A revamp can make all the difference - and as Ever So Sensible Bars found out on the Castle redesign in Nottingham, it needn't cost a fortune. Michelle Perrett reports.
Operators spend millions of pounds renovating and refurbishing tired pubs but this year's winner of The Publican Pub Design of the Year Award only spent £22,000.
So how did it manage to bag the award when many operators had entered their newly-designed, expensive sites? And how did the owners manage to revamp a pub on such a shoestring budget?
The Castle in Nottingham had been operating as a Firkin (pictured right) but when Ever So Sensible Bars took on the Mitchells & Butlers lease it decided the tired site needed a revamp. It was trading at under £2,000 a week but since the revamp the site has been trading at closer to £14,000.
Chris Bulaitis, managing director at Ever So Sensible Bars, did the redesign of the site himself. He made the most of the existing fixtures and fittings to keep costs down.
"So many people gut buildings, whitewash walls, put in sexy-looking furniture," he says. "But people tend to feel that they can't put their feet up on a sofa and don't want to sit in the chairs because they are only designed for thin Italians. The walls are so pure, clean and unblemished you feel that you are in a hospital and you don't relax.
"At the end of the day it's the Changing Rooms of changing pubs because we kept the walls as they were, we didn't strip any wallpaper - we just painted over it, we didn't move the bar - we just polished it on the top and painted the bottom.
"All I have done is take what was there, move a few things round and tune it up."
Instead of gutting the pub and starting from scratch, Chris decided to revamp the back-bar. For example, the Firkin chalkboards were replaced with mirrored fibre optics.
Instead of paying an electrician thousands of pounds to put in new light fittings they simply blocked off old ones and what new lights they did install were placed in some of the fittings that were already there.
"We reconfigured the back-bar very simply and we took the old Firkin chandeliers down. You can end up with a £2,000 electricity bill and all you have done is taken down old fittings and put up new ones," says Chris.
"If you have a painter who just paints to the colours you specify, nice furniture and a very little bit of construction on drink stands and some mirrors it really cuts costs."
However, the way to cut costs is to manage the project yourself. Chris believes that organisation is the key and on small jobs with a restrictive budget a licensee must be organised and practical.
He points out that if you clearly identity the type of work you want a builder to do and get him to quote for each section you can keep on top of finances. Go round to the pub and take photos and draw sketches of how you want the finished pub to look.
"Don't make it up as you go along - clearly identify what you want to do. If it's a small-scale project you could do it yourself. If you get in a designer you're not going to end up with the project that you envisage," he adds.
Simply go to a supplier like B&Q and get a colour chart and paint the walls with the colours you like, he advises.
Although, he says, it will take a bit of time to work out what is right for your pub.
As far as furniture in the Castle was concerned, the company revamped some of the existing furniture, even cutting the legs of a table in half to create a coffee table. Sofas were introduced that were comfortable and inviting because, as Chris says "a sofa is something you want to have in your living room".
The rest of the atmosphere change is down to music and to providing the right service. Design is just one element of the whole package that the customer wants and, according to Chris, it is not the be-all and end-all.
"Design only works once because you only get wowed the first time you come into a place, after that you know what it is going to be like," he points out. "It has to be a lot more than design to keep people coming back. Spending £22,000 won't turn a business around. It isn't a panacea."