Built in 1865 to give the Victorians a taste of the sea without taking their feet off solid ground, The Royal Pier is now a well-established attraction in Aberystwyth. Boasting a pub, restaurant, bar, fish and chip shop, and with pivotal plans in place for reopening, BII’s Eleanor Kirby couldn’t wait to find out more.
Having worked at The Royal Pier for over 25 years, Head of Operations, Lee Price, knows to be wary of stagnant waters. Over lockdown, the Licensee of the Year Award Winner (2014) and his loyal team of Operations Managers have done all they can to make sure the historical attraction is fit for our modern attraction to freshly prepared food, outdoor dining and the theatre of good hospitality. Without a roadmap for businesses in Wales (at the time of writing), future planning has been tricky, but Lee is still confident in his management of reopening the first time around.
“When lockdown was first lifted, we opened the ice-cream parlour, the fish and chip shop and the sundeck for outdoor drinks straight away. We left the pub itself closed, because we wanted to see the support the sundeck was getting first.
“After that, we brought everything else on one by one, so we could make sure the safety measures were effective. The pub was last to come on-board, 3 or 4 weeks after and then we left the club to the very last minute.” Industry-wide, there was a sense of anticipation, wondering if customers had become too accustomed to staying indoors and making their own fun from supermarket “tinnies” and the Netflix Top 10.
“We feel more confident this time around. People were like caged animals on the sun deck, everyone was excited to be out, but we had to manage this so we could follow the guidelines effectively. Shield Safety’s Risk Assessment (details below) was helpful in getting us to think of a plan to keep everyone safe.”
The mix of different business models all housed on one platform meant that Lee could repurpose each space as needed. “We had about a week where we bought pop up tables and benches to pivot the (usually 650-capacity) club into an eating space. But reminding freshers to sit back down at their table and not go to say hi to their friends really threatened the reputation of the club. “It was a great social space, and then all of a sudden it became a sterile seating area that just didn’t work for us. We took the decision to close it permanently during lockdown, the staff moved to other departments on the pier to meet demand.”
Working away in the background, Lee has been submitting planning applications to see the heritage site benefit from a retail space and decking area to help cater for the growing popularity in hospitality businesses offering daily shop essentials. With Aberystwyth attracting over 250,000 visitors in usual times, The Royal Pier is the focal point that offers fun for all ages. “After building the decking area at the front of the pier, we realised a lot of people were using it to cross over to the amusements, fish and chip shop, billiard bar or pub. We looked at the space and created 32 covers, each with parasols and heating lamps too. We’re also adding a BBQ zone to feed the sun deck.
“Usually, when the weather turned or it started to rain, people disappeared. But now we have the option of having this additional cover and the retail space, it will make the pier a stop off point for people walking past, as well as the main attraction.”
With so much appetite for the freedom of ordering a drink at a bar, or making memories with friends surrounded by the ambience of rolling waves, Lee is confident that pricing needs to be preimmunised rather than pander to promotions. “When we put a stop to match promotions, 2 for 1 cocktails and happy hours last Summer, we weren’t finding that people were up in arms. We were respected for it, we didn’t want to be seen as being ‘dirt cheap’, our customers want to invest in quality, something that warrants parting with a bit more cash.
“We want visitors to know they’re sitting in clean, comfortable furniture, playing the best games, eating fine ingredients, and, with our current renovations, we need to see a return somehow. We didn’t find the spend per head differed any more than usual either, people were spending the same but we were getting a better return.”
The experiences to be found on The Royal Pier can’t be matched by Zoom socials, something Lee has found from the amount of customers tagging them in “on this day last year” memories on social media. “People are sharing what they miss, and the places they’ll return to,” says Lee. Despite income in 2020 being 50% down on like for like months in 2019, Lee is still keeping customers engaged with his anti-sales attitude to marketing. Rather than promoting a deal on ice cream, Lee takes images that highlight the unrivalled scenery, staff personalities and show off a sense of humour (most notably in the Donald Trump scarecrow he fashioned that went viral). The powerful silhouette of the pier against sunset is something that has also been picked up by BBC Winter Watch who document the yearly visits and murmuration of the starlings that have chosen the pier as their meeting point.
Pleasure piers are historically the places for kitsch fun, sticks of rock and arcade games, but for visitors to The Royal Pier, the experience is far more sophisticated. After weathering the pandemic storm, the sun is set to shine again, the starlings will return, the BBQ fired up, essentials stocked up, and we’ll all be ready to make memories once more.
The BII’s Licensee of the Year Award is launching a little later than normal this year, but 2014 winner Lee is still keen to inspire the next generation of entrants to grow into finalists… “It was huge honour to be a LOYA winner, I connected with some amazing people and I learnt so much from those I have crossed paths with as a result of winning. I’ve made some brilliant friends like Ashley McCarthy (of Ye Old Sun Inn) and I’ve gained a mentor in Chris Welham (who used to be CEO at Wadworth).
“These contacts, these friends, are hugely helpful to have at the end of the phone whenever I’m in trouble or need advice.
“The process is a bit of a business interrogation, but as it should be. I’m hugely proud of being the first Welsh winner, and it has given me such a credible voice, people pay attention to it because the process is so vigorous you really are considered the best of the best.
“It was like a business health check, if I hadn’t have won, I still learnt so much about myself and the industry.”
