A rich day in terms of fantastic trading ideas

A day spent talking to licensees is never a day wasted. Punch's Buying Club director Andy Slee spent three weeks last year touring 60 Punch pubs at random to hear about their concerns — and their ideas.

He told me last week that every single licensee had at least one really good idea that Punch could consider using.

A few weeks back I spent a day judging the finalists in the BII (British Institute of Innkeeping) Licensee of the Year competition. It was an especially rich day in terms of hearing about fantastic trading ideas.

And this year's four finalists were a great representation of the three major strands of the trade — managed, tenanted and freehouse.

Lee and Keris de Villiers run a Young's managed house in Clapham, the Nightingale. It's a traditional wet-led pub at the centre of its community.

They sell enormous amounts of beer, but have increased food takings (from a very low base) nine-fold. Their stand-out idea is a "Meet the Neighbours" scheme. They link up with local estate agents to offer a free dinner for four to anyone moving into the area.

The only condition is that they must introduce themselves to Lee and Keris when they come for their free meal.

Putting the customer first​

Barbara and Edward May are managers of St Austell's Great Western Hotel, a £30,000-a-week bar, restaurant and hotel in Newquay. The couple take as much as £50,000 per week in the summer, with trade tailing off in the winter.

Putting the customer first, they scrapped the usual breakfast terminal hour of 10am in favour of a midday finish. Breakfast sales increased by more than 100% last year. One simple innovation has won them considerable staff loyalty.

Staffing requirements vary enormously between winter and summer. But they started to guarantee key staff a minimum of 30 hours a week throughout the quieter months — staff retention rates have improved, meaning there's no longer a need to recruit afresh each summer.

Enterprise Inns lessees Mark and Hayley Foster, who run the Hare & Hounds in Corsham, Wiltshire, have increased their turnover seven-fold since they arrived at the pub, through a programme of continuous improvement and re-investment.

The past couple of years have seen investments in a brand new garden and interior refurbishment with food service extended to an all-day offer.

Takings boost​

The winner this year is Darran Lingley, who runs the Five Bells, a freehouse in Colne Engaine, an Essex village with a population of 1,071.

Lingley has been a finalist in the competition on two previous occasions. What's impressive has been his determination to improve the pub and its standards year after year, applying the feedback he receives during the judging process.

Takings are particularly impressive, given the size of the village — he's drawing in people for repeat visits from miles around. Last year, he even decided it was time to invest in outside expertise, hiring a business coach to advise on improvements that have lifted takings by another £120,000.

All four finalists were evidence of one blinding truth — you never stop learning in the pub trade.