1901 Club food

[The Merry Prankster]

I don't really understand the 1901 club at all. And by that I don't mean I don't comprehend what the package involves (I do), I just don't think a) it is being used right as an area and b) why any proper 'fan' would want to be in there.

It is clearly intended and best used as a corporate area at corporate per head rates. Personally I hate the corporate experience at football and would never pay for it apart from maybe as a birthday or one-off (and have never done that).

But I accept it is a necessary evil of modern football and ambitious clubs, and accept the argument that if you make good money there you can almost subsidise other prices elsewhere. This makes sense to me, as long as that is the way the money is used.

Personally I think the prices and the quality of food and service should go UP in the 1901, to somewhere close to but a bit below what you would get in a box. And all the diehard fans in there at the moment paying their £50 a match or whatever should go and sit somewhere else.

I think this would be a better use of the facility, for the good of the club.

I'll definitely go along with the need for a radical re-think.

 

[Geriatric Seagull]

All this talk about the "diehard fans" going to sit somewhere else is one- except that they have probably chosen their particular seats for the view of the game. Where are they going to go? Will the peasants in WSU or lower be moved to make room?

 

[Superphil]

I don't really understand the 1901 club at all. And by that I don't mean I don't comprehend what the package involves (I do), I just don't think a) it is being used right as an area and b) why any proper 'fan' would want to be in there.

It is clearly intended and best used as a corporate area at corporate per head rates. Personally I hate the corporate experience at football and would never pay for it apart from maybe as a birthday or one-off (and have never done that).

But I accept it is a necessary evil of modern football and ambitious clubs, and accept the argument that if you make good money there you can almost subsidise other prices elsewhere. This makes sense to me, as long as that is the way the money is used.

Personally I think the prices and the quality of food and service should go UP in the 1901, to somewhere close to but a bit below what you would get in a box. And all the diehard fans in there at the moment paying their £50 a match or whatever should go and sit somewhere else.

I think this would be a better use of the facility, for the good of the club.

To partly answer your question, it was sold to us under the banner of being 'Club' seats, not corporate seats. Along the lines of other clubs, and even Club Wembley. The idea, a premium seat, fancy bars, and the option, that's Option, to eat in a Fine Dining environment if we so chose. It was never sold to us as corporate, hence why five of us signed up to it together, and so far none of us has used the facility in a corporate way. We've eaten quite a few times, as a bit of a treat to ourselves, and whilst the quality of service has been laughable, and the quality of the product totally unpredictable, it was something we all enjoyed on occasion. What we won't be doing is paying £60 or £80 for a meal, not there, not for that level of shitness, and we also won't be paying £19 for warmed up Brake Brothers shite.

We'll be organising, amongst ourselves, pre match meals in Brighton on occasion, in North Laine area, nice and convenient to get the bus or train just in time for kick off. After games I thinks we've decided on the North Stand bar, or maybe Dicks if the queues aren't too bad. 1901 Club, you've ****ed it up for us, you'll struggle to get much more than a occasional pint out of us until we see wholesale changes, and hear glowing reports.

So there you go, originally it was just fine, apart from the terrible food, they chopped and changed it, never once consulting the members, and now it is a shambles in pretty much every respect.

 

[Seagull on the wing]

I don't really understand the 1901 club at all. And by that I don't mean I don't comprehend what the package involves (I do), I just don't think a) it is being used right as an area and b) why any proper 'fan' would want to be in there.

It is clearly intended and best used as a corporate area at corporate per head rates. Personally I hate the corporate experience at football and would never pay for it apart from maybe as a birthday or one-off (and have never done that).

But I accept it is a necessary evil of modern football and ambitious clubs, and accept the argument that if you make good money there you can almost subsidise other prices elsewhere. This makes sense to me, as long as that is the way the money is used.

Personally I think the prices and the quality of food and service should go UP in the 1901, to somewhere close to but a bit below what you would get in a box. And all the diehard fans in there at the moment paying their £50 a match or whatever should go and sit somewhere else.

I think this would be a better use of the facility, for the good of the club.

Normanally I agree with your post mate but you are far off in this case...1 .You cannot make a judgement if you've never been in there...or would'nt do so either. 2 You will find a lot of the older fans there ( 3 of us added up to 170 years of support between us) you will discover as you get older and the bones and joints are no longer capable of standing in a crowd (concourse) that you need a bit of comfort and seating. For the privilege of comfort,parking,free cup games,free programmes , I paid a £1,000 upfront for a five year price fix contract,I pay £90 a month have a great seat where nobody can walk in front of me...for the extras it is well worth it. To the younger fans (there are some in the 1901 ) it may seem that 1901 are all corporate but that is far from the truth.
Agree the food is not worth the money or a good standard and the drinks are overpriced...so eat and drink beforehand.

 

[trueblue]

I don't really understand the 1901 club at all. And by that I don't mean I don't comprehend what the package involves (I do), I just don't think a) it is being used right as an area and b) why any proper 'fan' would want to be in there.

It is clearly intended and best used as a corporate area at corporate per head rates. Personally I hate the corporate experience at football and would never pay for it apart from maybe as a birthday or one-off (and have never done that).

But I accept it is a necessary evil of modern football and ambitious clubs, and accept the argument that if you make good money there you can almost subsidise other prices elsewhere. This makes sense to me, as long as that is the way the money is used.

Personally I think the prices and the quality of food and service should go UP in the 1901, to somewhere close to but a bit below what you would get in a box. And all the diehard fans in there at the moment paying their £50 a match or whatever should go and sit somewhere else.

I think this would be a better use of the facility, for the good of the club.

That's pretty unfair on the vast majority of 1901 club members who committed themselves to a substantial amount of cash when the stadium wasn't much more than a chalk pit. Most just wanted one of the best seats in the house and were prepared to make Albion a priority in their monthly spending because they'd watched the club for years and now had the money to pay for a bit of luxury. Under your scheme, all of the best seats in the place would be owned by bigger businesses and there'd be fewer true Albion fans occupying them.

 

[Canonman]

To partly answer your question, it was sold to us under the banner of being 'Club' seats, not corporate seats. Along the lines of other clubs, and even Club Wembley. The idea, a premium seat, fancy bars, and the option, that's Option, to eat in a Fine Dining environment if we so chose. It was never sold to us as corporate, hence why five of us signed up to it together, and so far none of us has used the facility in a corporate way. We've eaten quite a few times, as a bit of a treat to ourselves, and whilst the quality of service has been laughable, and the quality of the product totally unpredictable, it was something we all enjoyed on occasion. What we won't be doing is paying £60 or £80 for a meal, not there, not for that level of shitness, and we also won't be paying £19 for warmed up Brake Brothers shite.

We'll be organising, amongst ourselves, pre match meals in Brighton on occasion, in North Laine area, nice and convenient to get the bus or train just in time for kick off. After games I thinks we've decided on the North Stand bar, or maybe Dicks if the queues aren't too bad. 1901 Club, you've ****ed it up for us, you'll struggle to get much more than a occasional pint out of us until we see wholesale changes, and hear glowing reports.

So there you go, originally it was just fine, apart from the terrible food, they chopped and changed it, never once consulting the members, and now it is a shambles in pretty much every respect.

I know someone that will not be very happy about the reference to Brake Brothers.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

I think if Phil puts that sort of damning inditement on the 1901 and the standard of food etc and then says they will all eat in town, the club needs to listen.

I can't believe how we have the golden goose here with a fantastic stadium etc and are conspiring to totally **** up customer service.....this is SO amateurish it's laughable

 

[ringmerseagulltoo]

I don't really understand the 1901 club at all. And by that I don't mean I don't comprehend what the package involves (I do), I just don't think a) it is being used right as an area and b) why any proper 'fan' would want to be in there.

It is clearly intended and best used as a corporate area at corporate per head rates. Personally I hate the corporate experience at football and would never pay for it apart from maybe as a birthday or one-off (and have never done that).

But I accept it is a necessary evil of modern football and ambitious clubs, and accept the argument that if you make good money there you can almost subsidise other prices elsewhere. This makes sense to me, as long as that is the way the money is used.

Personally I think the prices and the quality of food and service should go UP in the 1901, to somewhere close to but a bit below what you would get in a box. And all the diehard fans in there at the moment paying their £50 a match or whatever should go and sit somewhere else.

I think this would be a better use of the facility, for the good of the club.

Having been continuous season ticket holders for 30 years, missing only a few Gillingham games, I retired in June of 2011. As a retirement present to ourselves, my wife and I put together sufficient funds to buy 5 a year deal in the BUPA Lounge. From our experience, almost all 1901 members are fans of long standing. We joined the marches, signed the petitions and supported the Club through its darkest hours. It is not a corporate experience I am looking for either. I just want to spend that disposable portion of the retirements cash I do have on supporting the Club in a little more comfort, rather than on expensive exotic holidays.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

I'll definitely go along with the need for a radical re-think.

Having been continuous season ticket holders for 30 years, missing only a few Gillingham games, I retired in June of 2011. As a retirement present to ourselves, my wife and I put together sufficient funds to buy 5 a year deal in the BUPA Lounge. From our experience, almost all 1901 members are fans of long standing. We joined the marches, signed the petitions and supported the Club through its darkest hours. It is not a corporate experience I am looking for either. I just want to spend that disposable portion of the retirements cash I do have on supporting the Club in a little more comfort, rather than on expensive exotic holidays.

This. I think the majority of supporters frequenting 1901, are just as big a 'fan' as others. We're just in a fortunate position to be able to afford it. We rarely if ever eat, because it's overpriced and the quality is poor. The 3 of us leave the lounge normally 1 hour before kick off and watch the build up, as we have done at The Goldstone, Priestfield and Withdean.

We 'own' our seats for the lifetime of the stadium and I would not change it for anything.

I do feel that food available on the concourses should be replicated in the lounges and the 'fine-dining' (ahem) experience should be isolated to the large lounge. The buffet so far in terms of quality has been a massive failure and again very overpriced.

 

[Seagull on the wing]

Between them I think Trueblue,Ringmerseagulltoo,and One Teddy Maybank have summed it up pretty nicely...all valid points.

 

[Superphil]

I know someone that will not be very happy about the reference to Brake Brothers.

In that case I apologise for calling it shite. Indeed, it may not be Brake Bros stuff, perhaps one of the other ready meal contractors, either way, I don't think that type of food should be served in 1901. Fine dining it is not. Then again, they haven't updated the 1901 website for over 12 months:

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

In that case I apologise for calling it shite. Indeed, it may not be Brake Bros stuff, perhaps one of the other ready meal contractors, either way, I don't think that type of food should be served in 1901. Fine dining it is not. Then again, they haven't updated the 1901 website for over 12 months:

View attachment 45896

They can maybe make the required edits the next time they update the Club Charter?

 

[Brovion]

I think if Phil puts that sort of damning inditement on the 1901 and the standard of food etc and then says they will all eat in town, the club needs to listen.

I can't believe how we have the golden goose here with a fantastic stadium etc and are conspiring to totally **** up customer service.....this is SO amateurish it's laughable

I was thinking that. I don't know Phil personally and I'm sure he's a great bloke, but in the past on here I have sometimes been a bit irritated by his (as I see it) blindly pro-club stance on absolutely everything. (And in fairness I'm sure he's been irritated by me but that's NSC!) However if he's using words like 'shit' and saying he intends to boycott the food - well it MUST be bad.

 

[Beach Hut]

Judging by all the comments I would suggest the Commercial Department have a lot of work on their hands to turn this situation around.

As has been suggested perhaps Barber should sit down, get his own cash out and pay the £19 and see what he thinks value for money wise.

 

[severnside gull]

Normanally I agree with your post mate but you are far off in this case...1 .You cannot make a judgement if you've never been in there...or would'nt do so either. 2 You will find a lot of the older fans there ( 3 of us added up to 170 years of support between us) you will discover as you get older and the bones and joints are no longer capable of standing in a crowd (concourse) that you need a bit of comfort and seating. For the privilege of comfort,parking,free cup games,free programmes , I paid a £1,000 upfront for a five year price fix contract,I pay £90 a month have a great seat where nobody can walk in front of me...for the extras it is well worth it. To the younger fans (there are some in the 1901 ) it may seem that 1901 are all corporate but that is far from the truth.
Agree the food is not worth the money or a good standard and the drinks are overpriced...so eat and drink beforehand.

agree with every word!
I dont recognise the 1901 Club that many on here are talking about. It isnt the place I go to.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I don't expect for one minute current users of the 1901 to agree with what I have said. Why would you? With all the explanations I gave earlier, you are getting a premium facility and superb seats at what I think is below the correct rate and use for the facility on a matchday. Changing it now will be harder than pitching it right in the first place, as someone said before it was built. But I don't think Barber is one to shy away from tough calls if he thinks it is right for the club.

 

[Giraffe]

We 'own' our seats for the lifetime of the stadium and I would not change it for anything.

I do feel that food available on the concourses should be replicated in the lounges and the 'fine-dining' (ahem) experience should be isolated to the large lounge.

Completely this. It's ridiculous that people in 1901 would rather have concourse food and can not get there to do so.

 

[Ernest]

Even if you're a millionaire you hate being ripped off and £19 for a plate of food is let alone £91 for a sit down meal, you have to wonder who thinks these things up and thinks that people are mug enough to pay it

 

[Titanic]

As I said on another thread, won't this sort itself out in a couple of years time anyway, when the tickets are jacked up to a proper 'corporate package' prices and the 5-year renewals start kicking in?

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

19 pounds for a plate of curry must be the most expensive Indian in Brighton and Hove.

Ashoka do a great King Prawn Jalfrezi and pilau rice for under that and that is one of the most expensive dishes on their menu.

I can totally see why 1901s would eat in the city beforehand at that price.