Avani Solutions Interviews Malc

Back in January 2022, Sophie Atherton, a Freelance Journalist contacted Malc via our website. One of her clients — a beer hygiene company, wanted her to write an article for their website that would be of interest/useful to people who run pubs. The things she wanted to find out was about the relationship between walkers and pubs.

The article was published in full here but Malc's contribution is included below:

Malcolm Wills is co-chair of East Kent Walking Group, which does a 6 — 12 mile walk every Sunday and is part of the Ramblers. We recently caught up with Malcolm to talk about the relationship between walkers and pubs.

What makes a good pub for walkers?

One that doesn’t have carpets! Ramblers are by and large a conscientious bunch and would feel awful about muddying up a pub carpet. I went into a pub once that had the luxury of two bars. The larger one was carpeted and nice, the smaller had a stone floor and was quite a bit more rustic in feel.
There was a sign outside saying, ‘Walkers Welcome’, pointing you toward the rustic bar. It felt like a nice touch, saying we were welcome and guiding us the right way, rather than a negative sign on the nice bar saying, ‘No muddy boots’.
During the winter, an open fire is a real treat after a long walk. Even if you can’t get close to it, just seeing one psychologically helps to take the chill out of the bones.
Conversely, in the summer, somewhere to sit outside. Even after a few hours of being out and about in the sunshine, it can feel a bit restricting to sit in a pub when it’s a beautiful day outside. Sipping a hard-earned beer with the sun on your back is one of life’s simple pleasures.

What makes you choose one pub over another?

It’s almost exclusively practical reasons that determine which pub. You need to have enough parking near the start/finish of your walk for 10+ cars. Being as most pubs don’t have that kind of free space, we end up parking on adjacent streets. So, we are limited to pubs which are not in a tiny village. The walk always takes precedence over the pub.

What do you think pubs can do to attract walkers?

I suppose it’s just the same thing as would attract anyone to a pub. Friendly, engaged staff, a good menu selection. Ramblers seem to shy away from popular lagers and are more likely to have a craft beer or an IPA.

As a walker, is there anything that puts you off a pub or that you wish pubs wouldn’t do?

The reverse of what I said above really. There have been occasions where the staff were quite passive-aggressive. On one occasion a member of staff made a point of sweeping the floor once we’d sat down! We didn’t feel welcome, and I certainly wouldn’t take a group there again and I wouldn’t go there outside of walking either.

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