Anyone ever run a pub?

[Champ]

I'm currently looking at opening a hybrid bar/shop with a friend.

 

About 4/5 stools, maybe a table or two outside, a couple of ever changing kegs, cured meats and lots of off licence stock; good quality independent ales, ciders etc. Overheads being smaller is key for me.

 

Has anyone been to Friends of Ham in Leeds, or Thomas Street in Manchester? Something like that is a fantastic idea, not sure about overheads though.

 

I think in the right neighbourhood this type of model is a goer.

Or House of the Trembling Madness in York.

 

There's a thread on here devoted to the Friends of Ham if I'm not mistaken

[Anny Road]

Yeah, that's the run of it.

 

Make a go and others will pop up, or the supermarkets will widen their stock and undercut you.

 

My wife runs a popular, busy, well reviewed restaurant, has done for two years....still not made a penny!

Better believe it.

One of my mates ran a supermarket close to one of my shops and was e-mailed and visited by his seniors to target his promotions to put me out of business. Good on him he tipped me off but he still had to do it.

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

Better believe it.

One of my mates ran a supermarket close to one of my shops and was e-mailed and visited by his seniors to target his promotions to put me out of business. Good on him he tipped me off but he still had to do it.

 

Cunts

[Champ]

Or House of the Trembling Madness in York.

There's a thread on here devoted to the Friends of Ham if I'm not mistaken

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/index.php?/topic/99463-leeds-friends-of-ham/?hl=%2Bfriends+%2Bham

[moof]

Used to drive past that every other week to play at Brabyns, but never been in.

Wonderful anecdote

[Rico1304]

Used to drive past that every other week to play at Brabyns, but never been in.

It was a shit hole then, good pub now. Who did you play for?

[Rico1304]

Right, spoke to my mate. His brother ran a bar in Dover, not Portsmouth, they went for beers from microbreweries. They paid £80-£125 per firkin (72 pints) and went through 20-25 per week selling at £3:40. Licensing laws have changed to allow new bars to open on previously unlicensed premises but there are strict rules on the size of the bar area. There's a website called something like micro Brewers association that gives loads of advice. His wife ran off with a regular but he was making a fortune.

[M_B]

Right then, so far we've got :

 

A rural(ish) location

Good selection of quality ale

Good food

No dickheads or dealers

No f**tball on telly

Friendly atmosphere

Good service

Saucy barmaids

 

Piece of piss this. TLW Business Advisory Service. Is it really as simple as knowing what we like and don't like in a boozer?

Real Ale that is varied and preferably local

Real Cider that is varied and preferably local

The odd Ale\Cider festival

Dog Friendly

Decent Evening Meals, Sunday Brunch, Lunch + Summer BBQ's. Keep the menu small (and ideally varied) and use locally sourced, fresh ingredients where possible.

Decent selection of wine

Decent coffee for non boozers

Clean bogs - Women wont come back to a pub with unclean bogs

A fireplace with a lovely fire in the winter

Live music

Connect with the locals - do things like take a professional photo of all the locals standing outside the pub and put it on your wall etc. The key to it is making it a place where people want to return to regularly.

[Rico1304]

Deliberately dirty the women's bogs.

[Champ]

Real Ale that is varied and preferably local

Real Cider that is varied and preferably local

The odd Ale\Cider festival

Dog Friendly

Decent Evening Meals, Sunday Brunch, Lunch + Summer BBQ's. Keep the menu small (and ideally varied) and use locally sourced, fresh ingredients where possible.

Decent selection of wine

Decent coffee for non boozers

Clean bogs - Women wont come back to a pub with unclean bogs

A fireplace with a lovely fire in the winter

Live music

Connect with the locals - do things like take a professional photo of all the locals standing outside the pub and put it on your wall etc. The key to it is making it a place where people want to return to regularly.

Where is it and I'll go

 

 

Edit. Get lost, rico!

[M_B]

Where is it and I'll go

 

 

Edit. Get lost, rico!

 

Yeah they are thin on the ground sadly. Actually I am talking bollocks - there are plenty of landlords out there doing a good job.

 

Whatpub by Camra is a good resource.

 

http://whatpub.com/

[thompsonsnose]

Have been givng this a lot of thought. I would sell my house in order to buy for cash and live over the shop as it were.

I think thats the only way to go at it.

[Champ]

Yeah they are thin on the ground sadly. Actually I am talking bollocks - there are plenty of landlords out there doing a good job.

 

Whatpub by Camra is a good resource.

 

http://whatpub.com/

Never do a trip without our trusty Good Pub Guide

[Croque Monsieur]

Right, spoke to my mate. His brother ran a bar in Dover, not Portsmouth, they went for beers from microbreweries. They paid £80-£125 per firkin (72 pints) and went through 20-25 per week selling at £3:40. Licensing laws have changed to allow new bars to open on previously unlicensed premises but there are strict rules on the size of the bar area. There's a website called something like micro Brewers association that gives loads of advice. His wife ran off with a regular but he was making a fortune.

It's the Micropub Association:

 

http://micropubassociation.co.uk/

 

Micropubs are popping up all over the place; there's the Liverpool Pigeon in Crosby and a new place is set to open in West Derby:

 

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/micro-pub-cask-set-come-8816994

[setreal]

Deliberately dirty the women's bogs.

 

"Women's bogs? Honey, I don't think we can afford this place."

[Stu Monty]

Wonderful anecdote

Wasn't intended for you was it, you goat-feltching paedophile?

[Stu Monty]

It was a shit hole then, good pub now. Who did you play for?

Team called Govan. Still do but we moved away from that area to South Manchester after a few seasons.

[moof]

Some fucking great insults flying my way round here recently. Can't be salty about that.

[Carvalho Diablo]

[Rico1304]

Team called Govan. Still do but we moved away from that area to South Manchester after a few seasons.

Ha ha I play cricket with Neil Bradford. Do govan still have the inflatable dugout?

 

Oh, and negged for playing for a team named after Ginsoak's birth place!

[Stu Monty]

Ha ha I play cricket with Neil Bradford. Do govan still have the inflatable dugout?

 

Oh, and negged for playing for a team named after Ginsoak's birth place!

Haha! Small fucking world isn't it.

 

Can't remember the inflatable dugout so that's a no.

[lifetime fan]

If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean.

[Bjornebye]

If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean.

If you've got time to pour you've got time to drink the profits.

[RJ Fan club]

Right, spoke to my mate. His brother ran a bar in Dover, not Portsmouth, they went for beers from microbreweries. They paid £80-£125 per firkin (72 pints) and went through 20-25 per week selling at £3:40. Licensing laws have changed to allow new bars to open on previously unlicensed premises but there are strict rules on the size of the bar area. There's a website called something like micro Brewers association that gives loads of advice. His wife ran off with a regular but he was making a fortune.

That's terrible, imagine losing such a good customer

[Guest Super Sub]

If it's got a basement put a lap dance bar down there like the pen and wig.