News / Pubs
Pub landlord pens signs to persuade punters to purchase pints
Three handwritten notices in the Bag of Nails are not the first to appear in this Hotwells hostelry.
Among a few dozen house rules on a blackboard are ”no Scientology’, ‘Daily Mail opinions will have the piss taken out of them’ and ‘sad pedantry is encouraged’.
But in a sign of the times, new rules encourage customers to buy drinks if they want to stay.
is needed now More than ever
The three signs were all written by landlord Luke Daniels after incidents of people sitting in his pub at the bottom of Jacob’s Wells Road for a prolonged period of time without buying a drink.
“It’s a sense of entitlement where people think that they can just go into any business and act as they want,” Luke told Bristol24/7.
First year university students incurred landlord Luke Daniels’ wrath in his first handwritten sign, which has since been removed – photo: Martin Booth
‘This is a small pub and is for customers’ reminds the second sign – photo: Martin Booth
The third sign says that Luke does not have to be nice to people not buying drinks – photo: Martin Booth
The first sign – which has since been removed – reads: “Freshers! Here is some advice from the landlord. Buy some fucking drinks. Not just one of you. All of you thanks.”
Another sign says that “people who do not buy drinks are not customers. This is a small pub and is for customers. (Non customers shall be asked to leave.)”
And a third sign from Luke says: “If you are in my pub and you do not have a drink and have no intention of buying a drink, I do not have to be nice to you in any way whatsoever.”
Bag of Nails landlord Luke Daniels feeding a few of his pub’s famous resident cats – photo: Martin Booth
Luke says that it is “not uncommon” to have groups of half a dozen people walking straight to the pub’s newly reopened first floor seating area, and 20 minutes later a couple of them walk downstairs to order a drink for themselves.
“The customer is not always right, there’s no business in which that works,” Luke added.
Staff at the Bag of Nails have had to turn away people wanting to come into the pub due to what Luke calls “freeloaders” taking up space, “in for about three hours each, having a pint here and a pint there”.
“There’s not a quota that you have to drink a certain amount when you’re in here, but I just want people to realise that this is a small pub and it’s not a charity, it’s a business.”
The Bag of Nails is on St George’s Road overlooking the Jacob’s Wells Road roundabout – photo: Martin Booth
Luke said that he does not mind people coming in for a few minutes to say hello to the cats.
“But if they’re coming in and sitting down, just occupying spaces, and some people have just got no intention of buying a drink, for various reasons.
“I understand. We’ve all been young, we’ve all been skint. But you can’t do that in small pubs. We just can’t afford it.
“This is a very small pub. We’re lucky that we’ve got a bit more space now, but we just can’t have bigger groups coming in where less than half the people are actually buying a drink.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read more: The best pubs in Bristol according to the Good Pub Guide 2021
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