Attitude to disabled customers could cost pub industry £50bn

Licensees could snap up part of a £50bn leisure spend if they change their attitude towards disabled customers.

Disability campaigner Phil Friend has called on the pub trade to improve its attitude towards disabled customers and says licensees will reap the financial benefits.

Speaking at a conference organised by the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) last week he told licensees that of the 8.6m disabled people in the UK and their families there is £50bn of disposable income which they could be spending in pubs.

"If you look at this from a business perspective 15 million people are attached to this," he said.

He argued that licensees do not have to spend large amounts of money making premises accessible but that by having a member of staff who can use sign language, will read out menus to the blind or simply provide a good service will make pubs more attractive to disabled customers.

"Ask someone to read a menu out, the cost to your business is nothing," he said.

"Evidence is that once I have found somewhere that works for me I keep going back."

He also told licensees that under the next phase of the Disability Discrimination Act which comes into force in 2004 they will have to make "reasonable " adjustments to their pubs to make them more accessible. But he also said that this will not necessarily costs licensees large amounts of money.

"It's a balancing act between your business, how it operates and providing access for the disabled," he said.