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

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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

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

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.

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!

I was going to say live bands, our favourite pub has good live music on every few weeks. Other than that, it's an old fashioned pub (with older locals) with a good range of drinks that are not too expensive. They are the only local pub that don't serve food either. It's always really busy compared to the other pubs nearby that have mostly customers in their early 20s, they have had problems with drugs.

Flexibility. When I'd recently moved, I walked out of a local pub because they wouldn't do a kid's roast dinner on mother's day. I think for the cost of just doing a small plate of roast and charging me £10 for it, they've lost customers who were looking for a go-to pub for special occasions.

Ours has gastro/restaurant quality food but a cheap lunch menu that changes every weekday. It’s under £10.
Big garden.
Child-friendly and loads of high chairs etc.
They kick kids out at night.
No music (except for a piano), low lighting.
One off events: whiskey and wine tastings, carol singing, etc. They did a Brexit drown your sorrows thing. But not so many that it becomes frequent.
We think it’s perfect.

open mic
comedy night
wreath making
christmas crafting
carols with local brass band

Has a miniature ride-on train that goes round the beer garden

Life drawing in the function room upstairs

Child free area.

A regular quiz night. That's what makes me want to go to a pub!

One local restaurant gives me a little sticker book and colouring pencils when I go there with my young children. It makes the meal a lot less stressful particularly if I want to take them out by myself. It also makes me feel welcome to go there with my children. I’ve seen them available wholesale online and cost peanuts so it seems well worth it to get customers in.

A walkers group is super popular here organised by and they meet at the pub, then back there for lunch. It's always packed on walkers day.

they have really good food
weekend roasts
open mike

I spend a lot of time in pubs it seems. Loads of good suggestions so will say what not to do!

• poor beer/cider/wine selection and only J20 juices and off beer
• bar snacks: only option is £7 for a small bowl of ‘hand picked nuts’ when I just want a packet of crisps
• bleach/mould/wet dog smell. Went in one pub recently and it was AWFUL. We left. A cloth that smelled like mold had been used to clean tables and the whole place reeked
• Comfortable seating, arranged in a sensible way

Our local pub has a community cafe. Very popular with us oldies and the school run mums.

Wow some of these suggestions are fantastic.
All I ask for is a really great crusty roll with cheddar and onion, sometimes you don’t want a full lunch just a drink and a lovely crusty bread roll, butter with a proper filling.

Ours does a parent/ baby toddler morning. Free toast and juice for the little uns and the parents get to enjoy a coffee or two. They put out toys/ blocks/ books etc and the kids play. It's 9:30-11:30 and was a life saver on maternity leave as it was regular and broke up the day and was a change of scenery for just the cost of a coffee or two.

our mean landlord caused the pub to close down - he banned loads of people and bitched about people and was so miserable he had no customers so he was even more miserable.
actually two pubs in the vicinity closed down,

Different perspective, but my village local changed hands c.2 years ago & has changed for the worse ! This might give you some clues.

Proper dinners Fri-Sun made by a trained cook, v re-heated stuff from Brakes 6 days per week.

For lunch, real soup & sarnies with quality bread & ingredients, v crap.

TV only in one bar, v loud sports everywhere & difficult to hold a conversation.

Dogs & children welcomed (they had both), but not allowed to roam free,
v dogs & brats running around & being a nuisance.