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Music, signage and atmosphere influence how long customers stay, how they feel, and how they perceive a brand.
In pub environments, these elements help shape the atmosphere, influence social energy throughout the visit, and enhance the experience across different trading periods and occasions.
Young’s operates a large portfolio of premium pubs and hotels, primarily across London and the South East. The estate is known for quality-led food and drink, heritage interiors and a strong focus on hospitality-led experiences.
Our observations and suggestions could help further strengthen consistency and atmosphere across such a diverse premium estate.
Music was present throughout the venue and sat at a comfortable level during a busy Saturday afternoon service.
The selection felt well aligned to a premium but approachable pub environment, supporting a mixed demographic of diners and drinkers.
However, there appears to be limited clarity or consistency around how music is selected or controlled at site level. Staff noted that they did not have control over the playlist, and there was some uncertainty about how programming is managed centrally.
The venue featured multiple TV screens, which were inactive during non-sporting periods and displayed “no signal” or temporary imagery until events were shown.
Screens are primarily used for live sport activation, particularly major fixtures such as the Six Nations, with external signage reinforcing this when events are on.
Outside of live sport, the signage footprint felt underutilised, with limited ongoing use for brand storytelling, food and drink promotion or seasonal campaigns.
Standardise or centralise music curation to ensure consistency of tone and quality across all Young’s venues, while still allowing flexibility for individual pub character and local nuance.
Further refine playlists to better support different dayparts and occasions - from relaxed daytime dining through to evening social trade and weekend peak periods.
Extend screen usage to include food and drink promotions, seasonal storytelling, hotel messaging and localised content - ensuring screens contribute to the guest experience every day, not just during fixtures.
Based on your brand, audience and environment, here’s an example of how your music could feel with Startle.
This playlist reflects a refined, contemporary pub atmosphere - blending modern indie, soulful pop and alternative influences to create a relaxed but premium soundscape that feels both current and comfortable.
The intention is to:
Choose from our library of over 100 professionally crafted playlists spanning genres, moods and sectors, or opt for curated soundtracks designed to support different trading periods.
We offer scalable digital signage to automate your sports promotion and make the most of F&B offers and key campaigns. Promote, entertain and engage.
With Startle Studio, you’ll have full visibility and control of all your pubs’ music and signage schedules from a central platform, ensuring consistency across your estate.
We’ve worked with large pub operators to create more engaging and consistent guest experiences across complex multi-site estates.
We partnered with Mitchells & Butlers to help deliver a more scalable and centrally managed music experience across a diverse portfolio of pub and restaurant brands.
By aligning playlists more closely with different customer occasions, venue formats and trading patterns, Mitchells & Butlers were able to create environments that felt more consistent, welcoming and reflective of each brand’s atmosphere.
This approach included:
Working with Startle has been a very positive experience for Mitchells & Butlers. They understand the important role that music and atmosphere play in shaping the overall guest journey and helping our venues feel welcoming, engaging and on brand. Their solutions support us in delivering a consistent, high-quality experience across our estate, while still allowing our teams to focus on what matters most – great hospitality.
Head of Electronic Leisure
Book your discovery call to explore how music and signage could enhance experience, consistency and engagement across your estate.
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