Running a pub can be exhausting, not just because of the long hours and lack of time off, but because you constantly need to reinvent yourself, your offering, keep up to date with the latest food and drink trends without forgetting your roots, ensure you are compliant with ever changing legislation as well as trying to ensure that you are offering what your market wants.
Pubs are not the places there were 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago. Drinking culture has changed, food has become a bigger part of the business and as a pub, we need to change and move with it.
Pubs are closing down at a rate of one every 12 hours, new figures show. The Campaign for Real Ale say that 378 pubs shut down permanently between July and December last year in England, Scotland and Wales, representing more than 14 closures a week.
This has led us to the conclusion that our function room, which is at the end of the garden and is currently drastically under utilised and could become a bigger part of our business if we convert it into letting accommodation. So, at the end of May, we submitted our plans to South Somerset District Council and now our new venture awaits us. Fingers crossed!