Taking a lease on a pub is one of the easiest ways to run your own business. This month we talked to lessees who have had their venues for just over a year to find out how they have been getting on.
Margaret Inglis and Melanie Callaghen have been friends since primary school and now have their first pub together, The Woodhead in Hamilton, which they are leasing from Trust Inns. The duo have made a great success of turning around the reputation of the pub and bringing back the locals. Says Margaret, “Melanie and I have been friends since we were five years old and grew up in Hamilton. My mum had the local pub, The Cosy Corner, for years and when she gave that up we thought, ‘Where are we going to socialise now?’ So we decided to take on our own pub. We looked at The Woodhead pub back then and decided it was a great opportunity to turn the pub round. It looked like a dungeon but it had so much potential.” The girls have not only increased turnover but they have managed to entice the locals back into a pub they often avoided. She adds, “Our reputation just keeps getting better month after month and it helps that one of our girls is married to a local taxi driver… word of mouth is everything in a small town.”
“The main thing Melanie and I have worked at over the last year is being hands on when it comes to our customers. We ask them what they would like to see in the pub and welcome their feedback. We run theme nights, Sunday karaoke, bus trips to Ayr racecourse and last week we had 32 customers from the pub taking part in Race for Life. We also sponsor a local football team called Moorlands Boys Club.” Margaret jokes that Alec Friel, the Area Manager for Trust Inns, must think they’re both mad as they recently had a hoedown in the pub, and to create the scene they borrowed bales of hay from the local farmer. They take photos of all their nights, and send Alec regular photo updates. Margaret says, “We take photos every week of different events we’ve had and hang them in the pub for everyone to see. Customers love to see this and it creates a real family feel to what is a now a great community pub.” So when asked if it has been a good year, Margaret proudly states “Things just keep improving week on week and the support from day one from Trust Inns have been great. Alec couldn’t be more supportive, no request is too big and he keeps in touch regularly. We are situated right in the middle of a housing scheme and the difference now to when we first opened is just amazing. The customers make the pub, and it has been listening to them that has put The Woodhead back on the map.”
Another dynamic duo come in the form of Dave Crowe and Howard Rodgers also opted to lease from Trust Inns. They have also had a great first year with their first ever joint venture, Cerberus on Bell Street in Dundee which was formerly Thomsons. Howard took a morning off to tell us how their quirky idea for a pub has really taken off.
“Dave and I have been friends for years and I was a regular in his club Kage which is an alternative rock nightclub in Dundee. I work in IT and together we had plans to tap into a niche market with a rock/geek chic bar, and so Cerberus was born. The site was formerly Thomsons which was more of an old man’s pub, and very run down. Our goal was to create something completely different for Dundee that catered for students and the rock crowd.” Howard continues, “We re-modelled most of the pub inside and out to bring it more up to date with eclectic décor including Iron Maiden flags that hang from the ceiling, to Star Wars posters and superhero models on shelves. The more off-the-wall the better. It’s a cross between someone’s bedroom and a bar. Our logo just for starters is a three headed dog from the name Cerberus. We wanted people to walk in and think ‘Now this is unusual.’” When asked when he realised that the bar was going to be a success, Howard says, “Within a month we realised that we were onto something good and already we were making an impact with the student market and starting to see customers returning. We opened in May 2012 so by the time the students came back after the summer we had already gained a strong reputation and it has just grown since then.” We don’t play music from the current charts. You are more likely to hear anything from punk and rock to Miles Davis. I think this is why we have been successful, as people like something a bit different.” The pair didn’t just stop at décor and entertainment when it came to beating the norm, Howard explains how they deliberately stock alternative drinks so that customers can try something different at the bar. He says, “Even our drink offering is different. We have Crystal Head Vodka and Belvedere instead of Smirnoff and we were the first bar in the area to sell Jeremiah Weed. In fact Diageo awarded us with a trip to the States, for recognition on selling the most Jeremiah Weed in Dundee. Dave is flying out this October, I’m not jealous at all!” We look forward to hearing all about it.
Another happy Trust Inns lessee is Liz Conn who is now the licensee of the Stirrup Stane in Airdrie. She is a great example of someone who has gone from working in pubs to owning her own business with the help of Trust Inns. Liz tells us how she went from bar manager to licensee, she says, “I’ve worked in the bar trade since I left school and I worked in the Stirrup Stane for 10 years before I decided to take on the lease. Alec Friel and I talked the idea through, he was a great support and I’ve never looked back.” Liz goes on to explain how she has turned the pub round in such a short space of time, “I had worked in the pub which helped. I knew the customers and I live in Airdrie so I know the locals well.
I also knew that with a bit of hard work I could turn the place around and get some of the old regulars back in the pub again. I gave the pub a facelift, freshened up the décor and injected some life back into the place. Looking back now I can see how much the place has come on, but it took a lot of hard work. I’m there 24/7 and spend a lot of time with my customers.” Liz admits she rarely takes a day off, but she looks forward to being in the pub with all her customers each day, and every now and then they all go on a road trip together. She says, “Without such loyal customers the pub wouldn’t be this successful and there is now a real community feel that wasn’t there before. There is a 100% difference from day one. The customers wanted decent entertainment so we now have karaoke and a quiz on a Sunday. There is also a Monday club which allows everyone to get together and socialise and we plan bus trips over the summer to places like Burnt Island.” Charity events are also something Liz supports, she proudly tells us, “We recently raised over £2k for a wee boy who had passed away, which was a huge success just from running charity race nights.”
Husband and wife team Mick and Fiona McKenna met on the other side of the fence working for pub company Oxford Inns, when Mick was Fiona’s boss. Now they stick to leasing pubs and have made a huge success of The Horseshoe Bar in the town centre of Greenock which they lease from Trust Inns. During her time working for pub companies Fiona also met Alec Friel, when they worked together at Pub Master 10 years ago. Fiona makes a joke and explains how they went from game keeper to poacher. She says, “Mick and I leased pubs in our area whilst still working for Oxford Inns and that is where we got a taste for it. Nowadays we just stick to leasing pubs and it was Alec that approached us with the idea of taking on The Horseshoe. We trusted his judgement. We had no qualms there at all. The pub at the time was doing okay, but we wanted to improve on things and really felt we could maximise the business.” Fiona makes a point of saying that the existing pub didn’t have much wrong with it, but it just needed some attention to detail and freshened up. She says, “To start things off we carried out a small refurbishment which included fitting new toilets, new upholstery and carpets. It just needed some much needed TLC and all our customers have noticed the difference. We have raised the standard, changed the entertainment to live music and tweaked the food menu.” Fiona speaks fondly of her Chef James Blair, who is one of many reasons why they have had a particularly good first year. Fiona says, “James has been with The Horseshoe for 10 years and is an all singing all dancing character. His personality is infectious and the customers love him. It helps that his food is great too.” The pair state that they have had a successful year and things are running smoothly. Says Fiona, “We believe that you get the best out of working with the local pub owners and sharing the wealth. We have a good relationship with them all and support each other. Alec is great to work with and it obviously helps that I have known him for so long. He is honest and Trust Inns as a company are very proactive.”
Colin Church and Martin Luney decided to lease from Iona Pub Company for their biggest venture to date, The Blackbird on Leven Street in Edinburgh which was formerly The Auld Toll. They already have Treacle and Hamilton’s in Edinburgh and once again they have managed to come up with a completely new idea for The Blackbird, which they tell us is doing extremely well. The Blackbird opened on the 20th September last year with the final result being the most in depth project carried out by the pair. Colin says, “All that was kept from the original bar was the front wall and the cornicing. Everything else was re-designed including installing a new kitchen, toilets and a complete over haul on the tired and dated external yard, into a much talked about beer garden. The attention to detail on design has really paid off and business over the last year has been great. We are now looking towards a great summer and festival. The transformation allowed Martin and I to use our imaginations greatly.” The pair who have an eye for design and brilliant imaginations knew exactly what they wanted to achieve with the Blackbird. Colin continues, “We were so focused on what we wanted to achieve which was a great local bar for the area heavily influenced by the East London areas of Hoxton and Shoreditch. A year later I can say it has paid off. The food and cocktail offers have been very successful and the addition of a craft beer selection has been a real scene stealer – we were definitely ahead of the game there.” Given that the build project was so in depth they were pleased to discover just how good Iona were to work with. Colin says, “Working with Iona was very enjoyable. With their architectural knowhow and building expertise, coupled with the specific design ideas from our camp, The Blackbird is a bar that has arrived with a bang and looks like it will be here for a long time to come.” We have no doubt it will too.
Scott Piatkowski, Director of Bruce Taverns, is not new to the leasing game, in fact his company has 16 units in total which are a mixture of pubs that they own and lease, and they lease out to other lessees too. However Scott was new to Iona Pub Company and had his first dealings with them when he decided to lease The Fiddler’s Arms in the Grassmarket last year. A year on he says business has been great, and his relationship with Iona is such that he took on another pub in Morningside called Morning Glory last October. On his first impression of The Fiddler’s Arms, he says, “When we looked at the site we recognised a real opportunity as it had a lot of potential but was very run down and tired looking. It needed a good clean and tidy up which we did but then we focused on the staff and the kitchen.” When it comes to operating he believes, having good staff is key and he worked hard at regaining great customer service in the pub. He says, “Some of the staff stayed on but we brought in a new manager and added to the team. One of our operation managers spent time in the pub for the first few months which always makes a difference. The standard of service we now offer is much improved, and investing time in training really does pay off.” When asked what he thinks has made the biggest difference over the last year, he says, “We offer good quality food at reasonable prices, and we run live traditional Scottish music nights as we attract a lot of tourists being situated in the Grassmarket. The difference now is quite significant, even from a cosmetic point of view. We brought in new furniture and freshened up the décor and re-designed the outside area and signage. We are happy with how things are running now and can approach Iona Pubs easily if we ever need something. You can talk to them and you get the feeling they care which makes a difference in this industry.”