OPINION: No one is coming to our rescue

It is the increasing acceptance that if trade is quiet, the answer is to close.

Every week, I hear operators explaining why they no longer open on a Monday, a Tuesday or a lunchtime because “there’s no demand”. I understand the argument because I’ve recently had to make exactly that decision myself. One of my pubs now closes on Mondays and Tuesdays because the numbers simply don’t support traditional trading.

But while I understand the decision, I worry about the consequences.

The pub industry is at risk of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

We close because there isn’t enough demand. Customers discover we’re closed and stop considering us. New habits are formed. The pub is no longer part of people’s routine. Demand falls further, which then becomes evidence for even more reduced opening hours.

Before long, we convince ourselves that customers no longer want pubs when we’ve stopped giving them reasons to visit.

From a business perspective, it often makes little sense.

When I close my pub on a Monday and Tuesday, my landlord or bank doesn’t reduce my rent or mortgage payments. The local authority doesn’t reduce my business rates. Insurance premiums stay the same. Most of the fixed costs remain exactly where they were when I traded seven days a week.

Using the space differently

I’m still paying for a seven-day business.

The challenge therefore isn’t whether we can afford to trade traditionally on those quieter days. In many cases we can’t. The challenge is how we use those spaces differently.

As a trade, we need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and start thinking more creatively.

Instead of seeing closed days as dead time, perhaps we should see them as blank canvases.

For example, I’ve recently booked an illusionist on one of our closed evenings. It is a ticketed event that simply wouldn’t work during normal pub trading. The beauty of the event is the exclusivity. A smaller venue, no distractions and customers focused on the performance. What would have been a dark pub becomes, for one night, a unique entertainment space.

On another closed Tuesday, I’ve booked a specialist biscuit maker and icing expert to host a masterclass. At £30 per head, every penny goes to the provider, so I won’t make a profit from ticket sales.

But that’s missing the point.

I’ll work the shift myself. I’ll participate in the class, learn a new skill alongside customers and create an experience they will remember. They’ll hopefully buy a few glasses or bottles of wine and, more importantly, they’ll build a stronger relationship with the business.

Exclusive use is more appealing

Already waiting in the wings is a jewellery-making workshop. Beyond that, I’ve contacted local businesses, community groups and organisations to promote our availability as a meeting venue and event space on otherwise closed nights.

What’s interesting is that many groups prefer it.

The exclusive use of a venue can often be more appealing than sharing a busy pub environment. Dance classes, public meetings, networking groups, craft workshops, training sessions and local clubs all need affordable spaces. They can’t compete with the profit of a busy Friday or Saturday night but just maybe letting the space exclusively to the local Line Dance club or similar will be more profitable than a quiet Monday night and the staffing costs associated with it – and it certainly beats a closed night’s profits.

The brutal truth is that no one is coming to rescue our industry.

If pubs are going to thrive, it will be because publicans rediscover the entrepreneurial spirit that built this trade in the first place.

We cannot shrink our way to success. We cannot close our way to growth.

So before you put the ‘Closed’ sign in the window, ask yourself a different question. Not ‘why aren’t people coming?’ but ‘what could this space become tonight?’ because pubs have always survived by evolving. The operators who succeed in the years ahead won’t be those who perfect the art of closing. They’ll be those who find new reasons to open.

The opportunity is still there. We just need the imagination and determination to seize it.