The Red Lion Shepperton - Festive Season

Star Pubs takes a hands-on, community focused approach to supporting its licensees, providing practical advice and tailored guidance to help pubs thrive throughout the year.

Working closely with licensees, we share the best practices aligned to key seasonal moments and events, ensuring pubs are well prepared and supported to maximise every opportunity. This includes everything from gearing up for the festive season, to planning for major calendar occasions to enhance customer experience.

Recognising that every venue is unique, with different audience drivers, Star Pubs offers tailored support to help partners maximise these opportunities and create great experiences year round.

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Licensee Steve Orme – The Red Lion, Shepperton

The Red Lion in Shepperton enjoys a prime riverside location and has become a hub of the local community. Known not only for its food, drink and hospitality offering, the pub has built a strong reputation for bringing people together and embedding itself into village life through creative events, seasonal activations and community led initiatives.

For director Steve Orme, some of the pub's most successful promotions are those that go beyond simply driving footfall. Reflecting on last year's Christmas campaign, he explains how festive activities have become part of a tradition that local residents genuinely look forward to each year.

One of the standout initiatives was an advent calendar campaign, heavily promoted across social media. In the lead up to Christmas, 24 daily videos were released, with doors located throughout the venue serving as the advent calendar doors. Each day revealed a new prize, encouraging audiences to like, share and follow for a chance to win. Prizes ranged from complimentary meals to quirky rewards such as winning your height's worth of burgers, helping to drive engagement and excitement throughout the festive period.

In previous years, another festive activation extended beyond the venue and into the wider village. The 12 Days of Christmas social media campaign encouraged local residents to get involved in a community wide treasure hunt. The team hid prizes and wrapped gifts throughout the area, releasing daily clues via social media and inviting participants to track them down. Residents were encouraged to share their discoveries online, creating ongoing interaction with the pub and fostering a strong sense of community engagement throughout the festive season.

"We've got three venues and we're always looking for ways to connect with our communities," says Orme. "I encourage other operators to get inventive. Pubs are constantly evolving and customers are evolving too. We need to give people reasons to visit beyond just food and drink."

That approach has seen The Red Lion diversify its calendar of events. Alongside its food and drinks offering, the pub hosts a range of activities from candle-making, flower arrangement evenings, art courses, pottery workshops to music bingo and quiz nights.

"If you want to survive, you have to keep creating experiences," Orme adds. "If you fill a place with people, the rest tends to take care of itself." Promotions remain a key part of the strategy too. Following the success of the festive campaign, Orme plans to bring back the advent calendar concept, running a "24 Days of Christmas" countdown leading up to Christmas Eve. "It's a great way to thank customers and give something back during the festive season," he says.

Another initiative that resonated with customers was the pub's "Table for a Hero" campaign, which invited locals to nominate someone who had gone above and beyond to help others. Winners were rewarded with a meal at the pub, creating a feel-good moment for everyone involved. "What I love is how our industry comes together to do genuinely lovely things for people”.

Steve also believes social media plays a crucial role in bringing campaigns to life. "Get socials working for you. Keep it authentic and focus on building your following first. Then keep nudging people with reminders, updates and regular content. Social media keeps your venue front of mind and helps get your name out there."

When it comes to Christmas menus, The Red Lion balances tradition with a touch of creativity. The pub's high-end gastro offering includes elevated festive dishes, while still respecting the classics that customers expect at Christmas. "People still want the traditional favourites, but it's nice to give them something a little extra. Christmas is about the classics though, so don't overcomplicate it. It has to remain accessible." Also, it’s important not to forget your core customer base, “during December, don’t forget to keep your core customer base happy and those who come in for their usual quick stop pub classics”.

Orme also credits the support of Star Pubs in helping operators make the most of opportunities throughout the year. "They want to see you succeed and there's plenty of support available if you need it. From POS materials and trade publications to cellar courses for teams, there's always help on hand. Having a Business Development Manager regularly checking in and offering support is invaluable too."

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At Star Pubs, our support extends across all aspects of the pub offer, from optimising menus and exploring drinks ranges with relevant suggestions that resonate with customers linked to key occasions. Where needed, licenses can also benefit from access to equipment discounts, alongside guidance on health and safety assessments to ensure venues run smoothly and compliantly.

In addition, we provide expertise in marketing and engagement, offering social media tips and promotional strategies to help our licensees amplify their presence, showcase their offering and drive footfall.

To find out more about how we are supporting our licensees this festive season, check out the current MyStar magazine by clicking this link - https://mystar.pagetiger.com/mag2026Q3