Time to Reset the Pub and Club Industry?

drdel

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Pubs are an outdated businesses. À pub was a source of cheap beer, cider and spirits (often local) with off-licence booze more expensive.

People now drink more wine. Now supermarkets supply a wide rangeof booze at much lower prices and drink driving laws (rightly) reduce access.

Pub food used to be simple and good value but now they are pseudo restaurants and can be relatively expensive.

Consequently today's pub is a bit of an hybrid - I'd not be investing.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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Expectations on the nightclub side are very low - Spring next year earliest? Live performance events of any size (like more than 100 of an audience say)? Again Spring next year earliest. Though the sector is looking at how live perforance events and clubnights could be held in large venues or new sorts of venues (warehouses etc) with tailored controls (or maybe just hold club nights in larger venues for one or two Uni Halls of Residence to make student life a bit more fun - but that would no doubt cause resentment outside of the student body) .

Bottom line for many in the sector is that many of those in their 30s-50s with mortgages and families to feed are starting to call time on their career in the sector (as there was hope beyond hope for something to start up late Q3/Q4 this year...I am not going to go there) and are looking for something else. Start again. And that's tough as for many working in that sector their job is their passion and for that they could put up with the antisocial hours and relatively low pay.

And these days we only very infrequently go to a pub to have a drink - and mostly when we do these are more restaurant than pub...and it's to have a meal.
 
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chrisd

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Pubs are an outdated businesses. À pub was a source of cheap beer, cider and spirits (often local) with off-licence booze more expensive.

People now drink more wine. Now supermarkets supply a wide rangeof booze at much lower prices and drink driving laws (rightly) reduce access.

Pub food used to be simple and good value but now they are pseudo restaurants and can be relatively expensive.

Consequently today's pub is a bit of an hybrid - I'd not be investing.

I do the book keeping, vat etc etc for what used to be known as a working mens club and that type of establishment is really going through the mill. Our rates are £1200 per month and the heating/aircon can be £900 per month before we buy stock, pay wages etc etc so it looks like we'll not open again. I was talking to a police officer and the Council licensing officer and I said that we dont see many 20 to 30 year olds in drinking like they used to, and the answer I got was that they dont drink so much but most of them are buying drugs these days
 

GB72

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I do the book keeping, vat etc etc for what used to be known as a working mens club and that type of establishment is really going through the mill. Our rates are £1200 per month and the heating/aircon can be £900 per month before we buy stock, pay wages etc etc so it looks like we'll not open again. I was talking to a police officer and the Council licensing officer and I said that we dont see many 20 to 30 year olds in drinking like they used to, and the answer I got was that they dont drink so much but most of them are buying drugs these days

I guess this is an issue for a number of venues. The clubs etc are providing the entertainment but the clientele are not spending the money in the venue. Whether pre-loading or using other substances, the club model does not work if people are not spending behind the bar.
 

Kellfire

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Continental style table service is one positive of Covid so far. I hope that persists but I don’t go to the old fashioned style pubs very often anyway. Give me a good beer bar with a wide range of styles and a relatively quiet, friendly atmosphere any day.
 

drdel

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I do the book keeping, vat etc etc for what used to be known as a working mens club and that type of establishment is really going through the mill. Our rates are £1200 per month and the heating/aircon can be £900 per month before we buy stock, pay wages etc etc so it looks like we'll not open again. I was talking to a police officer and the Council licensing officer and I said that we dont see many 20 to 30 year olds in drinking like they used to, and the answer I got was that they dont drink so much but most of them are buying drugs these days

I agree it's quite a sad reflection on society that drugs are so prevalent and fuelling the 'black' market. Neither of my grown up kids bother with pubs and clubs because of the predominance of drug dealing and taking.
 

Rooter

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Seems a bit extreme. I've been to a pub and not been offered any drugs hundreds of times.

You need to find a better pub!!

Coming from someone that has just de-licenced a pub, the days are numbered as it is. As Chris explained, the costs are astronomical councils don't help. Locals then moan, its a horrible industry and glad we are out of it all. pain in the backside for not enough money.

Only the chains will survive with their buying power, plus the off boutique place, either real ale, tap room, 'really' good food etc...
 

chrisd

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Only the chains will survive with their buying power, plus the off boutique place, either real ale, tap room, 'really' good food etc...

As luck would have it, where I work they have a large site not far from the station for fast trains to London and also a big outlet centre close by. So the idea is around 30 flats on the site and a new, much smaller clubhouse, plenty of money in reserve and let the club members run it at either profit or loss until the money runs out ?
 

Hacker Khan

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I agree it's quite a sad reflection on society that drugs are so prevalent and fuelling the 'black' market. Neither of my grown up kids bother with pubs and clubs because of the predominance of drug dealing and taking.

Legalise certain drugs so pubs can have another income stream? And not sure what type of places your kids frequent but I can't say I've ever really noticed drugs in the pubs I go to, certainly not overt dealing and inhaling/injecting/smoking.
 

SocketRocket

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Legalise certain drugs so pubs can have another income stream? And not sure what type of places your kids frequent but I can't say I've ever really noticed drugs in the pubs I go to, certainly not overt dealing and inhaling/injecting/smoking.
Those packets of Pork Scratchings aren't what they're made out to be.
 

drdel

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Legalise certain drugs so pubs can have another income stream? And not sure what type of places your kids frequent but I can't say I've ever really noticed drugs in the pubs I go to, certainly not overt dealing and inhaling/injecting/smoking.

Just for the record I said they didn't frequent the pubs and clubs.&
 

HomerJSimpson

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The future is Wetherspoons apparently. Some I've been in have actually been decent and a place to get a meal cheaply and some good beers. Others have been the pits. We have a lovely old fashioned village type pub not far from the club tucked away and so only really used by regulars and those that take advantage of the fantastic food on offer to come out for a meal. They've had to work exceedingly hard to keep afloat and a doing ok and the regulars have been as supportive as possible. I fear these will become a thing of the past and there will be some typical pubs as we know it but they'll be few and far between. Where's the incentive to work in that industry let alone taking a pub on

It does need a reset in my opinion but what and how I don't know. How long are we going to have areas in lockdown, how many waves will there be and there has to be the acceptance this is going to be something we have to live with.
 
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