Pubs up and down the country brace themselves for upcoming beer garden boom following mini weekend heatwave.
For the past week, Brits have basked in the warm sunshine with reports of a soaring 27 degrees in central parts of the UK. Many flocked to their local beer gardens over the weekend to indulge in pints and catch some sun.
Callum Milton, bar management at Huddersfield’s most popular sports bar The Warehouse, shared that on Sunday (the hottest day of the year so far) the venue reportedly took over double its average earnings. Milton claimed that with the popular Manchester United versus Arsenal match alone the venue were “expecting a busy stream of customers all day” but with the impeccable weather they “couldn’t quite anticipate how busy” they would end up being.
Milton said “the weather brought a lot of people in throughout the week surprisingly, but Sunday was definitely a corker.”
In anticipation for the brighter and even warmer days ahead in the beer garden, Milton mentioned that around this time of year they often plan on “rearranging the seating in the garden to welcome a greater capacity” all while doing touch-ups to paint and various other maintenance jobs.
As well as this, according to team member and bar staff Sarah Rolley-Parnell, management will ensure “more staff are working when nicer weather is forecasted” so that there’s an extra 2-4 team members compared to the typical 2 staff members per shift.
Unfortunately for staff at The Warehouse, it isn’t always sunshine and rainbows as Rolley-Parnell added that “the football generally brings aggression but the heat really makes some people temperamental and rude” which Milton agreed is “extremely difficult on staff.”
Spirits remain high despite yellow weather warnings for later this week declared by the Met Office which could threaten the foot traffic The Warehouse receives in the coming days.
It comes as landlords have been struggling with recent rising energy costs, high inflation, tax increases and increases in the National Living Wage.
The British Beer and Pub Association found that 89% of hospitality businesses are concerned about these wage increases and also the 6.7% increase in the business rates multiplier.
The Warehouse team don’t seem to be worried about what the future holds, adding that they have “very loyal customers” who often pledge their support for the venue. Regular customer Christopher Wagstaff said “even if it’s pouring it down outside I wouldn’t be put off coming in, there’s so much inside here too and the food is great.”