Heaters, waterproof TV screens and music piped from the bar
Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 9:50 Quick update on yesterday's post about the Great British Pub Awards.
It didn't take us too long to choose a shortlist of pubs for Best Smoking Area but it was interesting to discover the extent to which some pubs have gone to accommodate smokers.
A recurring phrase was "bringing the inside out" so smokers don't feel alienated from the rest of the pub.
This might include outside TV screens (including waterproof monitors), special lighting and heaters.
One pub pipes music in to the smoking area from the bar. Another does the same with its karaoke events.
Personally that's my idea of hell but I won't let it influence my choice. Horses for courses, as they say. What matters is the desire to make smokers feel included.
Some businesses have invested serious money in developing comfortable smoking areas. One pub spent £80k in the last year on its smoking area, another £105k and a third invested £160k.
The reason is clear. According to one pub, 60-70 per cent of their customers are male smokers aged 30-60+.
Another explained that at weekends 40-50 per cent of their customers are smokers. (Many of them are social smokers, apparently.)
Without the smoking area, another pub claimed it would lose 50 per cent of its custom.
Another wrote that the smoking area encourages smokers to stay longer, sometimes for a meal (which is where a lot of pubs make their money nowadays).
Investment alone won't win a pub the Best Smoking Area award. Some factors – signs to the smoking area, for example – cost very little but represent a smoker-friendly attitude.
Likewise cigarette bins and ashtrays (regularly emptied).
Other factors we take into consideration are whether the smoking area has been purpose built, and is it promoted as a unique selling point?
Anyway, I'm pleased with our 2013 shortlist. The next stage involves a personal visit to each pub by a small panel of judges. After that, we'll decide on the winning pub, to be announced at the Great British Pub Awards in September.
Watch this space.
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