Enterprise Inns, Punch Taverns and Young’s have joined a group tasked with promoting accommodation in pubs across the UK.
The group is chaired by Paul Nunny of Stay in a Pub, which now lists 1,400 pubs with rooms.
The British Beer & Pub Association and Visit England are also backing the venture.
They have agreed a set of actions, including setting guidelines and best practices for the sector to meet the customer expectations; encouraging pubs to gain star ratings and commissioning research on the health of the pub accommodation sector and benchmarking performance.
There are also plans to create a Stay In A Pub Week to coincide with English Tourism Week.
Nunny said:“Why do customers want to stay in a hotel and B&B’s when they can stay in a pub and have a good standard of accommodation, sociability of the pub, good honest pub food with some gaining Michelin star ratings and drinking great cask ale?
“It also goes a long way to supporting the future of the British pub particularly those in the countryside. Wouldn’t it be great for Visit England not only to have a section for hotels and B&B’s but also a section for pubs on their website and travel writers to mention pub accommodation as places to stay? Let’s get people thinking about Staying In A Pub.”
