Facebook is just the start for pubs…

So, here we are in the Twilight Zone. Twenty years after the Beer Orders, look what is on the horizon… Freehold disposals from the largest pub-owning organisations, talk of free-of-tie deals, guest ale coming in from the likes of Punch, rents falling and deals improving following lessee protest, and a Government that is hell-bent on interfering with the industry.

Sounds just like the early 1990s — again. But "the times they are a'changin", as Dylan wrote. I reckon that there are huge shifts coming and many cannot see them. Sure, the deals will change and operators and licensees will come and go. However, that is not what I refer to.

What I see are wholesale radical changes in customers' social lives — what they do, why they do it, where they do it. And technology is the catalyst enabling that change.

Everything is on demand — information, communication, goods and services, sport, TV programmes — all available at the touch or click and in high-definition format. And then we have the change in the way that the younger generation interacts.

The likes of Facebook, YouTube and to a lesser extent Twitter have been extraordinary in their adoption by the iPhone generation. Those who know me know that my background was IT and I am fascinated by technology (Inspector Gadget as some unkindly call me).

What I see before me now is phenomenal (literally!) and those old-guard licensees who say "nothing that is going on will change the good old pub" may be in for a shock.

Different trade organisations have approached us in the last year to persuade us that we need a website, but

they miss the point. If it's sunny

and I want a pint in a nice beer

garden, I already know where I am going. I don't need a search engine

to tell me.

No, the issue to address is social networking. We trialled Facebook 18 months ago in one of our sites. It's success was immediate, providing instant communication to customers telling them about our events, sports, etc.

Customers are engaged and informed. Outside of the time to type a message, it is free. So is Twitter, BeBo et alia. However, I have now seen the Next Big Thing. It is called social-location networking and the current four players (three US, one British) have three million users already, many in the UK.

This stuff is scary. These are services (apps) that use your phone to determine your location and that of friends and other users. You can be walking into town, find out who is where in one glance, get feedback on what is happening in bars from other users, find out where people are going, and head off accordingly.

Bars and restaurants have the

ability to send messages and offers

to users in the area to promote

their venues. These services actively encourage you to comment on venues to other users. This is way ahead of the tacky Bluetooth stuff you sometimes get when you walk past a restaurant doorway. You can imagine how this could create a winner-takes-all culture in a town centre. Ignore this stuff at your peril.

There is more of it to come. Watch the big players — they are all announcing their technology marketing strategy and geek appointments. They are doing it for a reason and we all need to similarly embrace it, else we will be left behind. The future — we've got an app for that…

Paul Wigham is CEO of

Orange Sun Bars