New pub finder app launches in London
A new free pub finder app “Pub Club” has launched this week to help Londoners seek out the best pub experiences in the capital.
The app was founded last year by ‘new-to-London’ friends Tom Ireland-Life and Freddie Bermingham (pictured), when flat sharing in Wandsworth, seeking a good local to watch the footie and enjoy a Sunday roast. Pub Club is an app designed to match its user’s preferences with their perfect venue.
Pub Club already has over 350 pubs across South and West London on its app, which is now available to consumers in both the Google Play and Apple Stores. The founders’ ambition is to grow this footprint to cover around 2,000 pubs across London by the end of the calendar year, with further UK coverage in the following year.
Users can select pub attributes using filters in the app ranging from affordability to wheelchair accessibility, from beer garden availability to cocktail and music offerings, allowing them to identify suitable pubs within their preferred geographic radius.
Pub Club may also benefit pub owners by helping to market their establishments, menus, and entertainment to regular customers and prospective visitors, encouraging increased footfall. Pubs will also be able to track the number of views their pub is getting through the app, the number of people scanning their QR code and respond to reviews from their customers.
Co-founder Freddie Bermingham said: “Our idea came about on a gloomy November Sunday morning when we wanted to find the perfect pub for a roast, with sofas and a fireplace and of course, Sky Sports. After countless dead-end Google searches, we were convinced there had to be a more efficient way for people to find their desired pub.”
Pub Club aims to offer more than search engine functionality. A sleek promotional section of the app, known as ‘The Chalkboard’, is where pub landlords and managers can advertise events such as live music, comedy nights and drink offers to clientele within a chosen radius. Customers can also rate the pubs they visit and share their top recommendations with friends online.
To mark its launch, Pub Club is running an inaugural ‘Golden Ticket’ campaign starting in July and running throughout summer. Lucky app users who check into pubs between July and the end of September by scanning the bar-side QR codes, will have the chance to win a prize of £100 bar credit.
Looking ahead, Pub Club has plans to expand its features to include curated bar crawls and a convenient table booking function.
Co-founder Tom Ireland-Life added: “The British pub scene has suffered a great deal recently due to the pandemic: 150 pubs in England and Wales permanently closed within the first few months of 2023. We are hoping that Pub Club helps not only punters but the industry itself by providing a new way to put cash in the till for both chain-based and independent pubs.”
Although not a completely original idea (a basic Google search will find many similar ‘pub finder’ apps), the fledgling business’s timely marketing campaign and emphasis on pub owners and landlords could put it ahead of others in the coming months.
The app is free to download and use for pub-goers and there are no subscription fees for London pub owners until mid-September 2023.
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