People

Big Interview

‘Brands are built in bars, not in boardrooms’

17-May-2021 By Stuart Stone

After making a long-awaited return to reopened pubs and bars throughout April, Bacardi’s on-trade director Leila Stansfield’s glass is most certainly half full for the weeks and months of on-trade recovery ahead.

Get the picture: promoting your pub with Instagram

15-Feb-2018 By Claire Churchard, Georgina Townshend and Stuart Stone

Humans are visual beings, making Instagram an ideal place to showcase your pub. Experts and operators reveal how they get over the line first in a photo finish.

Drinkaware: ‘We are not the booze police’

15-Nov-2017 By Nicholas Robinson

It is a busy Friday night in the pub and the punters are out in force enjoying themselves as the drinks flow from behind the bar. Just as things start to get into the swing, a distressed customer storms into the bar and frantically screams: “Everybody...

My Pub: The Botanist, Newcastle

07-Nov-2017 By Georgina Townshend

New World Trading Company’s Newcastle Botanist site is a prime example of a bar that encourages innovation, creativity and well-trained staff. General manager Andrew Shiel-Redfern explains what it takes to run a site that ticks all the boxes.

Up in smoke: the rules of vaping inside pubs

30-Jun-2017 By Georgina Townshend

The smoking ban came into effect in 2007 but where does that leave the many people who now want to vape in your premises rather than smoke cigarettes?

Property

How to save a pub - The story of the Duke of Marlborough

06-Dec-2016 By Liam Coleman

In December 2014, the last pub in the Suffolk village of Somersham closed its doors. Less than two years later, the pub has been bought by the local community and is on the verge of reopening. Here’s the story of the Duke of Marlborough.

Employment

Employment expert Katrina Fox gives tips on how to get and retain staff

08-Sep-2016 By Nikkie Sutton

Employment expert Katrina Fox will be advising delegates at the next MA500 meeting this month (September) on how to attract and retain staff. Ahead of the event, Fox reveals some of her top tips. Nikkie Sutton reports.

Recruitment

How to win the recruitment war

08-Sep-2016 By Greg Pitcher

Music festivals, YouTube videos, Snapchat clips and celebrity endorsements could all be weapons in the pub sector’s armoury as it fights the war for talent.

Join the Pub Brigade

The battle for the kitchen crew

22-Jul-2015 By Daniel Woolfson

Filling their boots? Daniel Woolfson talks to some of the top figures in the pub industry to discover the lay of the land regarding chef recruitment.

Try January: How operators embraced the campaign

06-Feb-2015 By Jessica Mason

With many customers traditionally shunning the pub in the first month of a new year, Jessica Mason reveals how the #TryJanuary campaign really took off in 2015.

The Big Interview: Jillian MacLean, Drake & Morgan

16-Oct-2012 By Phil Mellows

It was when she noticed women were buying more lipstick that Jillian MacLean made her move. MacLean, as she admits, was, at 43, a late starter as an entrepreneur. But that meant she’d been around long enough to know that troubled times are good for lipstick...

The Big Interview: Mike Tye

12-Mar-2012 By Phil Mellows

If you had to choose someone to venture into the jungle with, although hopefully it won’t come to that, your first choice would obviously be Ray Mears, Bear Grylls being a bit of a chancer. But if reliable Ray’s not available, how about Mike Tye?

Leading by example is the way forward

28-Jul-2011 By Phil Thorley

Thorley Taverns boss Phil Thorley, who runs 25 pubs in Kent, offered his top tips on how to run a business to delegates at the recent MA250 business...

The Garrison: make the host of it

27-May-2011 By Jessica Harvey

Clive Watson and Adam White, co-owners of the Garrison, a friendly, Michelin-tipped gastropub.

Chris Maclean: Lack of opportunities means new licensees are ill-prepared

25-Nov-2010 By Chris Maclean

It staggers me how many licensees are taking on pubs with absolutely no experience whatsoever. I'm astonished that people, who have never worked...

Gerry O'Brien: Celebrating 25 years as licensee at the Churchill Arms

28-Oct-2010

This year is a bit of a milestone for me. I am celebrating 25 years of being a licensee here at the Churchill Arms. This means everything to me. This...

Drink school: Teaching the taste buds about whisky

07-Oct-2010

Whisky, whiskey, drams, blends, grain, single malt, bourbons - you'd be forgiven for thinking that whisky talk is a bit like speaking another...

Chris Maclean: Keep me out of the round please

12-Jun-2009 By Chris Maclean

I suspect I won't be popular for saying this - but I don't like buying rounds.For some who read this their suspicions may be confirmed. It is amazing...

The acceptable face of all-inclusive offers?

06-Nov-2008 By Ewan Turney

Nexum Leisure's Escapade nightclub in Newport is offering all you can drink for a fiver on Wednesday nights. Undercover reporter Ewan Turney went along a week ago to try it out.

Ask an Expert: Staff retention

29-May-2008

I don't find it too difficult to find new staff but they never seem to stay in the job for more than a few months. What can I do?Our research says...

Back to Basics: Staff retention

04-Feb-2008

Recruiting new staff for your pub is costly and time consuming - and the simplest way of cutting back on recruitment is by making sure you retain the...

Basking in success

26-Jul-2007

Philip Davison tells Ewan Turney how a marketing seminar helped him achieve £750,000 worth of sales at the Wadworth-owned Sun in the Wood, in...

It's the new going out…

31-Jul-2006

Afew months ago some of the good folk from Diageo popped into Publican Towers to show us the company's latest innovation for Guinness. Expecting a...

Trade secrets - Masons' charms

01-Mar-2006 By Mark Taylor

Mark Taylor talks to Bill Leadbeater, chef/owner of the Masons Arms in Swerford, near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. Garden We have a large garden at...

Trade Secrets - Smiles Better - The Trouble House, Tetbury, Gloucestershire

01-Apr-2005 By Mark Taylor

Mark Taylor talks to Michael Bedford, chef/proprietor of Michelin starred gastro pub the Trouble House, in Tetbury, Gloucestershire

Stocking up for Christmas

22-Oct-2003

Pubs should see the festive period as a chance to change people's habits. We take a look at how you can make the most of Christmas.Something odd yet...

People: organisational energy

27-Aug-2003

A successful pub should be able to harness the energy of its staff. We find out more about 'organisational energy'.Earlier this summer a small group...

Regent gets to the heart of it

14-Mar-2001

Meeting Marlene Collins for the first time is like opening the door of the farm house to a driving blizzard. Collins is a professional breath of...