Money makers: event and promotional ideas for your pub

Where​: Pleisure Pubs' the Office, Brighton, East Sussex

Website:​www.pleisure.com​​

The idea​: Slices of gin and tonic cake sold in the pub. The site won Best Spirits Pub in the Great British Pub Awards 2014.

How it works​: The cakes are made by a local bakery, The Flour Pot, every few months. The pub supplies a gin from its range of 47 varieties, plus tonic, and the bakery devises a recipe to complement it.

Marketing​: The cakes are displayed on the bar and are promoted via word of mouth, building on the pub’s reputation for its gin offering. Once production is stepped up, the cakes will also be promoted via the pub’s Facebook page.

Be prepared​:The original cakes were produced for a gin tasting event using Portobello Road Gin. However, since then the pub has also used Opihr and is hoping to introduce Bloom Strawberry Cup and sloe gin versions.

Pay-off​: Creates a talking point; provides upselling opportunities for staff; generates interest amongst drink reps who suggest different varieties of gin to try.

Key benefits​: Complements the pub’s extensive gin offering; provides a dessert option for the pub’s Thai food menu; creates a point of difference.

Advice​: Manager of the Pleisure Pubs site, Sarah Hale, says: "For us, it wouldn’t have worked to try and make the cakes ourselves. Instead, we found a good baker who enjoys the challenge of devising different cake recipes to complement the gins we supply."

Best outcome​: Production is due to be stepped up post-Christmas.

Ghost Hunt​

Where​: Castle at Edgehill, Banbury, Oxfordshire

Website​:www.castleatedgehill.co.uk​​

Twitter​: @CastleEdgehill

The idea​: Three-course meal and ghost hunting in the haunted tower at the pub.

How it works:​ The fundraising event was organised in conjunction with the benefitting hospice, the Shakespeare Hospice in Stratford-upon-Avon. Participants paid £30 per head which included the meal, ghost hunting and refreshments at midnight.£1,500 was raised for the hospice.

Marketing​: The event was promoted in-house on chalkboards, on the pub’s website and via social media. The hospice also marketed the evening.

Be prepared​: The pub charged the set menu at cost price to the hospice, allowing it to keep the full value of the tickets it sold and also offered its guest rooms at half rate to participants.Each guest wasalso given a sponsorship form to raise additional funds.The hospice booked the paranormal investigators and held its own raffle.

Pay-off:​ Capitalises on the public’s interest in the paranormal activity at the pub.

Key benefits: ​Raised funds for a local hospice; introduced new customers to the newly-refurbished pub.

Advice​: Lessees of the Hook Norton Brewery site, Mark Higgs and Claire Cooper,advise: "Look at a simpler menu, such as a buffet, and using a different area of the pub to avoid having to turn other customers away from the restaurant."

Best outcome​: At 35 covers, the evening was a sell-out.