Ones to watch: New Year's resolutions

Serve better beer

Barley and hop shortages caused by two poor harvests in a row plus the global fashion for bio-fuels mean that pubs will almost certainly face unprecedented rises in beer prices this year - and licensees will be forced to pass those increases on to customers already feeling the pinch.

How can you get away with it? By taking the trouble to explain to people why you're having to charge more, and, just as importantly, by taking steps to make sure your beer justifies the price, in terms of both the liquid and presentation. So:

- Get the temperature right from the cellar to the glass

- Clean your lines every week

- Wash and renovate your glasses according to a strict regime

- Train your barstaff in beer knowledge and service

- Serve your beers in the correct glass - or do away with

Make more of sport

The moment Croatian striker Mladen Petric bent the ball around Scott Carson at Wembley back on that wet November evening, knocking England out of Euro 2008, you could all have been forgiven for thinking that was 2008 ruined, from a sporting perspective anyway.

Not so - the fact there is no English participation next could be a godsend. Relying on summer football to bring in the punters did not bring a huge boost to pubs during the 2006 World Cup - if you recall it became known as the BBQ World Cup.

Instead, make your pub the place customers will want to come to watch any sporting event. Give your customers a reason to want to come into your pub to watch sport. Make being in the pub the event.

Whether it's big FA Cup games, Test matches or the Olympics in August. Bring in speciality drinks or foods if you can for the period - like Chinese beers and foods for the Olympics. Or why not run themed pub quizzes before big matches?

Look good on the outside

Now the threat of nicotine stains is a thing of the past, many licensees have invested vast amounts of money in giving the inside of their pub a thorough scrub. But what about the outside, the shop window of the establishment?

Your bar and restaurant may be up to scratch, but when was the last time you took a really good look at the state of your windows and flowerpots from across the road?

Among the many effects of the ban is the smoking circuit that has developed in town centres. Once outside for a fag, drinkers are more likely to consider moving on.

This is where you can entice potential customers, with many making a split-second decision on where to spend their cash. In essence, your pub needs to scream about it what it's about from the outside as well as the inside. Simple, really.Be friendly and helpful

With all the issues confronting the pub trade in the coming year, we know it's going to be tougher than ever to maintain a sunny disposition while pulling pints behind the bar.

That said, punters come to the pub to enjoy themselves, and serving your customers in a friendly and helpful fashion could persuade them to hang around your pub longer than they might otherwise have done. Yes, you might be having a hard day yourself and feel like crap, but treating each and every customer as a valued source of revenue is the way forward.

Be greener

You may not like it, but everybody's doing it - and the bottom line is that it might actually save you money. Yes, if you're not on top of your emissions already, make 2008 the year when you really get to grips with everything green in your pub.

Pub companies including JD Wetherspoon, at the Kettleby Cross in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, and Mitchells & Butlers, with a Toby Carvery in Banbury, are showing the way with wind turbines and rainwater harvest systems. But you don't have to break the bank to be environmentally friendly - and it's high time more licensees ensured they were greener than green.

- Are you using energy-saving light bulbs throughout your business?

- Are you turning off lights, inside and out, when they are not needed?

- Are you regularly checking your cellar cooling system to make sure it is not losing you money?

- Is your pub too hot? Could you turn down the thermostat and cut your emissions and your energy bills at the same time?

None of this is rocket science - and the excuses are running out for pubs which fail to get behind the green agenda in the year ahead. Make it your first New Year's resolution to do your bit - for the environment, and for yourself…

Help keep music live

Pubs should try to make more of an effort to host live music events. Pubs have always played a major role in nurturing developing musical talent. If this tradition were allowed to die, it would be so detrimental to this country's sympathetic attitude towards the underdog - the amateur 'bedroom' keyboard player, 'spare room' guitarist and 'garage rehearsal' band, who without the vital support of pubs would never get to air their own compositions in public.

And on the more advanced level, pubs shouldn't scrimp on paying more experienced musicians for their services. Times are hard in the trade but live music has such an important role to play in enhancing a pub's reputation. It adds a certain vibrancy to the atmosphere, can enliven a slow trading night, attracts a different type of crowd beyond the usual regulars and tends to draw together adults of different age spectrums.

And, who knows, you might be responsible for discovering the next Leona Lewis or Led Zeppelin and securing their loyalty to the pub that launched them.

Focus on the little things

Little things can make a big difference to customers - many a good night out is spoilt by a small annoyance.

- Train barstaff in queue management - customers need to know they're not invisible

- Wipe tables regularly

- Fix wobbly table legs

- Check the toilets at least hourly

- Clean the condiments - crusty sauce bottles and greasy salt cellars are just nasty

- Don't run out of the ice or the slice

- Cold beer should not be served in a warm glass

- Smile