Following on from the recent blog post about Admiral’s successful food events (see below), we thought we’d offer a little extra food advice to our landlords.

British Pie Week is coming up, and getting involved with the event could really drive sales at your pub.

Starting on 1 March, this event offers a great opportunity for pubs to plan ‘pie and pint’ deals, theme nights or a special pie-themed menu.

If you’d like to find out more about how Admiral are helping their landlords make the most of their food offering, visit the My Pub Food website or call the Admiral Taverns food team on 0844 800 6671.

Admiral is helping its landlords maximise revenue by offering expert advice on selecting the latest gaming machines and how to maintain them.

Keeping your AWP machines and note acceptors well stocked is really important according to Ann Jordan, Admiral's machine administrator. Recent reports state that pubs can see takings from AWP machines rise by up to 8-10% if landlords keep them stocked with the optimum sum of £350.

You could also be missing out if your bank note acceptor isn’t working; research has shown that AWP machines can earn up to 10% more if their bank note acceptor is operational, because over 60% of machine income is now taken through the bank note acceptor.

For more tips, download our guide to making the most of your leisure machines, or find out more about how to make the most of your pub in our ‘Licensee Support’ section.

With the World Cup now just around the corner and 21 million extra pints expected to be sold during the course of the competition, it’s important to start thinking about how your pub can best benefit from the upcoming ‘summer of sport’.

If you’re planning on showing any of the games in your pub, you need to be sure that your TV and sound system is up to scratch – customers won’t want to leave the comfort of their living room if you can’t offer them something more than they can get at home.

Also think about the fact that your pub will be busier, so you might need more staff or to come up with another way of serving in order to keep you footie loving punters happy; for example, you could set up a freestanding bottle bar, or try table service.

Our Licensee Support section of the website offers some top tips of making the most of your pub, both during the World Cup and beyond.

We’re pleased to hear that real ale drinkers are now able to track down that perfect pint extremely easily as quality monitoring firm Cask Marque have launched a special Sat Nav application and a text messaging service.

Free downloadable Sat Nav software is available on the Cask Marque website (www.cask-marque.co.uk) which will offer real ale fans directions to nearby pubs.

In addition, users can text their postcode to receive the addresses of their two nearest Cask Marque-accredited pubs.

A number of Admiral Taverns’ pubs are Cask Marque approved, and hopefully this new service will ensure these pubs are all firmly on the map!

If you’re a real ale fan who’s thinking of swapping sides of the bar then take a look at our pubs to let.

With the recent cold snap affecting many small businesses, it's good to hear that community pubs haven't been suffering.

The Morning Advertiser website is reporting that the vast majoirty of punters chose to stick close to home over Christmas and the New Year, meaning local pubs performed well.

But, with more severe weather to come, it's important that landlords are as prepared as possible for the impact the weather could have on both their staffing levels and their business.

The Forum of Private Business (FPB) is advising small businesses like pubs to ensure that any plans comply with employment law. The FPB produce an Employment Guide that you might find useful - you can find more info here.

As 2009 draws to a close, we at Admiral Taverns are taking a look back at some of the successful pub refurbishments that we’ve undertaken in the past year.

We are constantly improving the quality of some of our trading pubs and pubs to rent by investing in major and minor refurbishments across the country. We work alongside our licensees in terms of idea generation and aim to give our pub landlords and their local communities a pub to be proud of.

We’ll, of course, be continuing this kind of work in 2010 and beyond.

Take a look at our gallery of Admiral refurbishments or find out more about Admiral’s pubs to let.

An Admiral Taverns landlord, who’s accumulating half a lifetime’s worth of experience in the pub trade, is taking on another pub. 

Margaret Munro, who has been at The Globe pub on Park Road, Toxteth, for the past 12 years and whose family have been in the pub trade her entire life,  is now also the landlady The Royal Oak, which is located just around the corner from The Globe on Warwick Street. 

Margaret’s years of experience in the pub trade and her passion for the local area mean that she’s not only been able to easily ride out the current economic crisis, but actually expand her ambitions to incorporate this second pub.  

Read more about Margaret here or find out about opportunities with Admiral here. 

Admiral Taverns landlords Helen and Shaun Firth are showing that good pubs can still succeed, despite the credit crunch, by opening their second venue – the Crown Inn in Monk Fryston.

The couple have re-opened the Admiral Taverns owned pub with a new team of staff and a new look, following the success of their first pub, the Hungry Fox in Beal.

The pub, which re-opened on Tuesday 1 December, has a new home made food menu, real ales and themed events such as Champagne Sundays.  An upstairs room will also run as a restaurant on weekends.

Read more about Helen and Shaun here and find out more about opportunities with Admiral here.

Admiral Taverns landlords have been learning about the benefits of offering food to increase their sales and footfall at special events held in partnership with Booker wholesale, the UK’s leading food wholesaler.

The events, held at Booker branches in the South West, gave landlords the chance to meet with the expert Admiral Food Team who provided useful help and advice about how to start food from simple bar snacks through to five course menus.

Due to the success of the events, Admiral will be holding 14 more events across the rest of the UK in the New Year.  Any landlord who would like to attend one of the events or find out more information, can contact the Admiral Taverns food team on 0844 800 6671.

You’ll fine more useful tools to help you make the most of your food offering at MyPubFood.co.uk

Find out more about opportunities with Admiral here.

We can announce today that Admiral Taverns have agreed with the national wholesaler Booker a series of trade shows in 2010 promoting food.

The shows will take place in Booker stores around the country. They will concentrate on the provision of food and Bookers will provide free gifts, and advantageous discount rates to all Admiral taverns attendees.

Additionally there will be a store tour and demonstrations from the food team who will talk aboutfood preparation and cooking in more depth.

Sam Pedder Admiral Taverns head of food said " they are bloody brilliant, I love bookers and I think our Marketing manager is the best in the business!" take a look at the food website http://www.mypubfood.co.uk/for more details!