Branded pubs and bars are set to disappear from Britain's high streets, declares The Independent on Sunday, and be replaced by "traditional" locals. Market analysts believe the public has fallen out love with bland, uniform outlets, it says.
Picking up on the Hogshead chain's decision to pull back on overt branding, the paper insists that latest brand concept is to have no brand at all.
Stories about the death of branding are not new, and although the British public may say they dislike branded pubs and restaurants, the sales figures dispute that.
The consumers' love-hate relationship with McDonalds sums it up perfectly. They moan about the quality of the burgers, but still queue up in their millions. McDonalds is not only the biggest eating-out brand in the country in number of sites, it remains one of the fastest growing. Fast food, the sector most dominated by brands, is also the biggest slice of the eating-out market.
The biggest success stories, the entrepreneurial companies everyone looks up to, are branded û Wetherspoon's, PizzaExpress, Pret a Manger. Despite chairman Tim Martin's protestations to the contrary, Wetherspoon's is perhaps the biggest brand in the pub business. If it wasn't a recognisable brand to the public it would not be able to launch its current radio advertising campaign on Kiss FM promoting value-for-money drinks to the younger market.
Brands, like Wetherspoon's, now seem as the epitome of the "new" local, have brought much of the innovation in the market, such as smoking restrictions, no juke-boxes, quicker food service. Smoking is a good example of where chains are way ahead of public thinking than the average tenant, who still seem to believe the public actually wants smoky locals.
The truth is, of course, that away from the major town and city centres good local operators can and do out-manoeuvre the bigger battalions. The High Street has rightly seen a culling of the not-so-good copy-cat concepts that added little to consumer choice. There are vmajor opportunities for good local entrepreneurs, though that doesn't mean curtains for all big concepts û the likes of PizzaExpress have 25 years of trading loyalty behind them.
Entrepreneurs have to start somewhere, often as a local player with a one-off idea, which most believe will one day become a chain û and probably branded.
Picking up on the Hogshead chain's decision to pull back on overt branding, the paper insists that latest brand concept is to have no brand at all.
Stories about the death of branding are not new, and although the British public may say they dislike branded pubs and restaurants, the sales figures dispute that.
The consumers' love-hate relationship with McDonalds sums it up perfectly. They moan about the quality of the burgers, but still queue up in their millions. McDonalds is not only the biggest eating-out brand in the country in number of sites, it remains one of the fastest growing. Fast food, the sector most dominated by brands, is also the biggest slice of the eating-out market.
The biggest success stories, the entrepreneurial companies everyone looks up to, are branded û Wetherspoon's, PizzaExpress, Pret a Manger. Despite chairman Tim Martin's protestations to the contrary, Wetherspoon's is perhaps the biggest brand in the pub business. If it wasn't a recognisable brand to the public it would not be able to launch its current radio advertising campaign on Kiss FM promoting value-for-money drinks to the younger market.
Brands, like Wetherspoon's, now seem as the epitome of the "new" local, have brought much of the innovation in the market, such as smoking restrictions, no juke-boxes, quicker food service. Smoking is a good example of where chains are way ahead of public thinking than the average tenant, who still seem to believe the public actually wants smoky locals.
The truth is, of course, that away from the major town and city centres good local operators can and do out-manoeuvre the bigger battalions. The High Street has rightly seen a culling of the not-so-good copy-cat concepts that added little to consumer choice. There are vmajor opportunities for good local entrepreneurs, though that doesn't mean curtains for all big concepts û the likes of PizzaExpress have 25 years of trading loyalty behind them.
Entrepreneurs have to start somewhere, often as a local player with a one-off idea, which most believe will one day become a chain û and probably branded.
