Starting a pub up from scratch
Starting a pub up from scratch
I have been giving this idea some though as most pubs seem to be owned by the mob who dictates to you how much you charge for your drinks. So good reason hear why all the pubs have been closing down faster than other businesses over recent decades
I was looking at some commercial letting agents with high street shops up for lease and a lot of them go through a change of use purpose. So for instance one I saw was an old bank with all the fixtures and fittings ripped out. I was talking to a licensing officer for north Yorkshire today and she said as well as applying for a premises license you will also need to apply to Yorkshire Dales planning for a change of use to the building, and that this is just not for pubs but it is for any kind of business where the nature of business has been changed
So my question hear is why do we see so many high street businesses coming up for lease over and over again where shop fitters come in and change the use of business, but we do not see pubs opening and closing back up again. Is the issue to do with cellar managment and the setup of all the plumbing, I know things like banks and takeaway restaurants have counter, so there is your bar and requires fitting all the beer taps and pipes. Or is it a matter of toilets, A lot of these buildings only have one toilet and I think you would need a minimum of 2 lades and one gents with urinals fitting into the cubical
I was told by someone who deals with personal licenses that what they do nower days if they want a free of tie pub is they rent out a café and apply for a premises license. But with only one toilet and the upstairs being separate flat, playing live music on a weekend is not an option
And there is the concept of marketing, and an existing pub is known as a pub and already has regular customers (weather this business can not balance the books or not, or it is a thriving city centre restaurant/ cocktail bar where you have to purchase the business for 150K and then pay rent on top of that is not relevant hear). But starting a new pub up on say the high street; would this not require word and mouth
I mean I want to rent something that is going to be cheap to rent and I can rent the upstairs as living accommodation and not worry about live music on a weekend there. In the hope that I can find a job lot of pub fixtures and fitting out of a pub that has just closed/ boarded up for good at a fraction on the price of new fixtures and fittings. But this is not a good idea for someone who has never run a pub before and finding pubs that will let you work for them for nothing so long as you learn the ropes seem to be “can’t be assed” attitude!
But if we look at it at another angle and why are so many pubs closing up faster than any other business. Is it to do with the size of the building being too large and therefore to expensive? I remember Sheffield Hatters saying something about these being big grand buildings in x-mining town where people used to have money but not anymore (the thread about the pub in Wigan). When I was talking to the licensing officer she said that ratable vale is worked out on; one the square meter, 2 uses, 3 profits. So if this is one reason why pubs are failing then why do we not see a big increase in micro breweries in the form of business change of use shop/ bank to pub as I described above.
And while on the subject of big grand buildings being to expensive to run. The pubcons will not allow you to let out rooms upstairs or use them as function/ restaurant room. So more scope hear as to why pubs are failing because of the size of the buildings
