Star Pubs & Bars is focused on enhancing the experience at its pubs in order to drive spend and appeal to a broader base of customers, its property director Chris Moore told MCA.
The Heineken-owned pub business has just announced it will be investing £40m on the upgrade of around 570 pubs within its Star Pubs & Bars estate, with its neighbourhood locals set to benefit the most, in line with changing consumer behaviour which has seen more people choose to visit a nearby pub to where they live.
But rather than simply updating the look and feel of the pub, Moore said its “more about premiumising the offer” in order to try and increase the appeal of the pub and drive additional footfall as well as spend per occasion.
“If all you are doing is refreshing what you’ve got you are not really offering new facilities or amenities to attract those new customers,” he said. “Most of our investment goes into changing the segment (of the pub), so we are really changing the proposition and the offer of the pub.”
The investments being made in almost a quarter of its pubs this year include 100 major site revamps, at a cost of around £200k each.
Moore said these annual investments were a really exciting part of what the business does. “Seeing the magic of the transformation of these pubs and the feedback we get from licensees and from customers is really good.”
Sites will benefit from new internal décor as well as garden makeovers, with all significant projects to also include measures to boost sustainability credentials, in line with Heineken UK’s ambition to achieve a net zero carbon supply chain, including its pubs, by 2040.
Following a review of its estate, the opportunities for each individual pub, alongside criteria such as when it was last refurbished and whether there is a different demographic of customer visiting the pub, for example, is what drive decisions about where the investments will be made, and how much.
Moore said that external trends have also been influencing which areas of the pub are invested in, with considerations around the number of people that use the spaces as an alternative to working from home or for meetings, and for socialising and after work drinks, for example.
“You need to ensure, for example, that there are places for laptops to be charged, that the wifi is very good and the tables are set out in a way that facilitates people working on their own.”
But one of its main areas of focus in recent years has been on its gardens, which Moore said Star Pubs views as an area of opportunity for revenue and footfall growth.
“People expect good garden facilities now, and much more all year around. It isn’t just a case of having a bit of grass outside and some benches out there, there is a lot more thought about putting in more hard surfaces, getting the lighting right, getting the furniture type right, so you’re creating more of a continental alfresco style vibe,” he explained.
The investment will be spread across its UK pub estate, however Moore noted there were some challenges around the Tied Pubs (Scotland) Bill that meant it was more of a challenge to put in place an investment programme for Scotland.
“Subject to recruiting operators, we would like to invest £1.6m in Scotland this year. This will focus on our managed operator pubs and on pubs with long term (10-year plus) fully repairing and insuring leases,” he explained.
“We would like to invest more and to invest in our tied leased & tenanted pubs on standard three-year leases – which make up the majority of our estate – however, due to uncertainty created by the passing of the Tied Pubs (Scotland) Bill, we are unable to do so.”
