That means other days of the week and different times of each day need to step up to the plate to ensure bills, staff and licensees get paid.
Popular ideas such as live music, quizzes and pub games have been used for generations to drum up greater footfall but here, The Morning Advertiser looks at some of the alternatives that are not only getting people in and spending, they are also creating a community buzz.
Vinyl nights
Sales and bar manager Sam Redwood of Firebird Brewing said its bring and play your own vinyl records night has become an important part of its offer.
The brewery, which is located in Rudgwick – about five miles from its nearest town of Horsham in West Sussex – is reliant on visitors to its brewery and taproom at weekends so needs to have something for locals on other days.
From 6pm on a Thursday evening until 9pm, customers are encouraged to bring their own records and take their turn to spin some tunes for fellow drinkers.
She explains: “We set up a record player in our bar and we have a couple of boxes of reserve records that people can shuffle through and put on if they wish. Some people bring their own records along as well. It’s normally quite a chilled evening and people take it in turns – any music is accepted. You get a nice mixture of different genres and styles.”
Redwood adds there’s no strict structure as to how it works because people are generally easy going about the music being played and about how long they are on for.
The only rule of note is that everyone must be aged over 18 but the demographic is varied and ranges across all genders and ages.
There is no fee to take part in the event that has been running for a couple of years now. The money made is via beer sales because food trucks only rock up on Fridays and Saturdays.
Redwood says: “[The event] is sort of advertising the brewery and getting people along to buy our beer but it’s also about creating a space for community. We expect our demographic to be people from the local village and surrounding areas rather than coming from far and wide as we see at the weekend.”
Firebird – which was founded by William King and Richard Peters in 2013 – has certainly seen an uplift on Thursdays since beginning the DJ sessions but numbers are naturally lower than on Fridays and Saturdays.
Redwood’s advice if a pub or bar wants to start a similar scheme is to ensure you have a stash of records customers can use because they are way less likely to bring their own.
have So yeah, like I say, it’s about kind of creating that community centre, that community hub on a Thursday evening where people can kind of just meet up and listen to music.
Painting sessions
Bristol Pear Birmingham deputy manager Dan Beard says it has recently begun to host a Sip & Paint event on Sunday evenings at the pub that targets the student population.
He says a person from a third party comes to the venue and brings all the equipment needed so attendees can simply sit down, have a drink and paint from the designs that are also brought in.
Being on a Sunday from 7pm until 10pm means a rare day part of the week is hit with this event and although everyone has to be aged 18 or older, everyone is welcome.
According to the pub’s website tickets cost £11.55 each, which goes to the artist providing all the kit. This means the pub gets the spend over the bar only on food and drinks.
“it’s only been going for about a month so it’s still in the trail stage,” Beard reveals. “It’s been a bit hit and miss but we’re a students’ site and we’re out of term right now.
“If we advertise it a bit more and it gets out by word of mouth, it will spread and I’m sure we’ll get more in for it. Being new, it can take a bit of time to land.”
Whirlwind of events
Mark Dawson, who is the general manager at the Ship Inn, Langstone, Hampshire, puts on a huge array of events from the ever-popular Monday quiz right through to weddings to fireworks displays to ‘Lager & Lego’.
Dawson, who took over at the site 10 years ago, says the pub lost revenue streams after Covid so had to consider how to change that for the better.
“We got a wedding licence so we became an alternative venue for customers spending the usual £10,000 on a function hall,” he says. “It has a bit more character and we’ve done about 10 so far.”
What followed was the idea for an end of summer party so a Pride party has become popular and is a drag show in essence that was championed by one of the team.
“It didn’t just attract people from the LGBT community. We had old timers too so the age range when we do the shows now range from 18 to 80,” he explains.
“When these shows take place, we are also promoting the other things we do such as an Oktoberfest last year with an Oompah band, and we do Cinco de Mayo but we are doing it on 8 May this year and will have a mariachi band coming in with a comedy act.”
For some of the pub’s more niche events, Sunday evenings are a great time for the Ship Inn.
Dawson states: “Traditionally, when you walk into the majority of food-led businesses on a Sunday after 5pm or 6pm, it’s quite dead.
“We’ve got a room upstairs so we do what we call ‘soft sales’ and this includes Paint & Pinot, Paint Your Pet, Pints & Ponytails, which is for dads who have got daughters, who, at some point, their girls are going to want their hair braided.”
He explains a team comes in – which is paid about £15 from each customer – and it teaches dads how to do girls’ hair while they have a drink and, maybe, some food.
Lager & Lego
Lager & Lego allows groups of people to come along and bring Lego to set up or bring games such as Dungeons & Dragons so this community can meet and play.
Although there is no charge to use the space at the site that leads south to Hayling Island, this encourages community bonding and goodwill so they may buy drinks on that evening and are likely to return at other times too.
He warns: “We’re then not going to go after a karaoke on a Friday because, even though it might be fun, it could impact the other things we do really well in the business.
“We’re finding ways to use the assets of the business and if we get some sales – that’s great – but it supports people in the local community.”
Additionally, if you walk into a pub that is nice but quiet, customers may have one drink and leave but with more people around, they are more inclined to stay longer, Dawson says.
He has seen a noticeable uplift in both money spent and community ties being built.
His advice is: “There’s no point doing something and if it doesn’t work out, you give up on it. Behind every success or failure there’s learnings. If you keep going, eventually you’ll crack the egg. It starts with two or three people who come back, or three or four quiz teams who enjoy it, then, all of a sudden, it’s its own entity.
“We then look for a little bit of added value. Maybe give free nachos or get them to sign up for membership so their pint will cost 20% less next time. You can’t do a hard sell – such as offering a single or a double of spirits – don’t do that.
“Create advocacy with the people who came back and make them help promote your events. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t mean that it’s a failure for anything you’ve done. It could be timing or just something you’ve missed. Try it again and if that doesn’t work, try something else but don’t give up.”
Pints & Ponytails
Drake & Morgan site the Folly also brings people to its City of London premises using Pints & Ponytails, which is a community-led event created by the podcast ‘The Secret Life Of Dads’ in which Mathew Carter and Lawrence Price discuss all things fatherhood.
The Folly partnered with low & no alcohol beer brand Lucky Saint to provide drinks while The Secret Life of Dads team leads an informal, hands-on session, guiding fathers step by step through hair-styling techniques.
A spokesperson for the Folly explains: “We set out to create a meaningful experience where guests could build genuine connections with one another, centred around something simple but significant in their everyday lives. For many men and dads, opportunities like this are especially valuable, offering a relaxed, judgement-free space to learn new skills.
“We hosted the first Pints & Ponytails at the Folly in April and we’d love to host again in the future. It forms part of our wider approach to partner with community groups and using our spaces to host socially driven experiences that go beyond traditional dining and drinking.”
Community events like this work particularly well during quieter periods where it can use spaces more flexibly, the bar near Monument underground station says. Success has been found by running brunch events at the weekend to bring in a different audience to its usual midweek crowd, too.
“We saw strong engagement and a very positive response from attendees as well as strong engagement across social media. We’re always looking to explore similar partnerships with community groups, using our 16 venues across London and Manchester.”
The Folly’s advice for other pubs and bars wanting to put on a similar event is about identifying communities that align with your space and giving them the platform to bring a concept to life. Creating a comfortable, welcoming environment is key, it adds, especially for events like this, where guests may be stepping slightly outside their comfort zone.
