Who I help · Pubs
Help for independent pubs, from someone who has run them
Freeholds, leaseholds, and tied tenancies; wet-led locals and food-led country pubs. I have run them, opened them, and lost them, and I know what keeps one open.
In-person sessions are booked at least ten working days ahead.
Where can a struggling independent pub get help?
Start with what you control: the margin on every pint and every plate, staffing against how busy you actually are, what the pub offers on quiet nights, and costs nobody has questioned for years. If you are a tied tenant and your pub company owns 500 or more tied pubs in England and Wales, the Pubs Code gives you specific rights, including in some cases the option to go free of the tie, and the Pubs Code Adjudicator enforces them. Your accountant should see the numbers early. And an experienced operator can help you turn all of it into a plan.
That last part is what I do. Atelier Sawyer works with independent pubs across the UK, from a single Health Check to month-by-month support.
What I see in pubs
- The wet-led squeeze: drink prices up, margins down, and fewer people coming in for a pint on the way home.
- Quiet midweek: Friday and Saturday carry the week, and Monday to Thursday cost more to open than they take.
- Food that loses money: a menu added to bring people in, with nobody quite sure whether it pays.
- The cellar: stock that goes missing between deliveries, and counts that only tell you after the fact.
- Staff: good people hard to find, harder to keep, and a rota built on habit.
- Costs you cannot control: rates, energy, wages, and, for tied tenants, the price of what you buy.
- The owner who is always there: because nobody else can hold a Saturday night together.
How I help pubs
| If you… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Know something is wrong but cannot see what | A Hospitality Health Check, £495 |
| Need help fixing it, month by month | Run, £795 a month |
| Are taking on a pub, or opening one | Plan, £495 a month, or a Pre-Opening Diagnostic, £695 |
| Want a second pub, or have two or three already | Grow, £1,595 a month |
| Have a good pub that too few people know about | Promote, £745 a month |
| Are fighting your till, your bookings, or your stock system | Digitise, from £2,950 |
| Need a website that takes bookings and sells events | Websites, from £3,250 |
The pubs I have run
I ran the Sun Inn in Bethnal Green, the Half Moon in Cuxham, and the Dew Drop Inn in Berkshire, as a weekly circuit: Fridays on the pass at the Sun, Saturdays at the Half Moon, and Sunday roasts at the Dew Drop. I took the Sun from £10,000 to £800,000 in annual turnover within thirty months.
I also ran the Waverley Arms in Nunhead for three months, at a pound a week and free of the tie while I tested it, and handed back the keys when the pub company's terms did not add up.
Then a lease clause I had signed at 26 cost me the Sun, and the other two went with it. It is why I look at the whole business, and read every lease, before anything else.
Save British Pubs members
Atelier Sawyer is a partner of Save British Pubs, and members get a discount on my diagnostics and services.
Tied pubs
A tie changes what you buy and from whom. It does not change your rota, your menu pricing, your service, or how you fill a quiet Tuesday, and that is most of what makes a pub profitable. I work with tied tenants on everything within their control. On the tie itself, the Pubs Code Adjudicator is the official route for tenants of the larger pub companies; I can help you understand your numbers before you use it, but I do not give legal advice.
Scotland has its own law on tied pubs, the Tied Pubs (Scotland) Act 2021.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a wet-led pub profitable?
Profit in a wet-led pub comes from three places: the margin on every pint, hours that match trade, and stock that does not walk. Know the margin on each line, not the average, and price your best sellers properly. Rethink the nights that cost more to open than they take. Count the cellar every week; small losses add up fast. A Health Check shows which one is costing you most.
What GP should my pub be making, and is that before or after wages?
Before wages, always. Gross profit is sales, net of VAT, minus what the drink and food cost you, with stock counted at the start and end of the period. Wages come off after that. On food, UKHospitality and Christie & Co's 2022 benchmark put the average at 67%. On drink in a free house, I look for 65% to 75%; a tied house runs lower because you pay more for what you sell.
Is the tie the reason my pub is not making money?
Sometimes, but rarely on its own. Price your ten best-selling lines at free-trade cost, compare them with a year of tied invoices, and set the difference against your rent and what the pub company gives you. If the tie is the problem, you may be able to ask for a market rent only lease: in England and Wales, if your pub company has 500 or more tied pubs; in Scotland, as any tied tenant, since June 2025.
Should my pub serve food?
Only if it pays its way, or brings in drinkers who would not otherwise come. Cost every dish, and know which ones still make money once the kitchen's wages are paid. Keep the menu to what your kitchen can cook well on its busiest night. A short menu that sells is worth more than a long one that ends up in the bin.
Talk it through
A free 30-minute call will tell us both whether I can help, and where to start.
In-person sessions are booked at least ten working days ahead.