Pubs have faced many challenges over the past few years – principally including increases in rents and the smoking ban. This has resulted in an identity crisis for pubs; many of them having totally transformed themselves in order to capture additional revenue streams from new customer bases.

Competition is higher than ever, with some pubs being considered more as a destination restaurant than a pub and others moving towards a more trendy continental persona, offering gastro and tapas to appeal to a mixed audience.

Differentiation is key for the pub market, and with an increasingly saturated market this will help the pub gain a good reputation and, in turn, an increase in footfall.

Opportunities arise for high street locations to compete with the café bars and coffee shops. For pubs which have not offered food previously, they can now create new food revenue streams simply and cost effectively, helping reduce the impact of recent events