Refreshing Your Bar For 2019

It’s a new year, which brings about the perfect opportunity to breathe new life into your bar to keep it looking modern and fresh. Your regular customers will be delighted with the updated look at their favourite hangout, and refreshing your bar’s interior can help to draw in brand new customers in 2019 too. If you weren’t as busy as you’d have liked to be last year, then putting in some time now to modernise your bar can make all the difference for the future. You can show off the exciting changes with new pictures on your website and social media channels to create a buzz about the updated look of your bar.  

The best bit is, you don’t have to spend the earth or start re-designing the entire interior to make a noticeable difference. So, we’ve put together three helpful tips for giving your bar a bit of a makeover on a budget so that you can reap the rewards of more visitors and more custom in 2019.

Brighten up the interior  

One of the easiest ways to freshen up the look of your pub or bar this year is to give the place a fresh lick of paint. All too often, the years tick by, and we realise it has been far too long since we thought about the decor inside our pub or bar. Peeling wallpaper and painted walls with scuff marks can give off an instantly negative impression to new visitors of your bar. It doesn’t reflect the same high standards and quality of service you offer on your great drink and food. Poor decor can result in a lack of ambience and comfort inside your venue meaning new customers don’t return, or regular visitors might not be inclined to stay for as long as they might have otherwise. Choose light, neutral colours for your walls and take care to cover up any scuff marks. By adding a few well-placed mirrors and new pictures to the walls, you can instantly make a huge difference and bring light and atmosphere to your bar.

For your flooring, if your carpets are way past their heyday, it is probably worth either investing in a new one or hiring a specialist rug cleaning machine (these can be picked up relatively cheaply for day hire) and grafting to give it back it’s sparkle. If you have wooden or tiled flooring, make sure to give it a good scrub to brighten it up. You can buy low cost, modern rugs from most homeware shops these days, and a simple patterned rug can really redesign the whole room.

Cheap additions like new scatter cushions, reupholstering bar stools,  a new set of curtains and a few new plants in bare spaces won’t cost the earth, but will instantly add a warm and welcoming feeling to your bar. This will entice your customers to stay for longer and relax when they come to visit. Relaxed, comfortable customers inevitably stay longer and spend more behind the bar. Not to mention, if they get a good impression they will likely recommend you to friends and return themselves.

Trendy Drinks and Foods

Long gone are the days of simply putting crisps or nuts in bowls along the bar for your punters. We are in the era of healthier eating and smarter choices, and if your bar can help to get in line with the different favourites of your customers, you’ll be on to a winner in 2019.

There are so many healthier, tasty bagged snacks on the market these days, and they are definitely worth looking into. From low-calorie popcorn to pork scratching brands made with 100% pork, you can find something for everyone if you invest a little time looking. Having a wide selection of flavoured crisps and even a homemade cake or brownie slices on the bar can also be a really nice touch.  

As well as snacks, it’s worth taking stock of your drinks lists too. Gin has grown in popularity hugely over the past few years, and if your bar doesn’t have an exclusive Gin Menu, you could be losing out on potential customers. It won’t take long to draw up a chalkboard advertising some fancy new gin flavours and up-market tonics. From Rhubarb & Ginger, to Blood Orange and Parma Violet flavoured gins to Elderflower and Raspberry tonics the options are endless.  The bonus is, these drinks can be charged at higher prices as cocktails when appropriately served in a wide gin glass with fresh garnishes and a range of mixers. You could even consider hosting a ‘gin night’ one night a week and choose one specialist gin to be on a reduced price each week to attract customers to come to visit your bar.

New Machines

One of the biggest problems facing bars in 2019 is how to increase their footfall and profits. If you’ve been struggling to fill your bar throughout the week or would like to see it even busier, then it is the year for experimenting with new revenue streams on top of just your drink and food. A welcoming interior and the right snacks and drinks might well get more visitors into your bar – which is excellent, but one big challenge is actually keeping them there for longer and spending as much as possible.

Adding gaming machines to your bar could be one of the best steps to take in 2019 to help increase your profits and build your list of regulars. Pool tables, jukeboxes and fruit machines are all excellent gaming machines to keep the fun (and spending) going in your bar. Pool table hire is fantastic because, not only does it keep one off visitors in for longer having fun, but it enables you to organise a weekly competition or even a regular pool club. Having something fun to bring people in to socialise means you can expect to be busy, even on typically quiet nights. Your customers will spend more behind the bar, and you get to keep the profits from the table too – win, win.

Jukebox hire for your bar can be a unique way of keeping your customers in for longer, spending more money. Hearing their favourite tunes and having fun picking them with their friends will make your bar the ‘go to’ for a good catch up and post-work social – pitching you above competing bars in your local area. Not only this, but fruit machines can also be an extremely profitable asset to your bar for 2019, especially if you hire from a company that has the latest in gaming technology. Regular gamers and customers who enjoy unwinding on a fruit machine will think of your bar as the venue of choice for their social gatherings, meaning more profit for you.

Here at Amusement Leisure, we supply pool tables, jukeboxes and fruit machines throughout the North West and help bars increase their profits substantially. Get in touch today to find out more about how we can help give your bar a refresh in 2019.

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