My Star News April 2026

RAMPING UP THE ATMOSPHERE ON MATCH DAYS

Located just 100m away from Villa Park stadium, The Witton Arms, is renowned as a great place to watch live sports and the go-to pub for Villa fans.   The family-friendly site can hold 1,500 people and attracts all ages and genders in part due to its focus on creating a safe space.  Says licensee Kiran Chavda: “We are very pro-family.  We do proper risk assessments before each game, employ additional staff to ensure everything runs smoothly and pay for extra security.”  The Witton Arms has a £50,000 6.5m diameter outdoor screen, three outside bars and a wall of fame displaying pictures of Villa players.  On match days, there are four different food vendors and a DJ plays music whilst the Willy Witton Mascot wanders around for selfies.  Ex Villa players attend signing memorabilia for raffles and providing comment on the match and Villa’s prospects.  Adds Kiran: “It gives fans a chance to meet their heroes, which is a real pull.  We try and give customers a great service – a good product range, fast flowing beer and a variety of food options.  Music is an essential part of our offer.  We create a party atmosphere encouraging customers to sing along to the music, and after a match we’ll sometimes put on a band.  To create a great fan zone, you need to do what we did, research and deliver what people want.  Our customers queue down the road before we even open the doors.”

GRASSROOTS GROWS GOODWILL

When Josh Murphy took over The Windmill in Burgess Hill, he recognised its value as a hub for the various grassroots football networks he’d been involved with across Sussex.  For 20 years, he’d been a player, coach, referee and volunteer in schools, academies and youth setting, most recently with The Brighton & Hove Albion Foundation. 

Josh is currently Chairman of Burgess Hill football club - which has 200 members, 11 teams and 35 volunteers - and The Windmill goes all out to support it. The pub hosts club meetings, post-match food for senior teams, awards nights and social events, and is a proud shirt sponsor. Regular fundraising quizzes help the club and local youth groups and community organisations, attracting councillors, charity representatives and volunteers who may not otherwise have visited.  Says Josh: “For me, being a landlord is about more than running a pub, it is about creating a place that genuinely supports and connects the local community.  Hosting events that champion grassroots sport is also good for business.  It gives us a fantastic platform to showcase everything we offer and leads to word-of-mouth recommendations as attendees share experiences with their own groups.  Around £7500 additional trade has been generated by this activity.  The local media also featured how The Windmill gives back to the community.  Most clubs are crying out for sponsorship or support, especially women’s football, which is growing fast.  Putting on hot food after a game goes a long way and generates valuable goodwill and publicity.  You can find local teams to approach through social media or the FA website.”

‘SH*T SHIRT’, SUPER SALES

An easy-to-organise inexpensive competition at The Falcon in Ipswich resulted in a significant uptick in trade and attracted 150 people on a Wednesday night in July.  The Sh*t Shirt Beach Party, which raised funds for charity, was free to attend and invited people to wear naff Hawaiian style shirts.  The winner for the worst shirt won a £20 bar tab. Smaller second and third place prizes were also awarded. There were beach themed cocktails. Rolling a dice at the bar either resulted in a special offer on shots or a £1 donation to charity.  Says licensee James Langan: “The karaoke host judged the winners with input from staff and customers. To create atmosphere, drinkers were encouraged to raise their hands and shout to vote for their favourite sh*t shirt.  We played summer music and provided beach balls for attendees to bat to each other, adding a bit of fun. Judging the winner at midnight ensured people stayed till late.  We saw a 60% uplift in sales and raised money for a good cause. The event brought out people on a mid-week night who would normally only visit at a weekend and didn’t cannibalise trade later in the week. The beach party was so popular, we’ll be running it again this year.”

BABY & TODDLER FOCUS BUILDS BUSINESS

Having young children, licensees Rhidian and Alex Turner, recognised the opportunity to increase revenue from families at the Stuffed Walrus in Forest Hill.  With a number of primary schools on their doorstep and Alex already running a baby and toddler dance school, they decided to focus on pre-schoolers. The pub now offers morning baby massage, baby dance, snuggle and sketch mother’s drawing classes and nursery rhymes sessions.  Says Alex: “I transferred my dance school here and brought that community to the pub.  Although there are similar classes locally, we’re at an advantage as we have space, so a variety of activity providers come to us.  We open at 10 a.m. for good quality coffee and pastries and have created a kids’ playroom allowing adults to relax while their children play.  Attendees see what’s happening at the pub on our ad screens and often stay for lunch or return for Sunday lunches.  The masseurs pay a small fee for the baby massage events. Mornings are relatively quiet; it’s good to find ways to sweat the asset and drive incremental sales.”

GOODWILL GESTURE TRANSFORMS SUNDAY NIGHT TRADE

A request by an out of practice comedian to host a ‘KaraJokey’ session – karaoke with comedy – at The Fishnet Tavern, North Shields to help him rebuild his confidence, proved a win-win for all.  The event was held between 7-11pm on a Sunday evening and was a huge success, increasing takings by over a 1000% at the drinks-led pub.  Now a free-to-attend weekly fixture, it attracts 30-100 people and over 200 on bank holiday weekends.  On the last August bank holiday Sunday, the pub took £5,800 breaking all its records. Says licensee Chris Welch: “It’s low cost as we have our own karaoke kit and just pay the host in drinks on the night. He does old school comedy and works the crowd walking around with a mic getting people to sing and playing a song for the whole room to join in.  We’ve lots of competition on our doorstep, but we offer a fantastic atmosphere so people now come to us on Sunday evenings.   One pub tried to copy but was unsuccessful as they didn’t get the engagement.  The key is to have a great host who interacts with the audience and gets them to relax, and have a laugh rather than take the singing seriously.”

FROZEN PIZZA ADDS SALES

Looking to maximise income at The Golden Grove, Chertsey, licensees Steve Orme and James Thomson, have started selling their own hand-made frozen pizzas for customers to take home and cook. They already sell £10 cooked take-away pizzas, but realised there is a market for £6 frozen pizzas, too.  There’s a choice of five flavours with Pepperoni and Margharita being the most popular.   Says Steve: “We price the pizzas slightly cheaper than premium supermarket options, but offer better quality.  We use really good ingredients, such as tomato sauce from an Italian importer, and prove the all-important dough for 72 hours.  If we’re quiet one afternoon and the chefs aren’t busy cooking for customers, we’ll ask them to make up pizzas to freeze.  It’s a good use of their time.  The freezer is prominent on the trading floor so customers can see the pizzas. We package them in takeaway boxes and hand write the flavour in attractive script on the outside as it feels real and honest.  We currently sell around 20 pizzas a week, and get incremental drink sales from customers at the same time. Pizzas have always been a poor man’s meal so we expect numbers to increase.  If we achieve volume sales in the future, we’ll get the boxes printed.”

VINYL NIGHTS ADD SHINE TO TRADE

The decision to only play vinyl at Three Tuns, a small city centre pub in Sheffield, has spawned two regular events, boosting trade.  40 people regularly attend on Wednesdays between 5 and 10pm when customers play their own records. Monthly Friday night sessions curated by a group of audiophiles, who bring their a/v equipment and decks, are packed out. Licensee Jim Butterell gives them £60 and drinks on the house. Sales increase by over 20% and customers enjoy dancing and stay later. Says Jim: “Playing vinyl creates a distinct vibe in the pub, which has proved popular.  The evenings started with regulars asking if they could bring in some of their own discs to play.   We said ‘yes’ with the caveat that whoever is working behind the bar has the final say in case the music isn’t appropriate.  So far, we have not had to moderate it.  Regulars know that we play funk and disco and so follow suit.  When people bring their music in, we display the record sleeves on a shelf behind the bar creating a talking point.  Playing vinyl is great for creating social interaction in the pub.  Our monthly Friday events are a night out for a relatively small outlay by the pub."