TWELVE pounds ENTRY to Seven STARS Bar tomorrow

TWOCHOICEStom · Oct 19, 2016

Wonder if Barber will admit that this was a bad idea yet? Or do we need a whole season of this?

[tweet]788436273677623296[/tweet]

I could not believe how stubborn he was on [MENTION=791]The Albion Roar[/MENTION] the other week regarding this. It sounded to me like the colleague who comes up with an idea, owns it and refuses to admit its faults. It's so strange considering how great he is on most other issues.

The fact is, it doesn't matter how many comparisons you draw to the 1901 club and how much that costs. It doesn't matter that you can't get a bar like this in any other facility in the championship. It doesn't matter that you can wear bloody trainers and (gasp) replica shirts! And sadly, no matter how many times it's mentioned and no matter how bold you make the text on the club's official statement, it also doesn't matter to people that Tony Bloom is losing £1.5m per month.

Why? Why doesn't it matter? I'll tell you. DICK'S BAR.

Assuming you have a season ticket, charging £12 more for a bar where the only tangible difference is that you can take your kids in does not go down well with people. The one free programme per ticket is NOT an incentive by the way. Nobody cares.

But, I understand the need to make money. I want Tony to earn as much as he reasonably can from us. So here's my productive suggestions to the club. Price it the same as Dicks irrespective of whether you have a season ticket.

- Adults £4, concessions £2 BUT kids go free.
- No free programme but have them on sale in the bar (the adults will buy them)
- Get some decent bloody bar staff and people will spend more money!

To sum up, people don't mind paying for things, but they don't like the piss being taken out of them. Taking the piss out of the people who are bringing the future of this club to the match is a bad, bad idea. They should be looked after no matter what their average spend per head is.

Bozza · Oct 19, 2016

TWOCHOICEStom said:
Wonder if Barber will admit that this was a bad idea yet? Or do we need a whole season of this?

[tweet]788436273677623296[/tweet]

I could not believe how stubborn he was on [MENTION=791]The Albion Roar[/MENTION] the other week regarding this. It sounded to me like the colleague who comes up with an idea, owns it and refuses to admit its faults. It's so strange considering how great he is on most other issues.

The fact is, it doesn't matter how many comparisons you draw to the 1901 club and how much that costs. It doesn't matter that you can't get a bar like this in any other facility in the championship. It doesn't matter that you can wear bloody trainers and (gasp) replica shirts! And sadly, no matter how many times it's mentioned and no matter how bold you make the text on the club's official statement, it also doesn't matter to people that Tony Bloom is losing £1.5m per month.

Why? Why doesn't it matter? I'll tell you. DICK'S BAR.

Assuming you have a season ticket, charging £12 more for a bar where the only tangible difference is that you can take your kids in does not go down well with people. The one free programme per ticket is NOT an incentive by the way. Nobody cares.

But, I understand the need to make money. I want Tony to earn as much as he reasonably can from us. So here's my productive suggestions to the club. Price it the same as Dicks irrespective of whether you have a season ticket.

- Adults £4, concessions £2 BUT kids go free.
- No free programme but have them on sale in the bar (the adults will buy them)
- Get some decent bloody bar staff and people will spend more money!

To sum up, people don't mind paying for things, but they don't like the piss being taken out of them. Taking the piss out of the people who are bringing the future of this club to the match is a bad, bad idea. They should be looked after no matter what their average spend per head is.

I felt we just had to try it, so last night we did.

I lied in that tweet, as [MENTION=236]Papa Lazarou[/MENTION] pointed out to me - there were actually 11 TV screens, so 1 for each customer.

I'll write up my full thoughts later.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Oct 19, 2016

Why not make The Seven STARS up into a full-blown betting shop? It even looks like one from that photo. At least then it would serve some useful purpose other than the current ridiculous waste of space. Does make you wonder about the commercial acumen of the club.

JJ McClure · Oct 19, 2016

Tom Hark said:
Why not make The Seven STARS up into a full-blown betting shop? It even looks like one.

Great idea. If only the club had connections with someone involved in professional gambling.

KNC · Oct 19, 2016

ROSM said:
I wonder if the club has considered trying to get a family style restaurant in there on matchdays?

They did try an East stand brasserie there and when I used it a few times it was really busy. But clearly not getting the margins. Wonder if a donatello or gbk style pop up has been considered or approached?

I appreciate it's difficult to run a restaurant once a fortnight but if it's bookings only then it should help with planning

Actually,ROSM, pop ups is a good idea. In any part of the ground. Although I fear the renting of the space would be restrictive to them.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Oct 19, 2016

JJ McClure said:
If only the club had connections with someone involved in professional gambling.

Indeed. Or were participating in a league sponsored by a major betting organisation.

Thunder Bolt · Oct 19, 2016

Tom Hark said:
Why not make The Seven STARS up into a full-blown betting shop? It even looks like one from that photo. At least then it would serve some useful purpose other than the current ridiculous waste of space. Does make you wonder about the commercial acumen of the club.

If I remember rightly, there were going to be betting booths, on the concourses, when the Amex first opened. I may be remembering this incorrectly, but American Express weren't keen on the idea when sponsoring the name of the stadium.

reigate · Oct 19, 2016

Thunder Bolt said:
If I remember rightly, there were going to be betting booths, on the concourses, when the Amex first opened. I may be remembering this incorrectly, but American Express weren't keen on the idea when sponsoring the name of the stadium.

I thought it was just that there was no real money to be made, compared with food,drink outlets?

Springal · Oct 19, 2016

Amex wouldn't allow betting on site.

Not that it will matter when the sponsorship deal runs out, I hear...

I must admit it is baffling and it is a shame that the Albion Roar guys didn't give him a bit more of a hard time over it. They could use the space like that bar at the MK Dons stadium. Has to be a better option.

Ernest · Oct 19, 2016

KNC said:
Actually,ROSM, pop ups is a good idea. In any part of the ground. Although I fear the renting of the space would be restrictive to them.

Maybe a POP up Sing Li ?

Captain Sensible · Oct 19, 2016

TWOCHOICEStom said:
Wonder if Barber will admit that this was a bad idea yet? Or do we need a whole season of this?

[tweet]788436273677623296[/tweet]

I could not believe how stubborn he was on [MENTION=791]The Albion Roar[/MENTION] the other week regarding this. It sounded to me like the colleague who comes up with an idea, owns it and refuses to admit its faults. It's so strange considering how great he is on most other issues.

The fact is, it doesn't matter how many comparisons you draw to the 1901 club and how much that costs. It doesn't matter that you can't get a bar like this in any other facility in the championship. It doesn't matter that you can wear bloody trainers and (gasp) replica shirts! And sadly, no matter how many times it's mentioned and no matter how bold you make the text on the club's official statement, it also doesn't matter to people that Tony Bloom is losing £1.5m per month.

Why? Why doesn't it matter? I'll tell you. DICK'S BAR.

Assuming you have a season ticket, charging £12 more for a bar where the only tangible difference is that you can take your kids in does not go down well with people. The one free programme per ticket is NOT an incentive by the way. Nobody cares.

But, I understand the need to make money. I want Tony to earn as much as he reasonably can from us. So here's my productive suggestions to the club. Price it the same as Dicks irrespective of whether you have a season ticket.

- Adults £4, concessions £2 BUT kids go free.
- No free programme but have them on sale in the bar (the adults will buy them)
- Get some decent bloody bar staff and people will spend more money!

To sum up, people don't mind paying for things, but they don't like the piss being taken out of them. Taking the piss out of the people who are bringing the future of this club to the match is a bad, bad idea. They should be looked after no matter what their average spend per head is.

I completely agree with this post. Also Barber is swerving the issue about kids having to pay £12 also. There are no concessions at all. This policy for charging for something that was free doesn't work and the 7 Stars must be making a massive loss. I still don't buy Barbers argument that the 7Stars customers didn't spend, they did! The bar was always a 4 person thick crowd and there were plenty of pints and pies being bought.

The Albion Roar · Oct 19, 2016

KNC said:
Actually,ROSM, pop ups is a good idea. In any part of the ground. Although I fear the renting of the space would be restrictive to them.

Also, Sodexo would kick off about this, losing one of their outlets.

reigate said:
I thought it was just that there was no real money to be made, compared with food,drink outlets?

This is what Tony has said.

Springal said:
I must admit it is baffling and it is a shame that the Albion Roar guys didn't give him a bit more of a hard time over it. They could use the space like that bar at the MK Dons stadium. Has to be a better option.

We're not there to give anyone 'a hard time'. We questioned him about the Seven Stars (in fact, he was the one who wanted to bring it up), and he gave his answers.

What is not going to happen is him having some blinding vision on the road to Damascus in the corner of a cramped radio studio and, having queried his answers, we'd have felt the whole programme would have become bogged down, so we moved on to the next topic.

The fact that we (nor anyone else I suspect) were happy with those answers, and we let him know that, is not going to be lost on him. He does know how we feel, and I suspect the numbers will bear this out.

ROSM · Oct 19, 2016

Understand your point re sodexho al, although if 7 stars closes down then they'll get nothing at all whereas if there is a food option that attracts people it would allow them to sell drinks to them perhaps

The Albion Roar · Oct 19, 2016

ROSM said:
Understand your point re sodexho al, although if 7 stars closes down then they'll get nothing at all whereas if there is a food option that attracts people it would allow them to sell drinks to them perhaps

I'm sure Sodexo turning it into their own high quality burger bar would be popular.

True, the capacity would be smaller than that of a bar, but the turnover would leap.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Oct 19, 2016

Captain Sensible said:
I still don't buy Barbers argument that the 7Stars customers didn't spend, they did! The bar was always a 4 person thick crowd and there were plenty of pints and pies being bought.

Maybe that's the reason behind Barber's thinking. Maybe he thought there would be a market for people who had brass in pocket but who resented standing in a 4 person thick crowd for every damn thing. Get the money in upfront to cater for those people who refused to queue for stupid amounts of time and just withheld their custom and spent their money elsewhere. On one level it sort of makes sense. Though at this level, there's obviously not enough of those people to make it work.

Captain Sensible · Oct 19, 2016

Tom Hark said:
Maybe that's the reason behind Barber's thinking. Maybe he thought there would be a market for people who had brass in pocket but who resented standing in a 4 person thick crowd for every damn thing. Get the money in upfront to cater for those people who refused to queue for stupid amounts of time and just withheld their custom and spent their money elsewhere. On one level it sort of makes sense. Though at this level, there's obviously not enough of those people to make it work.

Yes true, he's tried to find a gap in the market. I think there probably is a market there somewhere. The problem is the price is too high for what you get and when you were getting EXACTLY the same thing back in May for free, who is gonna pay £12?
The kids have to pay £12 too, for what? To use a Fußball table? 7stars must be losing significantly more than before.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Oct 19, 2016

Captain Sensible said:
Yes true, he's tried to find a gap in the market. I think there probably is a market there somewhere. The problem is the price is too high for what you get and when you were getting EXACTLY the same thing back in May for free, who is gonna pay £12?
The kids have to pay £12 too, for what? To use a Fußball table? 7stars must be losing significantly more than before.

I guess Barber is maybe gambling on the numbers swelling as the winter temperatures kick in.

Martlet · Oct 19, 2016

His problem now is that he's between a rock and hard place both of own making. If they reduce the £12, they will have to refund anyone who has paid the season entry price (all 3 of them...) and look pretty stupid. If they don't they have an empty bar, and constant criticism.

The former would strike me as the best option. Admit a mistake, quickly, set a reasonable entry price tht the market can accept, and make as much as you can for the rest of the season. Then work out what to do longer-term with the space.

Taybha · Oct 19, 2016

11 customers thats ELEVEN UNDECIM XI :shrug:

Tom Hark Preston Park · Oct 19, 2016

The Albion Roar said:
We're not there to give anyone 'a hard time'. We questioned him about the Seven Stars (in fact, he was the one who wanted to bring it up), and he gave his answers.

Fair enough. that's not your role, but hopefully someone, preferably at board level, IS giving Barber a hard time in getting him to justify this ridiculous waste of space and potential revenue.

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TWELVE pounds ENTRY to Seven STARS Bar tomorrow