Recommendations
Nine actions to close the visibility gap.
The evidence in this report points to a clear set of priorities for operators, industry bodies and the policy community. These recommendations are grounded in a consumer survey of 1,000 UK adults, website analytics from more than 2,000 UK venues, and qualitative insights from trade operators.
They address two connected challenges: visibility and the professionalisation of marketing, the structured capability required to manage that visibility consistently. Together, they define the competitive divide that is opening across the sector.
Treat digital visibility as an operational priority.
Audit your digital footprint (website, search ranking, Google Business Profile, social media, and review recency) and close gaps with the same urgency as a compliance issue. An operator that cannot be found online is, for a growing proportion of consumers, an operator that does not exist.
Build for AI discovery now.
A third of 25-34s already use AI tools to find venues. Ensure menus, opening hours and contact details are accurate and consistent across all platforms. AI tools recommend operators that give them more to work with.
Develop a segmented, multi-channel content strategy.
No single platform reaches all pub-goers. Identify your two or three most valuable audience segments and maintain a consistent presence in the channels they use. A single undifferentiated social media feed is not a content strategy.
Prioritise food content and promotional communication.
Food quality is the top selection criterion across every age group. Special offers are the content type that most consistently drives engagement. Invest in regular food photography and communicate menus, promotions and events on a planned, weekly basis.
Make review management an active discipline.
Only 39% of adults leave a review unprompted, and satisfied customers are systematically under-represented. Build review prompts into the post-visit experience. Among 25-34s, incentivised reviewing has a 40% uptake rate.
Actively facilitate user-generated content.
The 25-34 cohort is the most frequent, most digitally active and most responsive to venue prompts. Create conditions for shareable content and engage with what visitors post. Leaving UGC to chance means relying on a minority who skew dissatisfied.
Embrace moderation as a commercial opportunity.
Low and no alcohol is the default choice for a growing number of consumers. Treat it as a premium offer, communicated with confidence. It protects spend per visit, broadens group appeal and signals inclusivity.
Maintain your digital premises as rigorously as your physical ones.
A venue's digital presence (search ranking, social media, review profile, menus, and AI visibility) is as consequential as its physical fabric. Consumers form impressions and make decisions online before they arrive. Assign clear ownership, set a regular maintenance cadence and treat gaps with the urgency of a physical fault. Where in-house capability is limited, targeted specialist support will deliver returns that justify the cost.
For industry bodies and the policy community.
Treat marketing capability as a recovery requirement.
The digital capability gap falls hardest on independent and rural operators. Trade associations, local enterprise partnerships and public funding programmes should treat marketing capability development as a qualifying criterion alongside infrastructure support. A sector that cannot be found cannot recover.
The gap between operators that have professionalised their approach to digital visibility and those that have not is widening. Closing it is now a commercial imperative.
Pints & Profits, 2026
