Community spirit
Jon Maslen-Jones took over the tenancy of the Caledonia, an Ansells pub on a Dudley housing estate, in June last year. A former Gardner Merchant area manager, he aims to convert the business from being a loud music venue for young lager-drinkers, to a more traditional community pub, serving bar meals and appealing to people of all ages. But in the first five months the younger people have refused to surrender their territory, or to change their behaviour.
Things are looking up at the Caledonia. During the past few weeks there have been no fights between customers - probably the first Christmas in about 15 years when that has been the case.
Jon Maslen-Jones's tough line on the younger customers has been in force since the third week of November: if they don't behave, they don't come in. As a result, takings for November and early December are disastrously down, but the word is getting round the local community that older customers need not feel threatened at the Cally, and so they are coming back.
"As far as the type of customer is concerned, we've turned the corner, and that started in mid-November. We can build on that. As far as the level of business is concerned, there is a long way to go," says Jon.
"We had a bad four weeks when we were stopping the idiots coming in, but the word hadn't yet got round that things were changing. It was painful at the time.
"I'm pleased at how it's built and grown and I'm confident January and February will be better than November and December."
During the four-week period that the younger, rowdier element was being squeezed out, and before the local families started to take their place, weekly takings were down from about £1,400 to well under £1,000 - and in the first week of December they were under £800, the worst week since Jon took over.
Recovery
But the figures soon recovered as Christmas approached. In the third week of December, takings were up again to about £1,200; in Christmas week itself they were £2,500; and in the first three days of the New Year the Caledonian took £1,300.
These are the key figures for Jon, not the gross profit (GP) targets, which will have to come later. In response to a letter to Caterer from a business consultant (Letters, 4 January), which urged Jon to look for higher GP, he says: "The letter reminded me of my Gardner Merchant days - if you've got a problem, you look at the GP. That's too narrow. In this business we've got to drive up the turnover first and get the GP right later. We actually reduced the target for GP after we first came here."
Particularly pleasing is the proportion of takings coming from food. Jon aims to get about 25% of turnover from food, and during the autumn he has been achieving only 10% or 12%.
In November, he reported: "The best month so far was August, when food was about 16% of the total, but that included a 21st birthday party and the August bank holiday."
Now, however, helped by the Christmas festivities, food is accounting for 15-20% of takings. Steaks, grills, lasagne and chilli are the most popular choices.
Menu prices have deliberately been pitched low to build volume. Examples of dishes on the traditional pub menu are: 16oz T-bone steak and chips, £5.65; mixed grill, £3.95; chilli with rice and garlic bread, £3.45; lasagne, £3.45; battered cod and chips, £2.95; and two pieces of Southern fried chicken and chips, £2.95.
Jon, Michaela and their daughter, Emma, are on holiday in Florida until Saturday. Soon after they return, Jon plans to revise the menu. "We'll look at what's been popular, what's given us a decent profit. We'll probably put the prices of steaks up a bit."
Help at hand
Jon and Michaela have been glad of the help provided by Mad Mick. Also known as Michael Hartshorne, Mick is a former pub tenant who, following an incident that scared his wife, decided not to run his own pub any longer.
But he's popular with local people, and Mick has been doing four sessions a week behind the bar since before Christmas. He has been seen on the customer side of the bar, too, along with some of his former "regulars", and he has helped to organise a crib team.
Other entertainment designed to attract the community includes a dominos league, involving the pub regulars on Sunday lunchtimes (also organised by Mad Mick), and live music on Sunday evenings.
Jon says he is "initially targeting singers and groups who are well-known locally and who will bring in a following - it's aimed at the older customers".
The first act, for the first Sunday in January, cost £80. Jon is also running a weekly raffle, with a meal for two as a prize, and the raffle will cover the cost of the entertainment.
Mad Mick has taken over management of the Caledonia during the family's holiday, and Jon will probably use his services in the future.
Events have proved Jon's wisdom in making the holiday booking at the time he took over the pub in the summer. A Christening party buffet for 60-70 people is booked for the day after they return. Had Jon not booked the holiday long before, perhaps they would have changed their plans. As it is, the menu was decided and the food and drink were all ordered before they went away.
Before Christmas, Jon met the area manager and general manager from the brewery, and it was agreed that the development plans for the pub would be changed. Rather than spend £5,000 developing a patio with children's play area, which might be used for only a few weeks a year, Ansells will spend the same money on improving the image and atmosphere of the interior of the Caledonia.
The rent will be increased by £1,000 a year following the investment, but Jon is negotiating with Ansells for a rebate on some of the first six months' rent to compensate for the difficulties the pub has faced in that period. So far, he is disappointed with Ansells' response.
Priorities for the refurbishment, which Jon hopes to see finished before Easter, are to develop a more traditional pub atmosphere, which will include getting rid of the glitzy mirrors, altering the lighting and changing the signage outside the pub when a new name has been chosen.
Name competition
A new name? Yes, that's now official. As mentioned briefly last month, Jon and the brewery are agreed that a new name will help the Cally put its past behind it, and enable a new community of customers to make the place their own.
Just before the holiday, Jon was having leaflets printed, to be left on the bar and to be distributed to houses in the neighbourhood, inviting the locals to choose the new name. Under the heading "Rename your local", the leaflet suggests that it is time to end the Caledonia's association exclusively with young people, who often drink too much, and it is time for a new image and a new name to go with it, to be chosen by the customers. Jon is offering a meal for four as a prize for the customer who submits the name that is eventually selected.
It is still early days, however. The decision will probably be made towards the end of February, and a fresh pub sign with the new name will be installed as part of the refurbishment.
Jon and family are encouraged by the success of the pub during the festive season, which culminated in a full house on New Year's Eve.
"People have been saying they like the way the pub has been changing. It's made a difference for me and Michaela as well. It's so hard, when you're always wondering whether someone is going to put a bottle through the window."
With that, Jon goes back to his holiday packing. He's had just two days off in seven months.
