Adding value with wi-fi

While it may not be to the more traditional pub-goer's taste, the technological age is finally catching up with Ye Olde Englishe Pubbe, with more hostelries providing free access to the internet as part of their offer.

Many pubs are doing so to attract business customers, as well as to appeal to a younger, more technology-savvy clientele who want the services that an internet café provides but with the added attraction of it being in a pub environment.

Punch Taverns lessee Janet Dooner runs the Station Hotel in Stratford, East London, and has had BT Broadband-enabled wi-fi running through a BT Business Hub for two months.

Dooner, who has been at the Station for more than 30 years, believes providing the service has added a 'must have' element to her premises, located opposite the site for the London Olympics in 2012 and which has recently expanded into a hotel operation.

"We've been able to market the Station as a wi-fi-friendly pub. In this day and age, it's the way forward. With us taking the pub down the hotel route it enables us to attract more business customers," she says.

The BT Business Hub that Dooner uses can cater for up to 13 people using the system at a time and is secure, meaning it requires an access code which she gives to customers wishing to use the service.

Positive feedback

Anna Matty, BT's head of business broadband, says her organisation is seeing more retail operations using the company's services and that the feedback is "very positive".

"Many pubs see it as an attractive proposition and a way of attracting customers who will spend more in what are such harsh economic times," she adds.

BT isn't the only company offering wi-fi services. Venture capital-backed service provider The Cloud is another key player in the market, offering wi-fi services to pubs and other clients including Pret A Manger.

Punch Taverns recently used The Cloud's system in a trial carried out in 27 tenanted and leased sites in the South West of England.

Jacqui Grundy, Punch's operations support and projects manager, says the trial has proved so successful that it is being rolled out nationally in the coming months.

"Having something like wi-fi in place drives footfall," Grundy says. "We looked at the numbers and saw that on an annualised basis having wi-fi in a pub can drive turnover by up to £14,600."

The busiest time slots were between 4pm and 8pm - 29 per cent of usage - and between midday and 4pm, at 28 per cent, she adds.

Letting the world know a pub has the service available is crucial, says Grundy.

"We found that the more you put into your marketing efforts the more you got out. We provided pubs with flyers to leaflet people who lived locally because it's not just about attracting businessmen," she says, pointing out that younger customers use the wi-fi service to play games on their Nintendo DS machines with people all over the world.

Grundy says Punch will not force any of its pubs to take on wi-fi, but says she hopes to have 1,000 of the group's pubs offering the service by the end of the year.

"Soon this will prove to be a 'must have' for nearly all pubs. With a 33 per cent increase in footfall attributed to wi-fi it's clear it can and does make a difference," she adds.

Business customers

While many pubs are using 'open zones, and 'hotspots' to lure younger customers, the more established business community is still a dead cert.

Alex Halliday, manager of the Castle Inn, a freehouse in West Lulworth in Dorset, says takings from the pub's 14 letting rooms have risen "dramatically" since it started offering wi-fi last summer through a local independent internet service provider.

"We see tourists and locals alike bringing in their laptops. The system we use was set up for a one-off fee of £400. It is an open one and we don't charge and there's no entry code," he says.

Being 'open' means anyone could sit in their car outside the pub and log into the pub's network without having to step across the threshold. But this doesn't seem to worry Halliday.

"We balance off the odd person who might do that with the attraction of the other customer benefits. Our letting room sales have been boosted by nearly a third, purely on the back of free wi-fi. Plus it is a draw for pub customers too," he adds.

"I see no reason why more pubs don't do this," he concludes. With a smile on his face, understandably.

• Does your pub offer wi-fi? If so let us know what you think by emailing news@thepublican.com