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

Kids disco, someone doing balloons and giving them glowsticks. Do it during the day on a weekend and incentivise families to stay for dinner.

Fellow landlady here, ours is a village pub too.
Good local food for lunches and dinners, vege and vegan menu is pretty good too. Local guest ales changed every week, live music every other weekend, bar snacks on Sundays, we have also got a good name for Sunday lunches. Meat raffle every week for a voucher for local butcher there are 3 prizes and only a pound a ticket. People pop in to get a ticket and often stay for a drink. Tea and coffee and a good selection of soft drinks. Christmas party every year with happy hour all night and live music ( staff drink for free and have outside staff working). Christmas meat draw every year, again vouchers for local butcher. Saturday bonus ball so everyone has a number bonus ball wins the cash, 59 pounds. Bingo on a Friday afternoon has boosted us like you wouldn't believe. The bar is full for it, all book money is in prizes and a raffle which we supply a prize for and local charity benefits from it. We are dog friendly which helps such a lot, water bowls and dog treats on the bar. We have 2 cleaners who are just amazing, so important to be clean. Lots of seating in the garden and there's a wooden gazebo if the weather is bad. Happy friendly staff is vital. Also Xmas draw 50 p a square and use it all to buy prizes, again people pop in and stay for a drink. Hope this helps.

Also freshly made rolls every day. Lots of choice and they know they can ask for something to be made if it's not there. Crisps, scratchings and chocolate sell really well too.

Do you have much outdoor space / parking? My local has family fun days on a bank holiday with bouncy castles and local teenagers with their bands playing outside - it's always busy!
They also have a local organic / homemade dog treats supplier with a stall once a month and have a doggy deli get together 😀
Friday nights in the summer are biker nights which are super busy but you need a big car park - lots come along and park the bikes up and everyone goes for a nosy and a look at the elaborate bikes. It's far more friendly than it might look tbh.

Omg - I LOVE a Ploughman’s. Any pub that does this is a winner for me. Once went to a pub up North somewhere and my ploughman’s arrived on 3 different plates. It was EPIC.

Honestly though, if you do really good food, great ales, good selection of gins, good soft drink options, and a real fire / wood burner, you can’t go far wrong. If you need people to book a table for food, a big winner for me would be being able to book online and not having to phone.

An active Facebook page (I’m 45, other younger people may use different social media) is always good. Themed food nights. Maybe start a boozy book club? Discounted dinners for OAPs on certain days / once a month? One free drink on your birthday (must show driving licence / passport / birth certificate), buy 2 large wines and get the rest of the bottle free. Sponsor a local sports team so you get your name on their shirts. Free squash / lemonade for kids when parents buy a drink (not unlimited). Do you know any minibus drivers that could do a pick up and drop home again from your nearest village / town, either you pay them or they offer it at 50p per person to run once an hour or something?

Do you know any minibus drivers that could do a pick up and drop home again from your nearest village / town, either you pay them or they offer it at 50p per person to run once an hour or something?

thats such a good idea! There is sod all public transport or taxi services in rural areas which means ppl having to drive if they can’t (or won’t) walk.

They run afternoon events when they would usually be more quiet so Saturday late morning till early afternoon Halloween craft market, or Xmas market with local vendors, film screenings, video game or board game sessions.

Good selection of quality hand-pulls preferably from local breweries if you have any and maybe a craft tap. Decent wine. Dog friendly. Kids curfew

Oh and friendly, chatty staff.

I think that’s fair. Decide who your demographic is.

Stuff that worked well in the pub in the village we used to live in was being attuned to the seasons, a bonfire night bonfire, an Easter egg hunt, games in the garden for children at Halloween, and dressed up skeletons at the bar — people came in after trick or treating to eat and drink, and the atmosphere was always lovely (though I’m sure some locals avoided it on those nights). It opened for coffee for the school run SAHPs in the mornings. But actually, I went there because it had a wood fire in winter and a lovely garden with a view over open countryside on summer evenings, with horses leaning over the stile. . It had an Aunt Sally and a boules ground, which was home to two teams who were active in leagues, so a lot of business came that way.

Pub quiz? We love that

I was actually about to say please don't veganise the veggie options. Often now there is no true veggie option, just vegan, and actually vegan food is SO much more restrictive lots of people don't choose it, straightaway no cheese, milk, cream, eggs.
I personally hate that so many menus now are overwhelmed with vegan options which are often very low calorie and kids and teens don't find them appetising so won't eat them, so the end result is quite a restricted menu for most people.
I know vegan options are important but some places now they are 2/3rds of the menu and honestly they don't fill me up and i feel they are also poor value - same cost as other options but bulked out with some very cheap ingredients.

This ... do a Xmas themed day for the kids with Santa.

Play area? We used to take ours to the ones that had those -then they became for toddlers only and gave the older ones screens instead (eye roll but not on my phone and don't know how to do that on my laptop!)
Dog free? Unless you get a lot of walkers that have dogs, obviously.
Competitions/free prize draws - think someone already suggested that. Do they still do comps on beer mats? I'd come just for that.
Good luck!

Good Sunday roast
Santa for the kids day
Mince pie and mulled wine day
Bingo
Quiz night

Yes agreed! Vegan cheese is not remotely a substitution for proper cheese.

Go back to the 90s have have a good old disco !!
A pub near me does this and it’s packed !
They also put on a free bus back into town where it lively still an after 11pm !!

I'll travel miles for GF fish and chips in a pub... but if the loos are grubby I won't come back a second time

A really good Sunday roast
A good pub quiz
Bingo night sounds fun!
I'm a sucker for twinkly lights and an open fire

Food van outside to eat in if drinking (this can cover vegan/gluten free/ etc)
live music
mum and baby coffee mornings
bottomless brunch
daytime disco
reliable opening hours
good drinks range
friendly staff!
clean toilets
OAP events

pubs need to be a community centre so think along those lines. If you don’t want to run the events ask outside providers.

good luck!

Host the village bonfire and fireworks party. And do events during the village 'gala' weekend.

They work closely with the village events team to make sure they are involved in all these big events, which then gives them the opportunity to sell drinks and food (outside takeaway for the event) to those attending.

Decent house wines for less than a fiver a glass

I fear this may be a contradiction in terms, unless you mean a 125ml

I haven't read the whole post but for me:

• don't try and make vegetarians eat vegan. I love eggs and cheese and it makes us feel forgotten

-I have always said if I can get good sandwich and some chips with my pint ..it would be amazing. 8 don't always want a fancy meal. -craft evenings: wreath making, candle making, arm knitting, "wine and paint". I love a couple of hours escapism and mindfulness

Snacky mix n matchy foods for when you just want a few pints and something that isn’t a full meal.

Sensibly priced drinks, nothing too expensive. Our local Wetherspoons is very successful because the drink prices are so cheap. Nice place as well.
Good selection of reasonably priced soft drinks
No dogs inside.
Some gluten free food
Friendly, the sort of place that women can go in and sit on their own without being hassled.
Good pub quiz