Now for a pub-themed Dragons' Den moment

Successful ideas for boosting business can often be surprisingly straightforward. Tony Halstead showcases seven of the best.

Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest ones. Sometimes they involve a complete overhaul of the business and sometimes it's just a tweak that makes all the difference. However, what all good ideas have in common is that they add crucial pounds to your pub's bottom line.

At the Morning Advertiser​ we are always stumbling across licensees who have come up with an inspiring idea or three, so we decided to ask a select bunch what their best idea of the past 12 months was — and they didn't half come up trumps.

From hair salons to golden tickets to Pizza Idol here are some winning ideas to make you say, "Now, why didn't I think of that?"

Beauty and the beer​

The pub: the Old Custom House, Padstow, Cornwall

Licensee: Linda Prior

Three business ideas have added new dimensions to trade at the St Austell Brewery-owned Old Custom House, thanks to the ingenuity of manager Linda Prior. An ice-cream parlour, a beauty salon and a hairdressing shop now rub shoulders with more orthodox trade revenues at the pub, which sits strategically overlooking Padstow's picturesque harbour.

All three initiatives opened using space that Prior judged could do with a new lease of life. The most recent addition, the hairdressing salon, opened last March when the town's only other salon closed its doors. "The hair salon and the beauty parlour attract a mix of locals, pub customers and tourists, while the ice-cream parlour is a magnet for families and children, especially in the busy summer tourist season," she says. "The hair salon has been a particular success as it's the only one now open in Padstow."

Prior has run the Old Custom House for 21 years and has worked a total of 30 years in the trade. "It's all about thinking up ideas to boost business and make the best of the space you have available. All three projects were my own idea, but the brewery has been very supportive," Prior says.

The business also includes 24 letting bedrooms, a self-catering cottage and its own on-site Pescadour fish restaurant.

All three new initiatives operate as stand-alone businesses, but, significantly, have increased the volume of traffic through the pub.

Pizza de résistance​

The pub: the Ring O' Bells, Christleton, Chester

Licensee: Ian Wade

Family pub operator Ian Wade has devised a novel way to persuade local schoolchildren to bring their mums and dads down to the Ring O' Bells. Earlier this year Wade launched a special Pizza Idol competition, challenging the youngsters to devise their own recipe for a healthy pizza with the prize of seeing the dish featured on the pub's summer menu.

The competition attracted 60 entries from the pupils of Christleton Primary School and ended with a "cook off" involving five pupils who produced the best recipes. The winner was 10-year-old Beth Errington with her vegetarian creation of goat's cheese, cherry tomatoes and rocket, plus green, red and yellow peppers.

"Pizza Idol created a lot of interest and promoted the pub as a quality family venue," says Wade, who leases the pub from Trust Inns. "It led to a lot more families coming down here and a mini boom in pizza sales."

Enticing the students​

The pub: the Lamb & Packet, Preston, Lancashire

Licensee: Debbie Murray

Students have traditionally made up a large proportion of the custom at the Lamb & Packet, which sits close to the University of Central Lancashire campus.

When new licensee Debbie Murray took over the business earlier this year she devised plans to boost student trade, which had been dropping off.

This month Murray will capitalise on the annual "Freshers' Week" with an imaginative scheme to market her pub to newly-arrived students. Two staff members will dress as shepherds and visit the campus to "herd" the new students into a specially built pen, register them for the pub's Facebook page, and hand out special vouchers to exchange for beer or a burger in the Thwaites-owned pub.

"The Lamb & Packet has been synonymous with students for many years, thanks to its proximity to the campus, but this part of the trade has dropped off and we saw this promotion as a great way of winning some of the trade back," says Murray.

Ticket to success​

The pub: the Waterman, Hatton, Warwickshire

Licensee: Steve Holland

A moment of inspiration designed to get locals coming back to the Waterman has literally provided the village freehouse with a Golden Ticket to success.

A free-meals offer to selected households in Hatton has resulted in so many repeat visits that the pub can now claim to have attracted a new band of regular customers. When Holland arrived at the pub 18 months ago he realised the business had to convince doubting locals that the Waterman was the place to visit.

Using a speciality database to unearth the addresses of every new arrival in the village over the past 10 years, five families were approached every week with the Golden Ticket offer of a family meal for up to five persons at the pub, but it had to be claimed within five days.

"We served sparkling wine on arrival and the vast majority had a great night out," Holland says. "I would say more than 90% of those approached took up the offer. Although we were giving away free dinners, a lot of people also bought wine and other drinks, but the real bonus was the number of Golden Ticketers who returned. It's difficult to accurately estimate the financial return, but we are on target to hit a 30% year-on-year general trade increase."

Space to grow​

The pub: the Saddle Inn,

Lea Town, Lancashire

Licensee: Graham Rowson

Making the best use of space has been Graham Rowson's motto since he took over the tenancy of the Thwaites Brewery-owned Saddle nine months ago.

The pub has a large, expansive garden and a huge 2,000 square foot car park — ample room for Rowson to launch a series of unusual attractions to persuade people to visit the rural village pub.

A mini putting green, five-a-side soccer pitch, horse park and a mini animal sanctuary are just some of the new attractions that have so far appeared, but much more is in the pipeline.

Go-karting, car-boot sales, bikers' rally, scooter-club festival, dog agility racing and the introduction of five holiday caravan sites are some of the events and initiatives that have been lined up for the future.

"When I first saw all the space that the Saddle had I thought it was madness not to utilise as much of it as possible," Rowson recalls. "The possibilities are virtually endless and we are already exploring other ideas. At the end of the day, everything you do has to be designed to get people to visit."

In the nine months since he took over, the pub has re-established itself as one of the area's most popular venues, with takings showing an increase in every one of the weeks Rowson has been behind the bar.

Red letter move​

The pub: the Jubilee Inn, Pelynt, Cornwall

Licensee: Charlie Edgeler

A decision to advertise speciality weekends and short breaks on the celebration gift website Red Letter Days has paid instant dividends for licensee Charlie Edgeler. Within weeks of the Jubilee appearing on the site, bookings started to flow in, giving the business a welcome boost in letting income.

"It was a simple idea, but like so many it has proved highly effective," says Edgeler. "We wanted to find an outlet to market the pub as somewhere for a special occasion, an anniversary, birthday or some other key event. We realised Red Letter Days was the place where people might go to find their special location and it's worked like a dream."

Edgeler explains that the real beauty of the website is that there is no charge to him for its services with customers going on the site charged by the Red Letter Days.

"We agree a letting rate with Red Letter Days and that is all we do except take the booking and wait for the customer to arrive. One of the surpri