The UK’s largest pub opens in Waterloo

This pub offers a glimpse of how the bar of the future could integrate with both the work and leisure parts of life as it features, among other things, co-working spaces and pods, a microbrewery, a GRIND cafe, duckpin bowling alleys and a podcast studio.

In June 2022, BrewDog announced that its global bar business achieved revenue growth of 31% in 2021 compared to 2020.

Whilst a flagship bar opening for one of the U.K's strongest hospitality brands is great news, it bucks the general trend of pubs being more likely to close than open. There are fewer pubs in England and Wales than ever before, according to analysis and research from the real estate advisers Altus Group that sheds light on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and rising business costs.

The trend for an increasing amount of pubs closing in the UK has been around for nearly 20 years, it’s part of a bigger societal change that outdates the pandemic period, but no doubt the last couple of years have helped to accelerate it as the hospitality sector faced immense challenges with national lockdowns that caused closures and reduced demand.

Robert Hayton, Altus Group’s UK president, said:

“While pubs proved remarkably resilient during the pandemic, they’re now facing new headwinds grappling with the cost of doing business crisis through soaring energy costs, inflationary pressures and tax rises.”

According to research from the British Beer and Pub Association, the British Institute of Innkeeping, and UK Hospitality, only 37% of hospitality businesses are turning a profit.

Here’s a pub pub quiz question for you: What is the most common pub name in the UK? Anyone who said The Crown, unlucky, as that is second. The answer is The Red Lion.

MUSIC FOR SHOTS, FOR SHORTS, FOR SHAKEN AND STIRRED, FOR LINGERING LONGER AND ORDERING SOMETHING STRONGER.

Whatever the name is of your fine establishment, clearly a lot goes into creating a great pub and bar experience.

Yes, music is important, but it takes more than just music. We call it Music+.

For us at Startle, it is something customers tell friends about. Like a pub quiz played entirely through your phone and based on identifying songs you hear as you drink and chat with friends. It elevates a brand to distinction, with the atmosphere of all sites harmonising in unison. Ultimately it improves your bottom line.

Tell me more, tell me more - What does a great pub experience look like?

Imagine an atmosphere that’s built to run itself, optimising the music and lighting to make sure the experience is always at it’s best and keeps the tills ringing. Couple that with incredible music mixes that are integrated seamlessly with your atmosphere and we’re suddenly talking about the bar of the future which we’re already building.

Walk this way, talk this way…

You have to walk the walk if you talk the talk, so here’s Will Barratt of Wine Inns on how we helped transform their brand’s customer experience:

“Startle's music+ service is exceptional. Their playlists are fantastic and I can control all of our venues from my smartphone. The service is backed up by Startle's Relentless Support™ team who are always on hand to answer any question or fix any issue immediately.”

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