Publican Local Focus: Liverpool - City of Culture
It says it all that many Liverpool pubs proudly feature the traditional stew 'Scouse' on their menus.
This is a unique city that shouts about its heritage and self-consciously insulates itself from the rest of the country.
Hell, thanks to being awarded the title of Capital of Culture, Liverpool was even able to have its own celebration of Scouseness in 2008 - a celebration that helped pull new consumers into the city's on-trade.
But, while its pubs are in many senses distinctively Liverpudlian, they are not immune from the pressures being felt elsewhere in the country.
Research earlier this year into the credit crunch revealed the North West's on-trade was the most susceptible in England to the downturn, a conclusion drawn by comparing the drinking habits and disposable income of an area's population (declining in Liverpool's case) with its number of licensed outlets (high).
With Liverpool estimated to have received an extra 1.7 million visits in 2008 and a visitor spending injection of £36m thanks to being the Capital of Culture, but now suffering under the recession, it is boom and bust.
Speak to Liverpool's licensees and they will tell you that the city's pub landscape is changing rapidly in this situation.
Pubs such as the Monro represent the new face of the city. Here, licensee Stuart Sculthorpe is learning French so he can talk to customers from across the Channel who he believes are hooked after being spurred to visit Liverpool in the first place by the Capital of Culture celebrations.
Marston's tenant Sculthorpe is trading at 15 per cent up year on year after a refurbishment converted the pub from an "old-fashioned boozer" into an upmarket food-led pub.
"We don't do music, we don't do Sky, we are expensive. On paper, we should not work, but people want something different from pubs nowadays," he said.
But life is proving tough for more conventional watering holes.
"We are squeezed by Punch Taverns, regulars are brown-bagging it rather than eating lunch here because of the recession, and we have to compete with managed pubs that unlike us can afford to sell a pint of Tetley's for £1.40," explained Will Robson, manager of the Roscoe Head.
Richie Owens, licensee of the Exchange Bar, said his takings are 20 per cent down on last year.
Overall, though, you get the impression that Liverpool licensees are making the most of things through innovation and unique selling points.
The Everyman Bistro's proposition is based upon an enormous range of buffet-style food that general manager Jeff Hale says has given the pub a silver lining in the recession's cloud.
"Our food uses prime ingredients but sourced from local suppliers as cheaply as possible and served without formality in a café-style setting.
"Customers can tailor what they eat to their own budget, so people who would normally go to an expensive restaurant are now coming here," he said.
The Fly in the Loaf manages to sell halves of US wheat beer for £2.50 and has adapted its food offering to bring in fresh sandwiches every morning from a local deli. Stopping employing a chef was a proactive decision due to food orders being too inconsistent to justify the expense, but the sarnies are now turning a profit. Assistant manager Matt Haycox said: "Customers that come in, they know what they want and they are happy to pay a bit extra for beers they can't get anywhere else."
So, let's meet the licensees...
Will Robson is manager of Punch Taverns site the Roscoe Head - which has been in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide every year since the book's inception.
How much will a drink cost me?
Ales range from £2.30 to £2.70. Stella is £2.90 a pint. Single serves of spirits start at £1.85 and go up to £1.95. A glass of Coke is £1.10.
Do you do food?
Only at lunchtimes. In the evenings, we need to dedicate what space we have to drinking. It's generally traditional English food - filled baguettes, jacket potatoes, steak and ale pie. We never go over the £6.95 mark.
Who are your customers?
Real ale fans - people come from far and wide for two established pub crawls in Liverpool city centre, and we are on one of them.
What attracts people?
The beer. It's always provided our hardcore customers and it's what we're known for.
What are the issues affecting trade in Liverpool?
The fact that there's more copper in the till and less payment being made on cards indicates how much less people have to spend at the moment.
Matt Haycox is assistant manager at speciality beer pub the Fly in the Loaf. It is owned by Isle of Man brewer and pubco Heron and Brearley.
How much will a drink cost me?
Carling is £2.80 a pint, cask beer starts at £2.70 although we have a deal this month offering a guest for £2.30. We have a US wheat beer from Colorado that sells for £2.50 for a half and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout is our most expensive bottled beer at £7.
Do you do food?
We stopped doing hot food recently, and now rely on cold sandwiches delivered fresh every morning by a local deli, all priced under £1.95.
Who are your customers?
People who are happy to pay a premium for speciality beer; pre-clubbers.
What attracts people?
A constantly changing beer menu, comprised entirely of genuine imports and British real ales.
What are the issues affecting trade in Liverpool?
There's talk of Everton and Liverpool football clubs moving further out of town, to new grounds. That may have an impact because fans may be open to finding a pub closer to the ground, rather than drinking in Liverpool city centre before games.
Richie Owens is licensee of the Exchange Bar, a privately owned site in Liverpool's business district.
How much will a drink cost me?
Carling is £2.48 a pint, Guinness £2.56 and you can get a pint of Brains Reverend James for £2.25. You will pay £3.75 for a 250ml glass of wine. Vodka is £1.35 a shot.
Do you do food?
Just at lunchtimes - things like curries, and steak and chips at around £5. Once we go over that price point, we encounter resistance in this area.
Who are your customers?
Our peak hours are lunchtimes and early evenings because we're in the business district. We close at weekends.
What attracts people?
Because we're free of tie, we can make our prices very reasonable. People in this area are very price conscious.
What are the issues affecting trade in Liverpool?
We are in a very traumatic scenario at the moment. I think the pub game will take two or three years to sort itself out. When it does, we will see a transformation of the pub and we will have gone more down Continental lines.
Stuart Sculthorpe runs Marston's food-led tenancy the Monro.
How much will a drink cost me?
A pint of Peroni is £3.67, the four-strong range of Marston's ales starts at £2.65 a pint. The price of the most expensive bottle of wine has been set at £17 after an experiment selling £27 bottles proved there wasn't demand for such expensive wine.
Do you do food?
The modern British and Mediter-ranean menu features red snapper, sea bass, goats' cheese fritters and organic chicken breast wrapped in parma ham. We run a two-for-one deal on T-bone steaks at £19.95, and introduced tapas recently to encourage more casual dining.
Who are your customers?
Diners, many of them foreign tourists; some pre-theatre customers.
What a
