National Pubs Week: Party on

As winter drags on, now is the time to promote your pub. And that's where National Pubs Week can help, says Daniel Pearce.

April may have been the cruellest month, according to TS Eliot, but many in the pub trade might beg to differ. The last vestiges of festive goodwill might be seeing you through January but February may be the month when the sales really hit rock bottom. How many punters will be paying off their debts and staying at home - while others are keeping to their New Year resolutions to spend more time in the gym than they do down the pub?

So thank the Lord, or at least Ninkasi the goddess of beer, for National Pubs Week, which takes place this year from February 18 to 25. If you are at all worried about your sales in the early part of 2006 you must get behind it with your own National Pubs Week events - or risk missing out on the party.

Take your pick​

Now in its fourth year, National Pubs Week, organised by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), is capturing the imagination of an increasing number of licensees.

And this year it has captured the imagination of The Publican too, with the initiative linking up with our own Proud of Pubs campaign to help drive forward the image of pubs and the pub industry.

The Proud of Pubs slogan features on one million National Pubs Week beermats being distributed to 10,000 licensees as part of a promotional package which includes beermats, posters, advice sheets and press release templates.

As CAMRA chief executive Mike Benner told The Publican: "The Publican's Proud of Pubs campaign fits in perfectly with the aims of National Pubs Week and we look forward to a large number of pub owners and managers coming on board to help us promote all the positive attributes that pubs have to offer."

Among CAMRA's activities this year are:

• Pub-goers are again being urged to "adopt a pub", get behind their local and apply for promotional material for their local
• CAMRA branches across the country are helping pubs set up pub trails and other events
• CAMRA's National Pub of the Year will be announced on the eve of the week, on February 17
• Consumers are being invited to enter a competition to "Win Beer for a Year", publicised on the back of National Pubs Week beermats
• The pubs putting on the biggest and best Pubs Week events across the country are being urged to enter them for a major competition (see below).

Events being organised in pubs could range from theme nights to traditional pub games evenings. Or what about a Pubs Week pub quiz, with all the questions related to famous pubs around the country or on the TV? (For example, which famous TV pub last year saw its landlord murdered in the bar and buried in the cellar - only to be discovered months later?!)

Since the launch of National Pubs Week in 2003, a growing number of licensees have been raising a glass to the influence of the initiative. Robert and Elaine Jackson at the Cock, a freehouse in Denford, Northamptonshire, run a different event on every night of National Pubs Week - and have been doing so ever since the initiative began.

You name it, they've done it!​ Events range from a wine tasting to a traditional pub games evening, to a curry night. This year the Cock will be introducing beer-tasting trays, offering six different ales in third-of-a-pint glasses for the price of two pints, for the first time.

"They all work very well - some people come in for particular events, others come in for all of them," says Robert.

"As a village pub we're off the beaten track and we have to try that bit harder to get new customers in. Pubs Week is an opportunity for us to put out the message 'use it or lose it' to our customers.

"It's also important to appeal to people who don't drink beer. The idea is to get them in the pub and show them everything we have to offer."

Owld Nell's Tavern in Bilsborrow, Lancashire, is another pub which has regularly made the most of the week. The freehouse's Ruth Cornall says if her experience was anything to go by, pubs should be queuing up to put on their own Pubs Week events.

"Last year we put on championship beers from around the country and a lot of people came in to try different ones," she says. "We printed a brochure, with tasting suggestions, and we also ran a beer menu with beer and food matching ideas. It really boosted sales."

The pub is planning a similar event to coincide with the event this year, with continental beers, porters and stouts on offer.

What will you be offering during this year's National Pubs Week?

Get your free Pubs Week pack​

Packs can be ordered from Cressida Feiler. Call 01727 867201, email perffvqn.srvyre@pnzen.bet.hx​ or visit the National Pubs Week website www.nationalpubsweek.org​. Pub events can also be advertised on this site for free by emailing xngr.sbfgre@pnzen.bet.hx​.

What could you do for National Pubs Week?​

• Themed nights:​ fancy dress, or a new type of cooking perhaps?
• Local entertainers:​ as well as local bands, why not think a bit differently. What about a local magician, or perhaps a hypnotist? Could you offer a local "lookalike" competition, with prizes for customers who look most like a TV celebrity?
• Food promotions:​ perhaps free meals for children, or two meals for the price of one. Or what about a half-price meal for anyone proving they live within three miles of the pub?
• Traditional pub games evenings:​ dust down the old shove ha'penny board, the table skittles or the cribbage set and show today's pub-goers what they are missing
• Pub crawls:​ why not get together with other local pubs and offer a "passport" scheme, whereby customers getting cards stamped in each venue over the course of the week will receive a free T-shirt or a meal for two?
• Charity evening:​ as The Publican's Proud of Pubs campaign has illustrated, there are thousands of pubs up and down the country hosting charity nights every week of the year. But why not tie a charity night in with National Pubs Week? The link-up will double your chances of getting some useful coverage in your local newspaper.

For more information and ideas visit www.nationalpubsweek.org​​

Pubs Week Competition​

The hunt is on for the National Pubs Week event deemed to have made the most of the opportunity.

Entry forms for the competition have been included in every promotional pack being distributed to licensees. Following your Pubs Week event, we want you to come forward and tell us about it.

Entries will be judged by senior members of CAMRA and The Publican, with prizes on offer including 30 tickets for the winning pub to take its locals to this year's Great British Beer Festival, which runs at London's Earls Court from August 1 to 5.