Pubs – Social Evolution.

There simply is not the demand for stinky smelly stale beer pubs with dirty toilets any more. Are you proposing WE save these pubs and who is WE.

Places where people want to go and socialise do not include those places where groups of middle to old aged men stand at the bar half pissed swearing and leering at young women, if they are lucky enough for any young women to be in the pub.

Times have changed. There simply is no need for 30% of the current UK stock of pubs opening and making a loss hence they close, repoen to make the same mistakes and close agin, reinventing themselves and then attracting the same customers! Vicious circle or social evolution.

It doesn’t matter if anyone disagrees the facts are staring at all of us.

The World has changed in the last 10 years like no other 10 years ever (or think we know!), societies have changed and old traditonal pubs haven’t. Ancient civilisations from over 4000 years ago just disappeared so a few 1000 pubs not able to stay open because they cant change with the times isn’t difficult to understand is it?

Those that haven’t needed to change are those featured on the recent TV programme, The Pub Dig!

Supported by strong local communities and providng good strong customer service with food, it’s all about the food! Society has become fatter and hungrier for food washed down by wine. Yes, Beer makers are seeing increases in production and that doesn’t mean there is a demand for more pubs it just means the ones remaining open are serving more in their pubs!

There will be a tipping point in about 5 – 10 years times when there wont be a need to open more pubs but the ones open will be just great. The next genration are will us now and it is they who are dictating the change it was they that started the change 20 years ago.

But then they are fickle, so who are WE really saving the pub for? 40+ year old men that don’t really go out as much as they used and drink the same voumes they used to?

Are the 40+ year olds the ones that are petitioning to save 20% tax on pies or marching the streets to stamp out youth crime and muggings. People don’t want to venture out into the big society where drug and drink fuelled idiots roaming the streets.

A 91 year old woman attacked in her own home beaten to near death and had a finger severed off last week.

500,000 people petitioning to stop the drug and drink fuelled youths carrying out this behaviour would be better spent that trying to save failed pubs. maybe people would go out more if they felt safe.

It’s the pubs that serve these characters in our societies that are closing, so let them close.

PUB is HUB has been running for over 7 years now and claims to have saved hundreds of pubs, mostly rural pubs struggling for business. Supported by Prince Charles, the charity is doing wonders??? I beg to differ, the pubs they are helping don’t need the help. Claire set up Pub is Hub around 5 years ago.

Who is this WE, local communities are petitioning acros the country against plannning permission to change closed down pubs into something else, they challenge the developers on grounds that they will loose their pub but how many of them actually used it before it closed???

In the deepest of rural of France there are no local pubs for miles and miles and yet the communities are the most closely knitted in Europe seeing and meeting each other every week for food and drink celebrations.

I can walk out of my house and pass 10 neighbors, greet them with a smile and hello and do well to get a grunt back from at least 1 of them (ok slight exaggeration there are some really happy people around me).

My local town has over 10 pubs in the high street and the local hairdresser sums it all up when a customer, says they are meeting a friend later and is there a good pub to have a drink in, yeah out of the town says the hairdresser!

Most places across the UK are in depression and most pubs open that are not full of happy families are filled with people close to dispair! So who is the WE because how I see it is there are plenty of pubs open to visit that are very good indeed. Depressed and not so depressed areas, is the pub in Marlow high street still boarded up, the one opposite Wetherspoons on the same side as the premier inn just before the bridge?

I had a great sunday lunch just outside Macclesfield at the weekend, it was packed (150 – 200 covers) The roasts were £15 each, London prices! Compared with a small pub we were in 2 weeks ago in North London The Sutton Hall freehouse just outside of macclesfield wins hands down.

Some news from UK pubs today

Pub chain toasts £10m investment
Insider Media
Wear Inns, which has a chain of pubs across Yorkshire and the North East, has secured a £10m funding boost from the Business Growth Fund (BGF) and NVM Private Equity. BGF has invested £8m and NVM has invested a further £2m in the business

Campaigners call time on pub closures
Bradford Telegraph and Argus
Real ale lovers in Bradford fear a rising number of pub closures is “ripping the heart out of the community” after a report revealed 21 locals in West Yorkshire have closed in six months. Members of Bradford branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) …

Profits soar for Fullers and Greene Green, M&B ride high on their food trade, What is the WE trying to save?

The last website designed for a British pub has already had an impact on locals and now the Landlady hopes to attract more visitors to the 15th Century Pub with B&B Rooms.

The Plasterers Arms in Gloucestershire had been without a website for 11 years and with traditional pubs and inns competing for the same business it was the right time to go online to show what is on offer.

The new website is designed to reflect the pubs location and is a chance for people from all across the UK to find this traditional British pub with a lot of history.

The next stage of being online will be to focus on interacting with customers through social networking sites.

Pub & Hotel website designs are carried out by Think Cloud Studio for details please contact AM Communications.

With no human intervention when abuse is rampant and action needed quickly, is it any wonder the generation of business owners against change find it difficult embrace the internet and a powerful marketing tool (a good website).

To reverse the damage done by individuals and to remove damaging negative reviews is near on impossible.

At best the only thing a business owner can do is try to counter the negative comments made. And the way to counter the bad press isn’t always by trying to remove it!

Beer in the Evening (BITE) has long been criticised for allowing ex-employees and disgruntled pub goers to voice complaints (that are more often than not made up), at times it would appear when they are still under the influence!

So how many of the sensible people looking for places to meet up can read a drunk persons comments and cut through the made up and sublime? Bitter drunk people often make no real sense so it should be easy to detect right. This doesn’t make the bad reviews disappear so there is a step by step process for removing bad reviews.

BITE has also been accused of many things since the new owners took over the site in 2008. With not so much focus on providing visitors with accurate information and more about being another faceless automated system ticking along off its own steam. (not surprisingly the site has dropped off Google recently)

Human intervention is all so important for a website with a review system in place. Ironically the Pub Rooms directory removed the review system despite being human focused, the reasons ironically again, were because Trip Advisor was seen as a service not to reckon with. Website popularity decides who is winning and Trip Advisor has a good market share of internet users and the main reason is because it provides reviews. So, you have a few bad comments, is this a reason to hate Trip Advisor or a reason to ensure your good reviews out number the bad. The latter of course and here is the only way to ride through to the other side. Of course there may be off moments and you may encounter a genuine bad review just take it on the chin and move it forward.

Bad reviews not being dealt with can cause damage to businesses in the real World and this is why most businesses try to ensure the customer doesn’t leave with a bad experience resulting in a future bad trip advisor review.

So how do you overcome this?

Simple. You give every customer a small leaflet or a compliment slip as they used to be known as! On this compliment slip you thank your customer for, eating, drinking or staying with you. If possible ask if there were any issues (the people who have had issues you know about and it’s these that are the ones leaving bad comments, some people you will never please!). Present the piece of paper to the customer and instruct / request kindly that they visit Trip Advisor, Yelp, Or Preferrably Google Places and write a short / brief review of their experience with you. Emphasis that it’s only if they get a minute and it would be appreciated. Hell, give them a voucher with 10% off upon their return visit! Do this and your number of positive reviews will out number your negative by a ratio that makes the bad reviews meaningless.

And now for the killer blow, people are actively subconscioulsy drawn to negative reviews and recent research shows that people will stay on a website page if they see something negative! Especially of course, if they are on a review page. This makes perfect sense right. The interesting finding is that a negative comment actually reinforces the positive comments so, given you have a number of positive comments out numbering the negative your much likely to be a winner over someone who just has all positive reviews.

All positive reviews? Must be something wrong there!

What are you waiting for, get your compliment slip designed and printed and start smiling to your customers, get them to the review sites and get them writing about you. If there is something not so good you don’t like, accept it and improve upon it.

Need graphic design or this review strategy setting up?

Complete the form below and someone will be in touch shortly.

With all the facilities they claim to provide on their website (although it’s a little too flash and not much info) the venue is a delight and will not disappoint.

The Old Queens Head is the perfect setting for every occasion and all kinds of events.

We have a selection of exclusive booth areas which can accommodate parties from 10 to 30 people, or if you are in need of your own private space, we have a beautiful function room which can accommodate up to 150 people and comes equipped with its own bar, live PA, DJ set up & projector.

To discuss your special occasion simply call us or fill in the form to the right of this page.

People are passionate about their beer and the history of it. Shepherd Neame one of Britains Oldest Brewers goes back a few hundred years, yet brewing beer on the Lans we know as England goes back to the Romans and no doubt a bit further.

Whilst modern beers are brewed in the same old ways modern brewers are looking to the future and developing techniques that not even Aristotle could have thought about.

The recent programme in Britain called Pub Dig has been focusing on the history surrounding pubs of old and with no real surprise they are unearthing remnants of the past that stir new claims for pub owners being the oldest in the UK.

Are you Britains Oldest pub? You’ll have to get a little archelogical to stake your claim and even then you cannot be sure your current pub is an origin site. And is the site where beer was made and drunk enough to fast forward a claim by your 200 year old pub.

So what consitutes the oldest pub in Britain. Surely it has to be still standing with people standing in it and beer being served? With a date going back to when the pub was built we have a winner?

Obviously this is not good enough for some who want to stake claim to being the oldest pub and why is it so important.

We asked a few lanlords why they felt it was important to be considered important. Not all replies we write here as most we asked said it was ridiculous that people want to claim being something they are not. It’s about the here and now and yes history is interesting but customers want to be served by the living!

The response was surprising but it was typical of modern pubs who will never be considered the oldest not at least until the current oldest pubs have fallen down.

Can your pub be considered to be one of the UKs oldest pubs if so we’d like to hear your views so leave your comments below.

People are using Pub Rooms because it’s easy to use and each pub on the guide provides a secure contact form direct to the pub or hotel.

To be able to take the pub and accommodation guide to the next level and increase visitor expectations pub rooms has invested further in the technology behind the website front end so future versions will be mobile friendly.

With a new website design planned for 2012 and with more staff the pub website operators are expecting another busy year during 2012.

Despite nearly throwing the towel in when an offer was put on the table during 2011 the owner of the pub-rooms domain decided against selling.  The 6 figure offer was good enough to sell but the website is not just about money, it’s about providing internet users with a fast, easy to use pub finder and this is has a direct impact on booking enquiries for the pubs on the pub rooms guide.

Additional concerns in the last quarter of 2011 came when the internet was becoming a dumping ground for poor pub information websites.  The pub guide sector being saturated with misleading website services had already tipped the point of dissatisfaction.  It seemed that pub guides where springing up for the sake of it.

In 2010 Pub Rooms criticised the new use your local pub guide for offering a service online that many publicans had provided offline for decades.  It wasn’t so much an innovative idea but a successful marketing and PR campaign launched with the backing of the three Worlds largest drink producers.  Whilst it was heralded by industry leaders and winning awards for marketing, it didn’t reach out and help struggling pubs it was merely selling yet another subscription service .  Pub closures are at the highest levels in a decade the last thing they need is another annual subscription for marketing a service they are already doing in the real World.

The message Pub Rooms was broadcasting to pub owners in 2008 was about ownership of marketing and taking their pub website presence seriously.  Despite the message falling on deaf ears the industry has picked itself up and has a strong presence on the internet, people searching for pubs across the UK have a great choice and this makes the industry interesting to be in.

Any pub inn or hotel that wishes to be detailed on Pub Rooms should contact them directly where a free profile page will be setup so that enquiries can go directly to the front of house.

The Bell Inn in Hampshire, I wonder what the customers think it is a pub or a hotel.  It’s probably both but don’t tell the owner.

The first time we encountered a pub owner like this was 2008 and the Landlord of the Roayl Oak in Sussex. ‘The Royal Oak isn’t a pub, O no old boy, we’re not a pub we’re an Inn. We’re very Mr and Mrs Smith’

After this we made Find Inns along with All The Hotels we covered all the basis.  Then shortly afterwards came The Real Ale Guide so we really had all the basis covered. Operationally it’s a headache as the pub / hotel / brewery industry from a pure hospitality point of view is thoroughly disjointed and all so very different from one business to another.

For those that want more business and didn’t realise that for the last 10 we have been putting very successful website solutions together accommpanied with expert advise to compliment existing marketing here is a bit of background.

combining sms technology with the internet I created the first ever site to interact with a mobile device in an ecommerce strategy for car dealers across the UK and was quoted in the Motor Trader back in 2005 predicting the rise of the smart phone and dominating user experience.

AM communications owns over 150 domains and manages over 50. Using state of the art hosting all the solutions that are suggested and implemented work.

The failure point in 99.9% of all websites is the business owner does not put the time in to understand what is necessary to make the website work.

And expects too much from the website for doing little or not paying someone to do what is necessary.

A website does not fix a failing business. It can help if it’s not too late.

It is almost always used as a sticky plaster and however much is spent on the website in relation to the business’ financial state is a sure indication of whether a business will fail or succeed.

A pub website is merely a platform for generating additional traffic to your business should you be remotely or directly associated to the pub / inn / hotel business. And is part of a network of related sites.

For the last 4 years we have heard every conceivable story from this old British Pub / Inn institution from successes to failures.

The people we have enjoyed working with the most are those that are still in business now and are still fighting to serve their great food, drinks and provide additional services when they have them.

Bringing in the customers is going to get easier from now on in. As the recovery starts in full I am not talking about the weather!

Yes, the recovery is about to kick off. If it’s not sustained during 2013 we all might as well move to Norway!

For those who now have a better understanding why not consider how you put your messages out into the World and the UK.

You have a website, you up-date it. Is the traffic bringing in the business as you expect it and like?

If you need and want more business and you do provide great services we can help 100% improve your business.

If you want to do the internet marketing yourself a new series of courses will be available shortly at SEC1 so make sure you bookmark or call to be up-dated.

Have a great day

Now in it’s 10th year the British pub & inn guide wants to celebrate by giving pubs & inns across the UK an opportunity to use a promotional offer scheme to win more business without giving any of their profits away.

The last 5 years has seen a prolific growth in people using internet booking systems and more recently voucher code promotions supplied by third party businesses.

These businesses have been smart to provide the service but the service has nothing to offer pubs and inns of benefit.

A recent report from a British pub claimed they made approx 10p after the promotion was applied. Most pubs entering into these types of coupon and voucher promotions are struggling and in desperation, the last thing they need is for a company to capitalise from a failing business.

One pub in York has been using Groupon for the last 2 months and whilst there are claims the promotions are bring in repeat business the pub also recognises that there is no money being made on these promotions.

Another pub has recently received a tremendous about of interest on a voucher code offer but the jury is still out on whether it was a success.

Pubs still struggling to stay open are finding it difficult to give up these services as they rely on them to bring in enough business just to keep open.

This method of marketing is not sustainable for any type of business but because pubs rely on cash flow this is sometimes the only option, as the promotions do not require money upfront.

No one is to blame, it’s an opportunity technology has opened up for new businesses to provide such a service, yet this type of marketing isn’t in the favour of the business offering the product and service so, it’s the wrong type of marketing, says Peter Jones the marketing director of pub Rooms.

It is a simple case of ill thought out marketing strategies from the very beginning of the business’ life. It is easy for a business to pay someone after they have brought in the business. But it’s not so easy to actually bring in the business and pay before it happens. It’s a mistake to believe free marketing is the best marketing.

If you have a strong brand, strong product, strong service and provide all this with a smile, go out and tell the World what you do!

Why would you want to cheapen your product and service and bring in customers that will never return once they’ve had your offer.

It’s not until after the business has been and gone and the commissions are paid that the business realises they are either working for very little or practically nothing. The worst case examples have been reported by businesses using a coupon services taking at least 40% from the participating businesses, leaving them with as little as 10p profit for each customer received. Compared with what is paid out to the coupon promotion service it is clear to see who the real winners are.

For years Pub Rooms has been informing pubs and inns that they must do more to bring in the business and enquiries directly.

For some reason the pub sector has not been quick to benefit from internet marketing and now it seems those struggling are choosing the wrong methods to market their pub offers, whether they be food accommodation or both.

Pub Rooms is one of a few successful Pub & Inns guides offering visitors the option to deal with the Pubs and Inns directly. It’s down to the Pub to promote their offers on the Pub Rooms internet guide by logging in and publishing their offers.

In a bid to help pubs and inns stay open Pub Rooms is offering a helping hand to struggling pubs, please call 0845 388 1071 to learn how your traditional pub and inn can be helped with internet marketing that works.

For the last 10 years the penny has been slowly dropping that customers no longer wait for pub doors to open, with the possible exception of Wetherpoon pubs.

Real life customers research pubs on the internet before visiting in person or meeting up in groups.  Men no longer go out on their own and pubs are much more family orientated.

It’s for all these reasons and the lack of use of internet marketing that Pub Rooms has joined forces with Smarter Pub to provide help for pubs across the UK.

As each failed pub closes another penny drops but only after it’s too late.  The route cause isn’t the ban on smoking and super markets selling cheap booze.  The route cause is much more simple.
Landlords are not marketing professionals and fail to take advise from experienced marketing people.

Whilst the big players with big marketing budgets go from strength to strength it is clear to see the why they are winners.

Both Fullers and Greene King have just anounced record profist during Christmas 2011 and so has Oakham Inns and Restuarants, so why are they any different?  How can one pub take nearly £70k in one week and another struggle to bring this amount in during the entire year?    Is it really down to marketing.

Being able to throw a marketing agency budget weight behind a good product is easy enough.  Having the good product and service in the first instance is the hard part. The public know what they want so are the any better off knowing what they already knew by smart marketing campaigns.  The Greene King £1.5M campaign to promote real proper pubs almost fell on deaf ears but something worked for them to make a record profit in such tough ecomonic times.

The Flaming Grills and the Sizzling pubs not including Wetherspoon pubs are practically on every high street.

With high visibility the public can see what’s on offer.  The internet is more important when fidning something a bit different is the objective.

This is something the Free House pubs have failed to realise over the last 5 years.  Or at least the ones not able to stay open.

It’s not the reason why so many have failed but it does beg the question, how many would still be open had punters found out about what was on offer through simple internet marketing.

And whilst internet sales on the High Streets indicate gloomy times ahead, is it going to be the same for the pubs and bars on British High Streets during 2012, tougher business.

Possibly not.  Ask the same question about rural and community pubs and the answer is somewhat blurred.

Just as out of town shopping centres (along with internet shopping) has practically killed off local town shopping, small town pubs are suffering too.

Can a website for a pub save it from falling footfall and closure.

The average landlord thinks not, yet landords using the internet to market their pub have a different story to tell.

And so does AM Communications, the internet solution behind Pub Rooms. With a multitude of pub and hotel websites benefitting from internet marketing supplied by AM Communications the message is simple.  Get your website visible and clearly display what’s on offer.  It can only lead to positive things.

This is only suitable if the pub truly has a genuine good offer with great service.  You would need a black arts magician to take a poor service and poor product to market and come back with record sales.

Get up to speed fast with internet marketing, tell your customers what is on offer and take enquiries directly instead of receiving enquiries from third party booking services.

The marketing starts with introducing the core principles of internet marketing.  There are 8 modules to understanding a winning strategy.

Bite size chunks of information that will help any pub website with little traffic to gain high quality traffic that will convert into footfall.

To find out more please contact Peter Jones on 0787 2121 998 quoting smarter pub

Founded in 2002, the 10 year anniversary has plenty of surprises in store.

Introducing the pub food chalk board menu and new look venue finder are just two planned up-dates for 2012.

The new look Pub Rooms website will take on a new design early in 2012 and will have an integrated update system for pub owners.

The British pub and inn guide previously listed venues with basic contact details images and telephone numbers the internet has changed dramatcially in the last 3 years, contact details are more than just phone numbers in todays internet World.

The biggest challenge for pub owners and inn keepers in the UK is to embrace website and internet marketing ensuring they keep their online profiles up to-date across the multiple platforms and channels that bring in new business and win new customers.

Look at any pub page on Facebook and out of 20 randomly selected pages at least 50% will have out of date information, in some cases as far back at one year.

Most websites have Christmas menus added at the end of Summer but still have offers for the current year Mothers day specials.

This is the type of message that indicates the pub is closed and with the trend in pubs closing in the UK it’s easy for a website visitor to assume the pub is closed.

Pubs listed on the British Pub Rooms guide are open and up-dated.

It’s been one of the single biggest points of failure for the pub industry, inparticualr for both free houses and tenanted pubs and inns.  With little to no support from the landlords, tenants are never sure how much to invest in their online presence and that refers to both time and money.  Managed houses across the UK have strong identies supported by the pub brands owners.  You only need to look at the number of likes on facebook for sizzling pubs for the penny to drop.

The biggest problem any website faces is the lack of importance assigned to keeping it up to date.

A new initiative Pub Rooms will be introducing in 2012 to combat this so that local pub and inn owners can keep visitors informed will be from its new android app.

The choice of app was a simple decision.  Facebook has it’s core app in the form of pages and social graph.  Apps that are pre-installed are difficult to compete with.  A stand alone app that is driven by consumer choice is a different animal altogether.  Just as getting pub owners to up date their websites is a challenge, getting them to use a (smart) mobile phone and download an app to update a website would be like climbing Everest.

Claims of success  have been made by online pubs websites such as Pub n Bar network yet their chosen app was for iphone users and here lies the problem, which smart phone is the landlords choice and which is the smartest for updating websites of the future.  So visitors can find the right information.

It’s simple, it’s all about being found and being contacted for the right reasons.

With the emphasis on being contacted directly.  Beer in the Evening for example does not provide links or direct contact telephone numbers for the pubs listed in its directory.  Just as Pub n Bar Network only allows visitors to use the contact form which doesn’t just go to the venue the visitor thinks they are contacting but a handful of different venues in the wider area also receive the request for venue information.

Pub and Inn owners have been slow to use the internet to increase footfall and awareness to their venues.

Working closely within pub industry for the last 4 years and being a customer for over 20 years the pub rooms team has witnessed several key areas where landlords have failed to embrace technology that if used properly would bolster and increase much needed footfall.

People’s habits are changing too.
Going out less due to gloomy economic conditions in the UK means it’s tough in all corners when trying to get customers into the restaurants and bars across the UK.

One of the biggest challenges for any pub owner is keeping on top of up-dating their daily offers.  Seasonal offers can be managed easily but the daily food menu for example can be neglected.

The new app is still in beta test stage and will be launced in early 2012 when it is hoped pub owners will embrace the power of the internet it can have for bringing in the customers from near and far.

The future holds many challenges for Great British pubs and inns not least those that are only pubs.

The Pubs and Inns that adapted to the change in consumer demands are hanging in whilst the economic downturn of 2007 takes another bite from those already less well off.  Yet it seems the old English inns of old know how to put on the charm offensive. It’s a simple strategy. Provide great food and drink and serve it well and surprise surprise the customers keep returning. The big pub brand chains swiftly changed approach a few years back knowing that the smokers ban and cheap drinks sold through the super markets would only reduce the footfall and profit previously enjoyed by selling drinks over the counter.
The pubs and inn trade is mostly about food now so the introduction of the new Food menu will provide visitors with more information and choice.

Milestones of Pub Rooms
Restructure content to ensure details were accurate and according to location, pub inn type and respective venue facilities
Refreshed data and up-dated information 2008
The addition of Google maps and video came in 2008
Integrated Google maps feature 2009 (Activated by pub owners and inn keepers.)
The integrated twitter update facility for pubs and inn owners was launched at the end of 2010.
Integrated full search site wide for criteria function rooms, accommodation, seaside locations.
Direct contact form and counter

The core principles of Pub Rooms has always been to provide Pub owners and Inn Keepers with a facility to show visitors current information and for them to be contacted directly and not by a commission based booking system.  It’s an attempt to but the human into the website.

Established in 2002 as web guide and reference for British pubs and inns with accommodation and rooms to hire the new integrated app allows pub owners and inn keepers to up-date their details via their mobile phone.

For information on using this app please contact Pub Rooms directly