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

[PubFairyGodmother]

Totally posting for traffic!

I run a small village pub. We’re off the main road, people have to be coming to our village to find us.

We open 6 days a week, all day, serve food at lunch and dinner times. We have a main bar, a smaller room and a function room. These additional rooms are regularly used by local groups for meetings - we don’t charge for the rooms for local groups, but people buy drinks and they help make the place feel busy mid-week.

We have 2 darts teams, regular monthly quizzes. We’ve stepped back from regular live music, so many places do it, the local bands can always be seen somewhere else next week (ie no incentive to come to the sticks) and they charge a lot, it doesn’t always make financial sense.

I’m just wondering if any of your local pubs do something that you think “oh that’s a good idea!”? Let’s face it, I doubt we’ll be in competition! Anything in the pub or anything online? I need to find some untapped markets to keep our lovely pub going!! Thank you

I mean, totally posting for traffic - I need help! (Please)

Delicious vegan options. 😊

If you're in the sticks then some really nice non-alcoholic drinks options for drivers. Good coffee too. Could you do something during the day - coffee/cake?

Super reliable regular kitchen open times are great. Mid week nice simple hearty food. Good kids menu if kids are welcome.

Maybe "come and learn darts" for beginners? A ladies' darts team if you don't have one.

Over next few weeks our village pub is doing a write a letter to Santa afternoon/evening for the children with hot chocolate & mice pies, mince pie eating competition, Christmas fair, Carol singing. I know it’s easier with a theme but it’s about getting ppl through the door so hopefully they come back at other times :)

As above, it's great to go to a pub and get a decent vegan meal. The one across the road from me (in a village) doesn't have a vegan menu but does 'veganise' some of the veggie dishes and it's always great. They are an eating pub but do have a small bar and a large outside area with heaters.

Ours has bingo once a fortnight. I don't go but lots of the older locals and much younger ones do. It's really popular.

They also have a loyalty stamp card. If you buy 9 main meals then you get one free. They also do it if with hot drinks as well.
Everyone that has a meal is entered (you write your name on the back of the recipe) into a draw every month as well where you can win that meal again. You get free pudding on your birthday.

They have poker nights, quiz nights, dominos and darts.

The other pub locally has banned children after 2pm. Which has been very popular but only really works as they did it after chatting with the other pub - who have installed a soft play and have a very child friendly menu.

Gluten free options. I often travel to find nice pubs with GF options on the menu.

Decent food (good quality pub grub, not too pricy), regular menu changes and great service.

Not shut down and be replaced by a block of flats. Their roast dinner is alright. But it's really expensive. I can't afford to go for more than one pint every couple of weeks! It's very near, like 20 seconds away. I guess that's convenient!

My local pub has no veggie or vegan food so I go to a pub a bit further along.

Something good for children to do - unusual puzzles, mocktails, build your own sundae etc so that as parents you’re not spending the entire time entertaining them.

Also themed nights.

clear pricing is a bonus, eg I recently enjoyed a bottomless brunch which was a fixed price, I think people like to know exactly what they’ll be spending in advance.

agree with the poster who said about great drinks for drivers, advertise this if you can!

theres a pub near us that does crafting sessions eg a Christmas door hanger.

Also the bigger pub is at the heart of everything - they have a santas grotto, they host the firework display, they do a cheap soup & sandwich January blues menu, they collect for the food bank and uniform bank. They have a book swap shelf.

Basically they make themselves the go to place in the village for everything.

Yes, came to say this.

Good but not too try-hard food, eg really good hunter's chicken, chilli con carne, and a good Sunday roast. Plus a decent salad/veggie option.

Clean loos.

Super friendly service.

Dog-friendly.

Decent alcohol free options!

My local does a big meat raffle once a month, in partnership with the local butcher......it's VERY popular!

Not regular things but:

NYE ticketed night - a Vegas themed one was really good
Fireworks display with a couple of rides around Nov 5th
Breakfast with Santa?

Open fire

We have a gorgeous pub walkable distance to us but my husband prefers the one we have to drive to because of the selection of draft beers on offer.

The pub we go to does excellent big standard pub grub, nachos, chilli, burgers, chunky chips, pies. Also an excellent red wine you can't seem to get in a super market.

Another pub near us runs frequent quiz nights, and this past weekend had a curry van outside so you ordered your food and ate it inside at the table you had pre booked. Place was packed.

Cheery non-snooty staff, a ready smile and happy to chat also goes a really long way.

They sell a plain cheese sandwich. No salad or other crap, just butter and cheese.

Are you active in your local village Facebook group op (and local groups?) - IME the most successful village pubs are the ones that do a really good job of embedding themselves in the local community.

It sounds like you're doing a great job of this already so you maybe just need to shout about it a bit more?

Maybe post semi-regular photos of dishes and prices on local fb groups to encourage people to come on a weeknight so they don’t have to cook (I’ve been persuaded by this on more than one occasion 😂).

Also agree with pp who said good coffee and cake!

A book exchange. Bring a book and take one from the bookshelf near the bar, enjoy a pint while reading.

Becoming known for doing a really good Sunday roast is also a big draw in our area.

A tie in with a local food delivery service

And yes, clean loos!

Have a separate Gluten free menu. We drive miles to pubs that have a gf menu. It doesn’t even have to be particularly big, and will just be adaptations to existing menu items. There’s a gf app (Find Me GF) that’s just a map of gf establishments (not entirely gf but cater for coeliacs). If you’re registered on there you’ll get lots of extra customers. It makes a huge difference being able to choose from even 4 or 5 options, than being forced to eat the solitary gf item on the menu.