50 Ways to Make
More Money
From Your Pub

Build a tight menu of 3-4 dishes and price the bottomless package at £25 - £35 per head with a 90-minute sitting limit. Pre-sell every table through KuulSeats so you know your covers before you open. Partner with a spirits brand to co-fund the Prosecco and get branded table talkers in return.

Start with local acoustic acts at £200-£300 a night. Sell 60 to 80 tickets at £5-£8 each, covering the performer and turning a quiet Tuesday into a full room. Use KuulSeats to manage seating alongside ticket holders. Build a waitlist after each event.

A projector, a white sheet, and a BFI screening licence is all you need. Pick films with built-in audiences (Top Gun, Dirty Dancing, Grease) and charge £8-£12 per head including a drink token. Run June through August on Friday and Saturday evenings. Hire patio heaters - neutralising the weather objection is the whole game.

Big football fixtures are some of the biggest footfall drivers of the year. Set up a free private prediction league for your pub using Beat the Gaffer. Customers predict match scores and compete against each other and against an AI pundit called The Gaffer. Take it further and compete with other pubs in your area - which pub has the best pundits?

The 90-minute sitting rule is non-negotiable and must be clearly stated at booking. Work back from a 70% target margin: price the package so food cost is covered by the first drink. KuulSeats can stagger bookings in 30-minute windows, giving you three full sittings per session without a gap in revenue.

Pitch your main lager supplier on a co-branded summer event. They fund the branded beer and supply cups and banners; you charge £30-£40 per head for 2 hours of bottomless burgers and beer. Run sittings of 20-30, once a month from May through September.

Register with Ditto Music or a local open-mic WhatsApp group to find a reliable stream of acts. Charge performers nothing and charge the audience a £3 door fee or first-drink minimum. Performers bring their own audience - you get a full room on a quiet night without paying for entertainment.

Charge £5-£0 entry per team of two. Run a bracket on the chalkboard; winner gets a £50 bar tab. A league format across 6-8 weeks locks in recurring footfall every week. Session-based play means people stay for multiple rounds between their own games.

Negotiate a group booking deal with a nearby club. Package it as a full day: 18 holes, transport, and a 3-course carvery back at the pub with a trophy presentation. Price at £60-£80 per head and sell to corporate contacts and local business WhatsApp groups.

For major fixtures, create a tiered seating plan. Premium seats nearest the main screen come pre-loaded with a pitcher of lager and a sharing platter. Sell through KuulSeats with a deposit on booking.

Free quizzes fill seats. Ticketed quizzes fill your till. Charge £3-£5 per person and run it on a Monday or Tuesday. A 6-week league format with a prize-pot final locks in loyal customers for a month and a half without a single additional marketing spend.

Source a local butcher willing to donate or discount a premium pack in exchange for a name-check on your socials - or feature them on your menu. Sell 100 tickets at £1 each throughout the week, drawn on Sunday afternoon. Donate 20% to a local charity to give it a community angle.

Partner with 5-8 local or regional craft producers. Charge £10-£15 entry including a glass and 2 drink tokens. Additional tokens at £1-£2 each. A Temporary Events Notice from your local council is a straightforward process.

Approach your nearest craft brewery and offer them a Friday night takeover of three of your pumps. Charge a flat pitch fee of £200-£400 or a margin on each pint sold. They promote to their own followers, bring the brewer for a Q&A, and you host the tasting night with minimal effort.

Open your beer garden or function room to 6-10 local makers in the 6 weeks before Christmas or during summer bank holidays. Charge £50-£100 per trader per day. They promote to their own followers; you get the footfall and drinks margin.

Charge £20-£25 per month for free barista coffees and soft drinks with a fair-use limit of 3 per day. Target remote workers, local parents, and morning regulars. Even 30 members is £600-£750 per month before they walk through the door. Consider a Premium tier at £50 p/m for unlimited access.

Visible, smell-triggering bar snacks increase impulse buys on every round. A customer buying a round is 60% more likely to add food if they can see it. Talk to your wholesale supplier about high-margin options: hot chorizo cups, marinated olives, chilli-dusted almonds. Price at £3-£5 per portion and rotate seasonally.

UK dog ownership is at record levels and dog owners actively seek out genuinely welcoming venues. Install a water bowl station by the front door and stock branded dog treats behind the bar at £1-£2 each. A visible water bowl and a "dogs welcome" sign signals clearly to a high-spending demographic.

Branded merch turns regulars into walking adverts and builds emotional attachment that no discount ever could. Start small: 50 tote bags and 50 branded pint glasses from a local print supplier for £500-£600. Start with a few and take pre-orders to decrease the investment required. A pint glass on someone's kitchen shelf is an advert you never have to buy again.

Wheeling a trolley to tables increases dessert and digestif orders by 30%-40% compared to a menu listing alone. Invest in a simple wooden-wheeled hostess trolley, stock it with 4-5 premium digestifs and 2-3 simple desserts, and wheel it to every table at the end of the main course. Brief your team to open with "we've got a few specials tonight."

The visibility and scent of a well-dressed board increases sales exponentially compared to a cheeseboard listed on a menu. Source 4-5 cheeses from a local supplier and bring the board to every table after mains, unprompted. Price to share at £14-£18, or a fixed fee for 3 choices with supplements for the 4th and 5th.

Your function room is idle on Monday mornings and Tuesday evenings. List your space on Headspace, TagVenue, or local Facebook Marketplace. Target groups that end their session wanting a drink: book clubs, walking groups, yoga classes. A yoga class of 15 paying £8 per head brings in £120 plus drinks sales.

Offer a monthly membership at £45-£50 that loads as bar credit rather than giving discounts off margin. Include exclusive early access to events and a monthly member pint. Guaranteed monthly revenue before a single customer walks through the door.

Find a local craft gin distillery, a nearby smokehouse, or an artisan baker with genuine social traction. Feature their product on your menu; they feature your venue to their audience. No money changes hands initially. Formalise as a revenue-share arrangement when it sells.

Announce your Christmas hamper range in October featuring your kitchen's best-sellers: a cured ham, a jar of house chutney, a branded bottle of sloe gin. Pre-order only eliminates waste risk. Price at £40-£70 and promote to regulars first. Converts kitchen output into gift revenue.

Sell 20-30 numbered pewter tankards at £50-£75 as an annual membership. The tankard lives behind the bar; members get 10% off draught pints and early access to new cask ales. Run a waiting list once you sell out. Ownership creates loyalty that no points card ever does.

Order physical cards through your EPOS provider and display them at the bar from October. Online gift cards can be set up through other providers in an afternoon. A rack of gift cards at Christmas needs no staff input to sell.

Families pay a significant premium for a restaurant-quality Christmas centrepiece. Launch a pre-order collection service for Christmas and Easter: whole roasted turkeys, glazed hams, honey-roast parsnips, and gravy. Promote from late November. Collection on Christmas Eve. Zero delivery logistics, maximum margin.

The real value is not the logo on the kit. It is 30 players, coaches, and supporters drinking in your venue after every match. Approach local football, rugby, or cricket clubs: shirt sponsorship in exchange for their post-match meals and celebrations held at your venue. Formalise it as a seasonal group booking.

Create 3-4 pre-built packages: "Date Night" (2 courses plus wine), "Birthday Party" (cocktail masterclass and dinner), "Sunday Unwind" (bottomless brunch for 4). Sell through your website and socials. Converts best before Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Mother's Day.

Identify the one dish your kitchen makes better than anyone nearby. Give it a name and a short story on the menu. Make it visual on Instagram and TikTok. Identity beats choice every time. KuulSeats can attach it to specific booking types and feature it in booking confirmation emails.

Structure a 2-hour class for 8-12 people at £35-£50 per head, built around your chef's strongest skill (pasta making, bread baking, sourdough). Run Monday-Thursday afternoons or Monday evenings. A great class gets photographed, shared, and sold to the next group without you lifting a finger.

Contact your spirits brand rep and ask them to supply the bottles and lead the tasting for a 90-minute session. Charge £25-£35 per head. Hen parties, birthdays, and corporate team days are your primary audience. KuulSeats can sell it as a Special Sitting with a minimum group size of 8.

Consistency beats quality at the local level. Three posts a week for eight weeks grows your local reach more than one perfect video once a month. Designate one person on the team to own it. Block 30 minutes on Wednesday to plan and film three short clips. Use the free version of CapCut to add captions in 10 minutes.

Your kitchen output is a fixed overhead that is idle on quiet evenings. Off-site catering puts it to work without adding covers or tables. Start with one-off enquiries from existing customers. Build 3 simple catering packages (canapés, fork buffet, sit-down dinner) and a one-page price sheet. Your first gig is almost always a referral from a regular.

Hotel guests spend more than locals and tip more generously. Visit the 3-5 nearest hotels and introduce yourself to the F&B or front-desk manager. Provide a QR code or add your pub to their menu so guests can book directly from the hotel - and you know to expect them. Formalise as a referral arrangement worth hundreds of covers per year.

Council crackdowns on motorhome lay-bys have created huge demand for legal, welcoming overnight stops. Offer free overnight parking in exchange for a guaranteed minimum spend in your bar or restaurant. Book through KuulSeats. Limit to 4-6 motorhomes per night.

A regular remote worker who comes in 3 days a week and buys lunch is worth £80-£100 per week in incremental revenue with zero acquisition cost. Charge £12-£20 per day for a dedicated workspace including strong WiFi and bottomless filter coffee. Promote through local Facebook groups and LinkedIn.

Spectacular cars in your car park are free content for your own channels and bring in curious locals who weren't planning a visit. Find local car clubs through Facebook Groups. Offer your car park on a Sunday morning with a simple entry deal: a bacon roll and a coffee for a flat fee. Share on socials when the cars arrive.

A sensitive but consistent and recession-proof revenue stream with very little competition among local pubs. Create a simple "Gathering" package: a private room, a tea and coffee station, a sandwich platter, and an option to add a drinks tab. Price at £15-£20 per head with a minimum of 20 guests. Register with a local funeral director.

Empty pubs are in consistent demand for TV commercials, period dramas, and fashion shoots. Register on Shootfactory, Lavish Locations, or Found Locations. Charge £300-£800 per half day. The crew almost always buy lunch and drinks on the day. One shoot per quarter turns a closed morning into a significant revenue line.

No-show rates drop dramatically when a card is on file at the point of booking. Implement a £5-£10 card pre-authorisation per head for bookings of 6 or more on Friday and Saturday nights. Communicate it clearly at the point of booking, not in the small print. KuulSeats manages this automatically.

During hours you are closed, your car park can generate £50-£200 per day with zero additional staffing. Register on RingGo, YourParkingSpace, or JustPark if your venue is near a town centre, stadium, or train station. Set it as unavailable during your event nights. Setup takes an hour and runs itself.

Street food traders bring their own audience and their own marketing budget. Find 2-3 local street food operators on Instagram. Offer your beer garden or car park on a summer Saturday in exchange for a pitch fee of £100-£200 or a 10% revenue share. They promote to their own followers; your bar sells every drink.

A charging session is 20-45 minutes - that is a drink, a coffee, or a meal. Contact BP Pulse, Pod Point, or Osprey Charging. Most offer a revenue-share installation at no upfront cost: they install, own, and maintain the charger; you receive a per-charge income plus footfall from drivers who need somewhere to wait.

A room full of local business owners who become regulars is worth more than any marketing spend. Join 2-3 local networking groups (BNI, local chambers of commerce, 4Networking) as a venue partner rather than a paying member. Offer your function room on the condition that attendees buy drinks.

A takeaway operation runs off your existing kitchen with no additional covers, tables, or staff. Register on Deliveroo or Just Eat, or set up direct ordering through your own website via Flipdish or Orda. Price your delivery menu 10%-15% above your in-venue prices to cover platform commission and packaging.

Your kitchen is already heated and staffed. Running a delivery-only brand off the same equipment generates revenue from an asset you are already paying for. Create a separate brand with its own Deliveroo listing and a tight menu of 6-8 items. Gourmet burgers, loaded fries, and wings all travel well and carry strong margins.

Guests bringing their own cake is a small but consistent occurrence. A clear cakeage policy protects your dessert margin without awkwardness. Set a cakeage fee of £2-£3 per head and communicate it in your booking confirmation email. Frame it as a service charge, never as a penalty. Guests rarely object when told upfront.

Corkage legitimises a practice that currently happens for free, protects your drinks margin, and adds a revenue line that was previously invisible. Set a corkage fee of £15-£20 per bottle and list it clearly on your menu and booking terms. Pair it with a well-chosen by-the-glass selection so guests can often find what they want on your menu instead.