The four pubs to be featured in the groundbreaking Pub Mentors scheme launched by the Publican’s Morning Advertiser and Coca-Cola Enterprise’s Open More Business have been unveiled.
The four pubs — a wet-led venue, community local, city pub and country pub — will be mentored by four senior and experienced retail experts over a three-month period.
The four pubs are:
- Wet-led: The Great Lyde in Yeovil, Somerset — Ben Scott (manager)
- Community pub: The College Arms, Lower Quinton, Warks — Joanna Arevalo & Marilyn Herdman (lessees)
- City pub: The Elephant, Bristol — Ben Bartrip (director, Bar-Inns Trading Ltd)
- Country pub: The Greets Inn, Warnham, West Sussex — Duncan and Natalie Ent-wistle (lessees).
The experts are Ali Carter, former BII (British Institute of Innkeeping) licensee of the year and industry consultant, who will mentor the wet-led pub; Jay Smith, who runs Monty’s in York and Harrogate who has starred in the TV show Save our Boozer, will help the community pub; Alastair Scott, who runs Malvern Inns, is a former executive at Mitchells & Butlers and heads up Catton Consulting, will mentor the city pub, and Phil Davison, former BII licensee of the year and Wadworth tenant at the Sun in the Wood, Ashmore Green, Berkshire, will assist the country pub.
As part of the initiative a CCE expert will visit all the pubs and give invaluable advice on improving soft drink sales.
The PMA was inundated with entries for the scheme. PMA group editor Paul Charity said: “These four pubs are good operations, which will benefit from the expertise of these leading retail experts. Licensees will be able to read how this scheme is helping these businesses and get an insight into how to improve their own businesses.”
The initiative kicks off with a roundtable event hosted by Charity involving the mentors, representatives from the four pubs and senior members of Coca-Cola Enterprise’s Open More Business scheme.
