Last Updated on July 27, 2026
Pub marketing gets dismissed as a big company activity. It is not. Pub keywords are some of the cheapest in the country.
A click on pub quiz near me costs 30p. A click on Sunday roast near me costs under £2. Meanwhile the average spend per head in a UK pub is £24.59. The maths is not close.
Here is what pub marketing actually costs in 2026, from our UK pub marketing cost research.
What pubs actually spend
| Pub type | Monthly budget |
|---|---|
| Village or community pub | £70-200 |
| Town centre pub or gastropub | £230-710 |
| Large or multi-room venue | £850-2,200 |
As a share of revenue that is 3 to 5 percent. Most pubs spend closer to nothing and rely on passing trade, which is a fine plan right up until footfall drops.
The village pub template
| Line item | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Free |
| Facebook page, posting 3-5 times a week | Free |
| Email or SMS to your customer list | £20-50 |
| Local event sponsorship | £50-150 |
| Total | £70-200 |
Two of the four lines are free. The other two are the price of a couple of covers.
What each channel actually costs
| Channel | DIY cost | Outsourced cost | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | £0 | £100-300 one-off | Do first |
| Facebook and Instagram organic | £0 | n/a | Do first |
| Review collection | £0 | n/a | Do first |
| Chalkboards and A-boards | £30-200 | n/a | Do first |
| Email and SMS | £20-60/mo | n/a | Build phase |
| Google Ads | £100-400/mo | plus management | Build phase |
| Booking platform | n/a | £50-150/mo or £1-3 per cover | Build phase |
| Local SEO | £0 | £150-400/mo | Build phase |
| Website | n/a | £800-3,000 build | Build phase |
| TripAdvisor premium | n/a | £50-150/mo | Scale phase |
| Social media management | n/a | £200-500/mo | Scale phase |
What a booking actually costs
| Search term | Cost per click |
|---|---|
| Function room [city] | £1-4 |
| Pub near me | £0.50-2 |
| Sunday roast near me | £0.50-2 |
| Pub food near me | £0.50-2 |
| Live music pub [city] | £0.50-2 |
| Beer garden [city] | £0.30-1.50 |
| Dog friendly pub near me | £0.30-1.50 |
| Pub quiz near me | £0.30-1 |
Cost per booking through Google Ads works out at £3-12. Average spend per head is £24.59. A table of two covers the cost of the ad four times over before anyone orders a second round.
Function room is the keyword to watch. It costs the most and it is worth the most, because a christening or a wake is not a two person booking.
The Facebook problem
Most pubs still treat the Facebook page as the marketing plan. Organic reach on Facebook has fallen to 2 to 5 percent of your followers.
So a post to 1,200 followers reaches somewhere between 24 and 60 people. That is a quiet Tuesday, not a campaign. Keep posting, but stop expecting it to fill the room on its own.
Where to start if you have nothing to spend
The £0 starting plan
- Complete your Google Business Profile. Kitchen hours separate from bar hours, real photos, dog friendly and garden attributes ticked.
- Put every recurring event into your profile and onto your website with a proper date.
- Ask for a Google review on the way out, especially after Sunday lunch.
- Collect email addresses at the bar for events and quiz nights.
- Reply to every review, including the one about the roast potatoes.
What to stop paying for
- Facebook as your only channel. 2 to 5 percent reach is not a plan.
- Printed menus as marketing. A menu is an operational cost. It does not bring anyone in.
- TripAdvisor premium before you have recent reviews. Pay for prominence after you have something worth being prominent about.
- Generic brand ads. Bid on roast, garden, quiz, function room. Bid on reasons to come, not on your own name.
- Event posters with no online listing. If the quiz is not on Google, it does not exist to anyone who is not already a regular.
The bottom line
Pubs have the cheapest clicks and one of the highest immediate spends per customer in UK small business. That combination is rare.
Fill your Google Business Profile properly, list every event, and put £100 a month behind the searches that describe why someone would walk in.
Not sure where your money is going?
Run a free check on your business and get specific budget recommendations.
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