last orders!

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:44 am

there are 50 public bars closing down each week in the uk why do you think this is?

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:52 am

numerous reasons... the most consistent one is the fact that 1 in 10 hospitality businesses that open ever year fail due to poor management...bad location and a lack or proper marketing or promoting...nothing to bring customers in or a bad reputation

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:04 pm

Simple, you all don't drink enough... Razz

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:29 pm

If there are 50 closing, there must be 60 opening. Wink

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:03 pm

I am part of the management team of a bar.
Numerous issues affect bars, especially independent ones. For example, our nearest competitor is across the other side of the street, it is part of a large chain of public houses. They have better buying power with suppliers and can buy their stock cheaper than we can, the end result being that their customers pay less for a beer than ours do.
We have to out do them somehow, to entice customers into our bar.
We have better entertainment and show live sports and generally have a better atmosphere than there is across the road.

We also have cocktails as part of our "repertoire" freshly made by any one of our people, whereas across the road only have some pre-packed simple cocktails, no comparison to ours really.
We are struggling these days, for other reasons - we barred a lot of people from entering the bar, for various reasons this last couple of months, mostly for drug related incidents or violent behaviour, the usual crap involved in the liquor industry. OK they spent a lot of money but caused too much friction.
This was hard and often painful work with the odd black eye and fat lip here and there for myself and a couple of the others that I work alongside with. Our plan is that hopefully we can replace those that we got rid of with better, less volatile customers LOL.

If the last couple of weekends are anything to go by, then I think the plan has started to work. We have been quite busy, but not as busy as we need to be for sure but with far less hassle. All I know is that I ain't been wrestling this last 2 or 3 weekends Wink

All the people that we no longer allow into our bar are causing trouble elsewhere Smile

Our customers leave happy and hopefully tell their friends what a great night they had with us.

The smoking ban also may have something to do with things - It has it's benefits and an equal amount of drawbacks too I think - many drinkers resent having to go outside for a smoke.
Maybe people just do not have the money spare to go out drinking - that's a sad fact of life these days.

I read in "The Publican" that it was approx. 30 pubs a week closing, hopefully ours is not going to be one of the statistics.

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:22 pm

the smoking ban has had no effect on any public house in Canada people will still want to drink...yes they did go away for a bit but missed the company of hanging around all day and wandered back in... as for economic times we have been busier this year than previous ones i think people are hiding their financial sorrows in a pint...staying home and not traveling..ect

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:02 pm

There's also the fact that the four main supermarket chains are forever tryin' to out do each other an' are practically givin' booze away at minimal profit. Seth mentioned large chains which is the key here, because large chains of supermarkets can supplement these perpetual reductions in price easily, pubs cant.

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:08 pm

size is the key my youngest sister works for GSK and Walmart pretty much tells them what they'll pay for stuff even tho GSK is no tiny company.

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:11 pm

My sympathies, Seth, man. Really hate to see people brave enough to start a business do bad, especially when they are dedicated to quality.

I remember some economic people such as the Research Trends Institute mentioning once about something like this though... and though that in and of itself doesn't signify anything, it does seem that things in general are slipping... all businesses.

All I can say is China is going to be the next big thing at this economic rate; and compared to us "westerners", they are a bit uptight and in general not open to a lot that we are. Ironic situation would be China outsourcing to America, like I've said before, but it might be a possibility in the future.

Cynical as I am, I'd hate to see everything collapse, especially considering what it would mean for the type of people who drove crashes in the past emerging as figureheads to unify all socio-political, economical, and religious values of the world...

There is nothing to fear though. There is always opportunity; the only inadequacy is our own ability to perceive and act upon it. Life goes on... even in the most dire circumstances. Good luck man, I think everyone needs it right now.

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:17 pm

SoDaSeeD wrote:

There's also the fact that the four main supermarket chains are forever tryin' to out do each other an' are practically givin' booze away at minimal profit. Seth mentioned large chains which is the key here, because large chains of supermarkets can supplement these perpetual reductions in price easily, pubs cant.

This is very true you just have look at the amount of drink going out of these supermarkets and how cheap it is... But aren't the Government trying to make a stop to this ? banning happy hours is not going to help much

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:24 pm

thetazzzz wrote:

you just have look at the amount of drink going out of these supermarkets and how cheap it is... But aren't the Government trying to make a stop to this ?

I dunno about south of the border but here in Scotland the licencing laws are changing in September.

I have not paid too much attention to the changes regarding off-sales. except that it will be allowed from 10am to 10pm unless there are local objections, each area is different LOL

We are entering another minefield Wink