Design a way to materialise the community governance model of pub ownership
[PEOPLE PUB PROJECT]
Overview
Pubs are an important part of British culture, and they are dying! In the UK, over 18,000 pubs have vanished over the past 40 years. Multiple factors, such as changing alcohol consumption habits, exploitative pub ownership models, and rising property prices, have negatively impacted the pub industry. As a result, several pub owners struggle to create a sustainable business.
Responsibilities
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Participatory Research – Co-designed research activities to engage local residents in conversations about the role of pubs in community life.
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Prototyping & Experience Design – Designed an interactive pub cart to gather stories, insights, and inspiration from local people.
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Exhibition & Storytelling – Exhibited the pub cart prototype at Walworth Living Room and Walworth community fair, enabling local people to visualise potential futures for community-run pubs.
Impact
The community pub event raised awareness about the different ownership models. The pub cart hosted at the Walworth community fair drew in members for a conversation, who later signed up to volunteer for the cause. The team received over 50 sign ups, the highest record from a single event.
Overview
Year
2022
Industry
Hospitality
Phase
Design
Role
Experience Designer
Target audience
We focused on people who live in Walworth and love going to a pub. Furthermore, people who were motivated to participate in community events.
Goal
Our goal was to create a community pub experience that extends the definition of a pub beyond 'just a place that serves alcohol.'
Approach
We wanted to build this experience 'WITH' the community rather than 'FOR.' We applied principles of co-design and participatory design.
A pub is a reflection of the community it serves
We focused on creating probes to help us manifest our ideas and encourage dialogue with the pub visitors. The exercise involved participants personalizing the beer coasters using the stickers provided.
Fig. 1: A couple using the toolkit to visualise 'community' on acetate coasters.
Fig. 2: Outcomes from the research toolkit.
Analysis
Most of the people chose to do this activity individually. However, we had one group that did this exercise collectively. While the majority tried to create symmetric patterns, some opted for asymmetry.
Analysis
Overall, participants found the exercise therapeutic. It also encouraged dialogue among the people involved in the activity. The learnings from the activity set the foundation for co-creating a pub sign with the community.
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Fig. 3: A group of NHS members using the toolkit.
Exploring a pub without walls
We invited people from our class along with our tutors to try out some of the low-fidelity prototypes. We also provided alcohol and snacks to compensate for their time.
Fig. 4: People trying out different prototypes aimed at exploring a pub without walls.
Discovering Walworth pub culture
We spoke with the people of Walworth to understand their definition of a ‘good’ pub. We prepared a map of Walworth (Gaver et al. 1999) that was aimed at sparking conversations (Mattelmäki 2005) with people.
Fig. 5: A map of walworth used as a medium to spark conversations.
Fig. 5: The map performed much better when placed in a pub.
Fig. 7: Using coding and affinity mapping to synthesise the information
A pub is a place that promotes social interactions. Does it have to be limited to a building selling alcohol?
[INSIGHT]
Observing people in pubs
Using the AEIOU observational framework, we mapped the movement of people across 14 pubs near Walworth. We made sure we had a good balance of Family-owned pubs and brewery-owned pubs.
Fig. 5: AEIOU study for The Bullshead Inn pub.
Fig. 6: Visualising the way people interact around pubs.
Fig. 7: A visual representation of AEIOU across 15 pubs.
The framework revealed a pattern of people reclaiming public infrastructure near pubs, such as bins, pavements, benches and lawns. This observation sparked an idea of a mobile community pub cart.
[OBSERVATION]
Inspiration and sketches
We looked at architecture books to find sources of inspiration for modular and portable carts. We sketched our own individual vision of the cart and later came together to share our thoughts.
Fig. 8: Moodboard for the mobile pub cart. A collage of sketches and magazine cut outs
Modular furniture to serve the need of the hour
Pubs organise events ranging from sports, games, plant-swaps, book swaps, and open mics, to name a few. And how can the furniture quickly adapt to these requirements?
Fig. 8: Early iteration of the modular pub chair
Fig. 9: One of my classmates testing the pub chair
Fig. 10: Building the chair in the workshop.
Fig. 10: A modular pub chair fitted in the pub cart
Pub cart in different environments
We hosted an exhibition in the Walworth Community Living Room aimed at inviting the local members to experience a community run pub. Approximately 45 people showed up for the event, and the audience included a mix of parents, children, students and working professionals.
Fig. 11: Pub cart display in an outdoor environment
Fig. 12: Even attendee writing their favourite drink in a pub
Fig. 13: Pub chairs used to place drinks
Participation from community members
We had 2 members participating from the community of Walworth. Matt organised a non-alcoholic beer tasting counter, and Summer prepared delicious appetizers (resembling snacks from across the world).
Fig. 14: Summer getting the snacks ready for the event.
Fig. 13: Matt guiding people through the beer tasting.
Pub cart at Walworth Fair
The pub cart was used at the Walworth Annual Fair as an artifact to draw people's attention to the community-governance model of pub ownership. The Mayor of London came to visit our booth and appreciated the pub cart.
Fig. 15: Event hosted at Walworth community fair shows pub cart in action
Learnings
Overall, the project communicated the value of the community ownership pub model through a slice-of-life experience.
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The design-led practice produced a richer data set than the research-led design practice as it challenges the top-down approach of conducting research.
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Working with People’s Pub Partnership and Walworth Community Living Room helped us understand the importance of collaboration in hosting events.
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Making as an activity helped us create knowledge, shape decisions and drive the project forward.