Facelifts, food and families help pubs into the new era

Nearly half of licensees gave their pub a revamp before the smoking ban kicked in, according to exclusive research from The Publican.

Of these nearly a third carried out major refurbishment work, while 69 per cent carried out more modest decoration.

The Proud of Pubs survey, carried out among 500 licensees, also revealed that one in three pubs is laying on new entertainment to counteract the effects of the ban - including everything ranging from karaoke and beer festivals to pub quizzes and video snail racing.

More than eight out of 10 (84 per cent) said they would welcome families after the ban.

Licensees have endorsed the findings. Rick Robinson, licensee at the Willoughby Arms, in Kingston, Surrey, said: "More families will come to the pub because it's going to be a cleaner atmosphere. People come to the pub for the experience, if not they'd stay and drink at home. I've been building an outside area and would like to keep my smokers and gain some more smokers."

At the Swan in Little Totham, Essex, licensee John Pascoe said: "I definitely think more families will visit. We are a reasonably small village, we know that people are going to the pub down the road that has been non-smoking for a little while, and we know that we are going to get these people back."

The survey also revealed that 96 per cent of pubs would be serving food after July 1 - with 88 per cent of those offering hot meals and one in 10 (10 per cent) increasing the area they are giving over to dining to coincide with the ban.

Commenting on the figures, John McNamara, chief executive of BII, said: "The research is really encouraging and it's in line with what came out of our smoking roadshows earlier in the year.

"The figures on food confirm what we've been seeing with licensees focussing on making their pub more of an all-round venue."

Twelve per cent of pubs said they were expanding their drinks range ahead of the ban.