CREATING IDENTITY

AT THE 2018 PUB LEADERS SUMMIT, THREE OPERATORS OF VERY DISTINCT VENUES EXPLAINED HOW THEY HAD CREATED SUCH STRONG IDENTITIES FOR THEIR PUBS.

THE VENUES

THE RAILWAY HOTEL, PARKES

Hart Bar at The Railway Hotel Parkes

One of eight pubs in the regional New South Wales town of Parkes, the Railway Hotel was taken over by Kasie Ferguson and Bianca Sheridan in 2011. The pair brought with them plenty of experience of working on hospitality offerings on Hamilton Island, and wanted to bring some of that level of offering to the pub. While the ground floor caters to the very traditional country town expectations of a pub, the underutilised first floor was transformed into Hart Bar, a more metropolitan offering of tapas, cocktails and live music. The space also has a large focus on functions, hosting everything from product launches to weddings.

THE MARLBOROUGH HOTEL, NEWTOWN

Miss Peaches at The Marlborough Hotel

The Marlborough Hotel, or The Marly as it’s more commonly known, is an institution in the Sydney city-fringe suburb of Newtown. Bought by Solotel from the Australian Pub Fund in early 2017, the group has doubled down on the pub’s reputation as a late-night haven for nearby university students and shift-workers from the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The Marly practically operates as three venues in one – the traditional pub offering with gaming, TAB and beer garden on the ground floor; a basement nightclub called Tokyo Sing Sing; and Miss Peaches, the first floor cocktail bar and restaurant.

THE LANSDOWNE, CHIPPENDALE

The Lansdowne’s public bar

A mainstay of Sydney’s live music scene since the 1980s, music lovers were devastated when the pub closed in 2015. After sitting abandoned for two years, Mary’s Group took over the lease and returned the pub to what it had always been revered for: live music, partying, pizza and a general rock and roll attitude. In the past year, the pub has been attracting old locals, music aficionados and plenty of nearby uni students looking for a place to let loose until the wee hours of the morning.

Client Liaison playing a set at The Marly’s Tokyo Sing Song

At the Pub Leaders Summit, Ferguson was joined by then licensee of The Marly, Amanda Verratti, and Mary’s Group cofounder Kenny Graham, to discuss the ways in which they had cemented the identities of their venues.

PLAN, COMMUNICATE, REVIEW

When first working on a concept for a venue, having a brand strategy document is a great way of figuring out the narrative for the venue and what your business needs to work on. Graham says that it’s important to share that document with all of your staff.

“Paying a lot of attention to HR and induction of staff [is important]. It made us really sit down and think it through, because anyone who walks through that door to work for us, they should have a better understanding of what it is than our customer.”

Verratti agreed, explaining that Solotel’s narrative briefs for a venue were implemented at the opening of a new venue or after a major renovation, and that it was also important to review those documents regularly.

“It’s good to look back at what worked and then six months later what definitely didn’t work. Being able to be really agile and look back and see where you’ve made mistakes and learning from them.

LISTEN, BUT STAY TRUE

Getting your pub’s identity to match what you envisioned is always a delicate operation, as it’s also important to ensure that patrons are eager for the offering. Graham said that as part of the re-opening of The Lansdowne, a female artist was commissioned to create some artwork in the space. The finished product included some female nudity. Since the rise of the Me Too movement, there has been some backlash against the piece, which Graham and his business partner Jake Smyth listened to and engaged with. While that was an important critique to respond to, Graham suggests there have been others where it was important for the duo to stick to their guns, while still listening to feedback. The balancing act is to figure out when to adapt, and when to stay true to your vision.

“It’s a bit of an arm wrestle to not get dictated to by customers. But if anyone is vocal you invite them into your zone to have a conversation, and you get to intelligently explain why it is you do what you do. You’re not going to have the reputation of having a strong brand if you just do what everyone on Facebook tells you to.”

Ferguson said sticking to the vision for Hart Bar was especially important at The Railway Hotel. While the space was in the middle of renovations, there was plenty of talk around Parkes about what the offering would entail. Plenty of the discussions were quite negative, with rumours suggesting that it was going to be an overpriced, stuffy fine dining space. While trying to rein in assumptions and expectations, Ferguson had to battle the pressure to overhaul the concept.

“There were definitely people in Parkes who weren’t ready for it, but we knew that there was a market that was.

“Initially we were trying to be something for everyone, and thinking maybe we should steer away from our initial concept but then we realised we needed to stay true to our vision, and be consistent and transparent. It took a little bit of time but a year and a half in, it’s like it’s always been there now.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF DESIGN

The design of your venue doesn’t just create the vibe of a venue, in many ways it is the vibe. It is the first way to communicate with visitors what your pub is all about, and hence should clearly relay that message.

“If you want people to walk in and spend $300 on dinner, it better look like they’re getting their money’s worth,” suggested Graham.

“For us at The Lansdowne, we didn’t want to mess with [the old look] too much. We left a lot of the old crappy stuff and just added elements of ‘in case you’re mistaken, this is where you come to party.’ Take any question out of the conversation, this is what you’re here to do.”

INCLUSIVITY

While trying to create an identity as a party pub, a live music venue, a gastropub or a great place to hold functions helps to set venues apart, it’s also important to remember that the basic function of a hotel is to be a welcoming space to all. A big part of that is ensuring that everyone feels safe in your venue. Verratti highlighted one big example that has been a large focus at The Marly.

“When women are feeling unsafe – and a lot of us have been those women in venues when people have made us feel uncomfortable – making sure that your staff and your security guards are educated so that nobody is in your venue feeling a certain way and not feeling that they can say something to you – that’s really important.” At the end of the day it’s all about your patrons, and their needs. “Listen to your community because they know the best. They’re in your venue every day, so listen to your customers. That’s paramount to the success of a business.”

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

Social media is another crucial way to express exactly what your venue is all about, and our Pub Leaders Summit panel identified certain strategies that created the best engagement with venue followers online.

Make it personal – For many venues, and particularly those in regional and country towns with close-knit communities, sharing personal tidbits and anecdotes about pub staff is one of the best ways to get that community interested, as Ferguson can attest.

The Lansdowne, Chippendale

“When we put ourselves or our team up on social media, it just gets so much engagement. It’s crazy to see when you do put up something like the burger of the week, it’s like ‘Yeah, cool’, but when you put up a picture of the team and what we did on the weekend, the engagement is just unreal. Where we are, people really want to know about us, and that leads them to trust us and trust our brand.”

Focus on your specialties – With algorithms restricting how much social media users see from business accounts, Graham’s strategy is to focus on the elements of the Lansdowne he wants the venue known for, to get the message across.

The Railway Hotel, Parkes

“If you want to be a standout venue, you might be good at ten things but you’re only great at one or two things and you’ve just got to pick those and keep talking about them. At The Lansdowne we just talk about the live music and our food, because that’s what people are coming for. So just keep hammering it home. You don’t see everything posted by those accounts you follow – you might see one of every ten. So you’ve just got to keep pushing it, pushing it, pushing it.”