Let it rain

Peter Hughes, the Dublin-born manager and partner of the Porterhouse pub in London's Covent Garden, is unwittingly demonstrating how much he has absorbed the culture of his adopted country - he's talking about the weather.

"It's been a huge factor for us this summer," he says. "It's been so changeable - or to put it more bluntly, it's been crap - and that's so much better for us."

This time last year, as the Porterhouse came to the end of its run as an Adopted Business, the weather had been puzzling Hughes. The better it was, the worse business was.

"The fact is that good weather isn't necessarily good news for West End pubs," he says. "As soon as the sun comes out all the customers head for the pubs near the river or stay at home and get the barbecues out."

The "changeable" weather this year has meant that, even during the lean summer months, turnover at the Porterhouse is staying above the £60,000-a-week mark.

In July the pub celebrated the end of its third year and, considering there was some worry initially that the pub wouldn't be as successful as its sister in Dublin, it has been three years of success. At the end of the second year turnover was 29% up on the first, and now the third year is a further 10% up on that. So what's the key?

"I think we've grown slowly, through word of mouth mainly," Hughes says. "That, and really good repeat business, has been the secret."

The other key has been bringing punters in during the week, not just Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Almost since the Porterhouse opened it has been impossible to get any more people in on those days.

"The weaker days have certainly improved a lot," Hughes continues. "Sunday to Wednesday has picked up immeasurably, especially in the evenings, so we're getting a much more even spread through the week, which is great."

If there is a niggling problem with the Porterhouse it's that, after two years of searching, Hughes and his fellow owners can't find the right site in London to build a sister pub.

There is one property, the location of which Hughes will only describe as "over in the Mayfair direction", which is being looked at very seriously. "I'm not sure whether the numbers will stack up for it; that's what we're working out at the moment," Hughes says. "We need to have a turnover of £40,000 a week to justify it, and we have to make sure we'll get it.

"We're prepared to be patient. We want to make sure, wherever it is, it deserves the Porterhouse name."

Our new Adopted Business series starts on 12 September

Porterhouse Stout and Oyster Bar

21-22 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London WC2

Weekly turnover: £60,000
Covers: 2,040 a week
Average spend: £6.20

The story so far

The Porterhouse Stout and Oyster Bar, a huge, three-storey pub with a capacity of more than 750 people, opened in the heart of London's Covent Garden in July 2000 at a cost of £3.6m. Run by partners Oliver Hughes, Peter Hughes, Liam LaHart and Frank Ennis, it was the third Porterhouse in total, but the first outside Dublin.

The other two pubs - in Temple Bar in Dublin city centre, and in Bray, just outside the city - turn over nearly £2.2m a year between them. The Temple Bar site also houses the company's brewery, which produces award-winning stouts, ales and lagers.