London’s pubs are gearing up for the official start to the 2012 Olympic Games tonight, with the opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford just hours away.

Pubs within touching distance of Olympic venues in London are hoping for a welcome upturn in trade once the event officially kicks off tonight.

Janet Dooner, owner of the Railway Tavern, and chair of Newham Pubwatch said: “I am looking forward to it; we have a lot of the volunteers coming in after they have finished their shift and I am meeting a lot of people from other countries which is nice.”

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) have published an essential guide for licensees on how to make their pubs as accessible as possible.

An open welcome – Why being accessible is good for your pub highlights the benefits of making a pub venue as accessible as possible for disabled customers, and why being accessible is good for business, too.

The guide can be viewed here: (PDF)

A campaign with StartUp Britain and Pub is the Hub has been launched which aims to put pubs at the centre of boosting the economy.

The Beermat Entrepreneur initiative aims to encourage pub-goers to write their greatest business ideas on the back of a beer mat.

The pub that returns the most entries will be crowned Britain’s Most Entrepreneurial Pub and will win a laptop as well as exclusive hints and tips from a top entrepreneur.

To order the special beermats for your pub, email: info@startupbritain.org

According to the Publican’s Morning Advertiser, close to 100 local pubwatches have signed up to an online mapping tool set up by National Pubwatch (NPW) to help it draw up a list of schemes across the UK.

The free facility allows local pubwatches to register their name, town/city and website, and the details will be searchable by the general public.

The aim of the new tool is to allow NPW to monitor the number of schemes in the country and improve the way that it communicates with local pubwatches.

Register your details at www.nationalpubwatch.org.uk/NPWMapping

Blackburn pub licensee hails £16,000 revamp by Admiral Taverns

One of Blackburn’s traditional community watering holes has had an image upgrade thanks to a makeover by Admiral Taverns.

The Clifton Arms at Grimshaw Park has reopened following an extensive exterior refurbishment.

Admiral has splashed out around £16,000 on sprucing up the Clifton Arms and this has thrilled licensee Carol Davies who says that the fresh new look has attracted a deluge of new customers to the 19^th century pub.

Carol, who has been running the Clifton for eight years, said: “I couldn’t be happier with the refurbishment, it has completed transformed the way that the pub looks and since we reopened at the weekend we’ve had a barrel-load of new customers paying us a visit.

“As we are a local community pub with usually the same faces, I know everybody who normally comes in but I’ve seen plenty of new faces in the past few days!

“All of our regulars have said that they love the new look and many of the new visitors have said that the pub now looks very friendly and welcoming and that they wanted to give it a try.

“There is a lot of regeneration happening in the local area and I think the refurbished pub fits in nicely with what’s going on. Admiral has done a wonderful job and I’m really grateful for everything that has been done. ”

The new look includes a full exterior revamp, including new signage, lighting, a complete repaint, installation of flower hanging baskets and refurbishment of the back garden area and smoking area.

This follows an interior refurbishment carried out by Admiral at the pub five years ago.

Sallyanne Sheil, business development manager for the Blackburn area said: “Although the Clifton Arms is a local community pub with a loyal customer base and a dedicated licensee in Carol, it badly needed an injection of colour so we were delighted to work with Carol to give the pub a fresh new look.

“Pubs such as the Clifton Arms are the bedrock of their local communities and are often heavily involved in charity fundraising as well as providing a haven for local people to socialise. We understand the importance of supporting pubs like this to ensure that they thrive and continue to provide a valuable service to those communities.”

Licensees that offer live and recorded music in their pubs see an increase of £667 in sales at weekends – according to new research, the Publican’s Morning Advertiser reports.

The study of 192 venues, commissioned by royalties collection company PRS for Music, found on average, during the week, music venues will take an extra £306 on wet sales. This equates to an average of of 21% sales uplift and 48.2% on Fridays and Saturdays.

PRS for Music has also launched its Music Makeover 2012, giving licensees the chance to win £5,000 to create the right music space in their venue.

Deadline for entries is 30 September. For more information, visit: www.prsformusic.com/musicmakeover

The BII (British Institute of Innkeeping) is writing to a list of people it believes are using its logo without permission, or featuring the wrong logo.

The letter will ask the user to explain how they are carrying the logo. If it is inappropriate, the BII will ask that they remove it.

The organisation is set to begin a marketing drive to show people which logo they should display.

BII Chief Executive Peter Thomas said:  “The logo means something. It’s a stamp of quality for people who have been through a process of accreditation.”

Pub property agent Fleurets has reported that certain areas are being targeted by rogue business rates agents.

Licensees are being warned about losing hundreds of pounds to rogue agents asking for money up front to put in an appeal for their business rates.

Fleurets advised publicans never to pay for anything up front, and that most pub companies will provide a free business rates service.

Licensees need to do more to improve service in pubs to accommodate international visitors – according to VisitEngland chief executive James Beresford.

Speaking at the All-Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group meeting in Parliament ahead of the Olympic Games, Beresford said: “We have to up our game, the international visitor expects a very high level of service and I would say 75% of our pubs do that, but some of our pubs do not do it very well.

“But for them to have a genuine lasting role in tourism, we have to offer visitors the very best in service and the very best in character.”

The Government should not put all the blame on the pub sector when things go wrong, a Baroness has told the House of Lords.

Speaking in a debate on the alcohol strategy, Baroness Coussins pointed out that pubs “get it in the neck” all the time for offering so-called “24-hour drinking”.

Coussins said: “The industry should not be the scapegoat for all the blame when something goes wrong. Pubs often get it in the neck for offering so-called 24-hour drinking when in fact only a minute percentage of the UK’s licensed premises have a 24-hour licence. The fact is that we have seen a reduction in consumption since we have had a relaxation in the licensing regime.”