Gardens for pubs, hotels and restaurants
A well designed outdoor eating and drinking area can substantially improve your business and help you to stand out from your competitors.
And with the imminent introduction of a smoking ban, more and more of your customers will be spending time outside. Evidence from Ireland shows that those premises that make the most of their outside space could see trade INCREASE as a result. The following is extracted from Caterer & Hotelkeeper Magazine:
“If you've got a beer garden - congratulations. Despite the fact that bar sales have fallen in Ireland since the [smoking] ban, venues with an outside area have cashed in.
Saturday night takings have nearly doubled to €14,000 (£9,580) at O'Donoghue's pub on Merrion Row, Dublin. Barman Greg Sperrin says that before the ban sales were about €8,000 (£5,475). "It has been a very rough ride for some but we've been fine with a beer garden," he adds. The pub has had to take on two extra barmen as a result of the rush.
Maguire's on Lower Baggot Street has a heated beer garden complete with plasma TV and outside bar. Last Monday night, with the indoor area empty, between 20 and 30 people chatted and smoked outside. General manager Tom Booth says he wanted to make smokers feel as comfortable as possible. "We tried to take the inside outside - not just a plank of wood and an umbrella. We're getting new customers in off the street," he says.
Things are quieter a few hundred yards down the road at Foley's pub on Merrion Street. When Caterer visited recently, the three members of staff outnumbered the guests, despite the celebrity endorsements hanging on the pub wall. "We're knackered because we've got no space to grow into," says bar manager Joe Doohan. "We were taking €8,000 (£5,475) on a good Friday night before the ban. Now we're lucky if it's €5,000 (£3,420)."
Some have given up the chase completely. Auctioneers John P Younge, which trades in licensed property, has also noticed more pubs changing hands. A spokeswoman for the company says that while wet-led pubs in traditionally working-class areas have dropped in value by 10% since the ban, those with a beer garden have retained their value.”
So don’t get left behind. Call Great Spaces now on 08456 44 24 06 to see what we can do for you. From the evidence above, the cost of a great garden could be offset by the increase in takings from just a few good nights trade!
Great Spaces: Catering garden style
Simpsons Restaurant 1 of 6
We were called in by Michelin starred restaurant Simpsons to help them make more use of their open space in the summer months. Our solutions were subtle changes to the existing gardens to provide more seating space in a new Summerhouse and Gazebo, as well as new scented borders around the patio areas which were relaid with a premium National Trust replica paving range.