South West Focus: Pubs set to cash in as tourists stay in the UK

Pubs in the South West are set to benefit from the credit crunch as cash-strapped holidaymakers opt to stay in the UK.

Simon Chaplin, a director at national property agent Christie + Co, said he was anticipating increased demand for pubs in the South West as job cuts and a weakened pound attract tourists from both the UK and abroad to stay in the region this summer.

"The focus will be on the South West," said Chaplin. "There's always demand for property in the region, but good places to buy are the tourist hotspots."

Matt Bettesworth, managing director at South West-based agency Bettesworths, also said he anticipates a high number of tourists this summer. "A drop in disposable incomes will drive people down here. The whole of the South West is on its knees praying for a good summer," he said.

Businesses in the region have been warned to brace themselves and start preparing now for a record number of visitors.

Tim Meek, agency director at James A Baker, said licensees should be focusing on their food offer, redecorating, revamping outside spaces and marketing themselves now, to make the most of the anticipated boom in trade.

Chaplin also said levels of trade in the area were not expected to be hit as severely by the woes affecting the rest of the country. "The economy of the South West is not reliant on big industry so the levels of redundancies that have happened elsewhere have not really occurred. Local trade has remained pretty static," he said.