Saturday 23 October 2010

Destination pubs … or … just “destination pub!”


Amazing how surveys come up with their results isn’t it? A report in the Morning Advertiser on the 22nd October, commissioned by the National Skills Academy Hospitality has shown that customer service is rated higher in destination pubs than community pubs.

Hardly surprising in some respects, when carried out by The Mystery Dining Company, when the sample only included some 18% of pubs and bars out of 1122 businesses in the hospitality sector.

I think it’s a shame that community pubs aren’t trumpeted about a little more … they provide friendly, welcoming oases in the desert that is Britain in the age of the Big Society. Places where you can meet your mates feel part of a “pub family” and just hang out for a moderate price, basking in the bonhomie of your host(s) and staff who know you on a continuous basis, rather than the hour or two one might spend in a destination venue.

With all the talk of having to train your staff in “flirting” as an upselling strategy and the Academy’s suggestions on staff knowledge and customer engagement it makes you wonder how “traditional” local’s pubs have survived this long without all this sage advice.

No shame in being a pub and “just a pub” and although only 15% of all pub goers would recommend venues to friends, I’d hazard a guess that a far greater number actually do support and recommend their local than that.

If you want to read more of their drivel see:

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