires more effort than in the old days when pubs just were the focal point. A Facebook page with frequent events & updates is needed.

Also agree about chips. All day if at all possible.

My little contribution is outdoor seating with shelter and heaters for smokers! The fresher-breathed majority might feel we deserve to shiver in the rain, but that's no way to keep our bar tabs running.

Get rid of the noisy boys propping up the bar! We don't use our village pub at all because it feels like going to a drink in someone's living room

We have a busy pub at the end of our road which lots of people travel to but locals tend to avoid as the food isn't great. It has a huge garden and in the summer it's tanking with families.

Our preferred option is a lovely old fashioned Inn a few miles away that do amazing food, change their beers/ales regularly, welcome dogs and have a dog menu, have lots of non alcoholic options and do a car park carvery for the local walkers (it's right on the side of a mountain). The staff are so friendly, it's lovely every time we go.