useyourlocal.com gears up for growth

Digital platform forging cross-industry partnerships

useyourlocal.com is targeting a new phase in its expansion. As well as growing membership amongst consumers who use the site, the UK’s leading digital pub and bar platform is extending its partnerships with both operators and brand owners.

As the business gears up for growth, useyourlocal.com has strengthened its senior team with the appointment of John Botia. With a track record including stints with Heineken, Carlsberg and Scottish & Newcastle (S&N), Botia joins as a director to work alongside managing director Stuart Mills, who founded the business in 2009, and Willie Crawshay, who joined useyourlocal.com as chairman at the start of 2016.

Mills said, “John has joined us at a key point in the growth of useyourlocal.com. There is a huge opportunity to persuade more people to use the pub more often by creating the ‘one stop shop’ online pub portal that consumers tell us they want.

“We have a business model that works – every month, 400,000 visitors search our database of over 75,000 pubs, bars and clubs for news, events, activities and ideas for their perfect night out, and we have only scratched the surface of our potential. Many operators also rely on useyourlocal.com to provide a bespoke website to promote their business.”

While Heineken UK retains a stake in the business, the priority for the senior team is to forge partnerships with operators and brand owners right across the licensed trade. Mills adds, “Heineken UK’s support for useyourlocal.com continues to be invaluable. However, to maximise our appeal across the sector, it’s essential that our independence is transparent.

“Our aim is to grow the useyourlocal.com brand to have the same recognition status in our sector that Just Eat and Rightmove have in theirs.  The operational experience of our senior team means that we are calling on groups of all sizes, as well as individual licensees, to work with us to realise the huge potential of online and digital marketing.

“Equally, for brand owners who want to reach pubs and bars, as well as the customers who use them, useyourlocal.com provides a compelling platform for both online advertising and carefully targeted promotions.”

useyourlocal.com was founded in 2009, celebrating the role of local pubs and bars in our communities, and actively encouraging people to visit their local more often by connecting pubs and brands with consumers. It lists 75,000 pubs, bars and clubs. Every month, 400,000 consumers search its database to find out about events, food and drink menus and promotional offers to help them plan their pub visit. Of these, 20,000 members have registered to follow one or more local pubs and receive regular emails from them.

The useyourlocal.com senior team:

  • Stuart Mills, founder and managing director: Stuart began his career in media sales, before a change of tack saw him join Newcastle Breweries, the Northern trading arm of Scottish & Newcastle plc, in 2001. After several roles in sales, marketing & finance he secured the support of S&N to launch useyourlocal.com in 2009.
  • Willie Crawshay, chairman: After a stint in the army, Willie joined Scottish & Newcastle Breweries as an area manager in 1985. His career at S&N included marketing roles with brands including such as McEwan’s Export, Tartan Special and Newcastle Brown Ale, and 18 months in Hereford leading the HP Bulmer cider business after its purchase by S&N in 2003. He was later managing director of S&N’s on-trade division and then MD of Heineken UK’s pub division, now Star Pubs and Bars. Since leaving Heineken UK he has retrained as an executive coach as well as joining useyourlocal.com.
  • John Botia, director: John joined Unilever as a marketing graduate before moving to Scottish & Newcastle as brand manager for Beck’s. He became marketing director after Heineken acquired the UK business, and also worked for Heineken in Mexico, leading the integration of Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma. In 2013 he was appointed managing director of Carlsberg Singapore. He returned to Edinburgh in June 2015, becoming involved in a variety of start-up businesses as well as joining useyourlocal.com.

Notes to editors

  • useyourlocal.com was founded in 2009 after founder Stuart Mills won a Dragon’s Den-style competition organised by his then-employer, Scottish & Newcastle. Initially set up as an online hub to allow customers to arrange parcel deliveries to pubs for later collection, the model has evolved into a web-based business that celebrates the role and importance of local pubs and bars in our communities, and encourages people to visit the pub more often.
  • With Stuart Mills as managing director, the useyourlocal.com senior management team also includes chairman Willie Crawshay and director John Botia.
  • The useyourlocal.com website lists 75,000 pubs, bars and clubs across the UK. Every month, 400,000 consumers search its database to find out about events, food and drink menus and promotional offers to help them plan their pub visit. Pubs can add details of entertainment such as live sport, music or quiz nights, and special offers on food or drink.
  • 20,000 useyourlocal.com subscribers have opted to follow one or more local pubs and receive regular notifications when new events, menus or offers are added.
  • useyourlocal.com has worked with some of the biggest players in the drinks industry, delivering pub finders and pushing events to its members for pub groups such as Star Pubs & Bars and Wetherspoon, and brands such as Heineken, Coca-Cola and Smirnoff. It also supports charitable industry causes such as PubAid’s World’s Biggest Quiz.

Pub-goers looking for a ‘One Stop Shop’ online.

Cross-industry co-operation will drive pub visits, useyourlocal.com survey shows.

Pub customers want a ‘one stop shop’ single online solution to keep them informed about pubs in their area and encourage them to visit.

The findings, from new research commissioned by useyourlocal.com, are a clear message to the pub sector that cross-industry co-operation is the key to building loyalty and increasing trade for both pub operators and brand owners.

The survey of 874 useyourlocal.com members and social media users found that nine out of 10 want to find out about events and activity at all their local pubs from one website, rather than by trawling individual sites or signing up to multiple mailing lists.

Founder and managing director of useyourlocal.com Stuart Mills said, “Today’s consumers increasingly rely on a single, trusted online brand to make informed choices, whether it’s Just Eat to order a takeaway or Rightmove to find a new home. As the leading digital platform for the UK pub & bar industry, useyourlocal.com is already that same trusted source of information for hundreds of thousands of pub customers every month, and our survey clearly shows that the more effectively the industry co-operates, the more opportunities there are for everyone.

“Consumers now have a huge range of choice on how to spend their leisure time, but when it comes to going to the pub, they find it frustrating and difficult that the information they need is in many places online, and is often out of date. It’s very simple for pubs to keep their information on useyourlocal.com accurate and current, enabling consumers to find everything they’re looking for in one place, and so encouraging them to go to the pub more often.

“Individual pub websites play an important role, but both our research, and our years of experience, demonstrate that when individual licensees, pub groups and brands work in partnership with useyourlocal.com, we all benefit as an industry.”

Other key findings of the survey include:

  • Three-quarters of respondents said they would go to the pub more often if they were prompted.
  • Three out of four people look online before going out, and 40% have gone on to visit a pub or bar specifically because of the information they found at useyourlocal.com.
  • In terms of frequency, six out of ten people would like to receive information about their local pubs at least once a day.

Mills added, “Ensuring customers can easily find information about their local pubs is the key to encouraging them to drop in more often. Pubs who engage with their customers via useyourlocal.com will see them visiting more frequently – and as one-fifth of survey respondents said they would recommend us to a friend, the number of regulars will also grow.”

The survey results also revealed demographics about useyourlocal.com members. While around 70% are men, and 54% fall within the 25-54 age group, Mills emphasises that “our members come from right across the spectrum, male and female, married and single, and from millennials to families and older ’silver surfers’, all of whom pubs need to engage with online.”

useyourlocal.com was founded in 2009, and celebrates the role of local pubs and bars in our communities, and actively encourages people to visit their local more often by connecting pubs and brands with consumers. It lists 75,000 pubs, bars and clubs. Every month, 400,000 consumers visit to find out about events, food and drink menus, brand activity and promotional offers to help them plan their pub visit. Of these, 20,000 members have opted to follow one or more local pubs and receive regular notifications from useyourlocal.com giving them news about those pubs.

The survey is based on 874 responses to a bespoke questionnaire sent to useyourlocal.com members and social media followers.

Ends

Issued on behalf of useyourlocal.com by ShielPorter Communications

Further information:

John Porter: [email protected]  / 07734 054389

Ros Shiel: [email protected] / 07841 694137

Notes to editors

  • useyourlocal.com was founded in 2009 after founder Stuart Mills won a Dragon’s Den-style competition organised by his then-employer, Scottish & Newcastle. Initially set up as an online hub to allow customers to arrange parcel deliveries to pubs for later collection, the model has evolved into a web-based business that celebrates the role and importance of local pubs and bars in our communities, and encourages people to visit the pub more often.
  • With Stuart Mills as managing director, the useyourlocal.com senior management team also includes chairman Willie Crawshay and director John Botia.
  • The useyourlocal.com website lists 75,000 pubs, bars and clubs across the UK. Every month, 400,000 consumers search its database to find out about events, food and drink menus and promotional offers to help them plan their pub visit. Pubs can add details of entertainment such as live sport, music or quiz nights, and special offers on food or drink.
  • 20,000 useyourlocal.com subscribers have opted to follow one or more local pubs and receive regular notifications when new events, menus or offers are added.
  • useyourlocal.com has worked with some of the biggest players in the drinks industry, delivering pub finders and pushing events to its members for pub groups such as Star Pubs & Bars and Wetherspoon, and brands such as Heineken, Coca-Cola and Smirnoff. It also supports charitable industry causes such as PubAid’s World’s Biggest Quiz.