Take your cue

This article underlines a point I have often made in the past, that people’s decisions as to which pubs to visit can often be influenced by subtle cues in the pub’s signage and exterior displays such as blackboards and A-boards.

This is another example of how consumers “read” pubs. Like a book cover or that feeling you get when you meet someone new – first impressions count. It’s the same with pubs. What a pub looks like from the outside is important because it tells customers what to expect inside.

In particular, cheap-looking signs and posters that seem to be trying too hard can be seriously offputting. It’s usually the case that the more strident the display, the worse the pub. I saw one the other day that said “Come in and try our lovely pub!” which, to be honest, smacks of desperation.

It should also be remembered that signs are not only trying to attract people looking to visit a pub on that specific occasion, but will also stick in the mind when people are passing the pub in the car or on the bus, and be remembered later on when people do want to go to the pub. One thing that always baffles me is why pubs in tourist towns where there is plenty of casual trade walking past the door fail to display their menus outside.