7 Stars Bar

[seagullwedgee]

Maybe put the hotel reception in the east stand lower, and bridge it over to the hotel site. The main reason that the hotel failed at planning was the design was not complementary to the existing stadium building. That was the only reservation of the one daft woman who abstained right at the death. There is an awful lot of under utilised space in the east stand, and if you 'lend' that to the hotel, it frees up the space squeeze for some more sympathetic design which might get through next time. Just a thought.

 

[scooter1]

Id be interested to know why the club were looking to close it, surely it made money on a match day. The service wasn't great, but it isn't great anywhere really. There were staff in there last night at 7.30, but I couldn't see a single punter. All a bit odd imho

 

[Ernest]

It was pitched at the wrong people , kids don't spend money neither do the parents much. It should have been marketed as a drinkers place, and people prepared to spend a quid or twenty on alcohol not a quid on a lemonade

 

[Driver8]

Id be interested to know why the club were looking to close it, surely it made money on a match day. The service wasn't great, but it isn't great anywhere really. There were staff in there last night at 7.30, but I couldn't see a single punter. All a bit odd imho

It was losing money due to low spend per punter. It will be losing a lot more now!

 

[Superphil]

If the 7 Stars Bar this season was genuinely supposed to be a revenue generator, then it does make you wonder a bit about the business acumen of the club generally. Maybe they'd do better to focus more on the probably 90% of 'customers' who are denied the opportunity to spend money on food and drink when they would happily do so, due to the stupidly long, stupidly slow-moving catering queues.

I'm sure they have much acumen any more. They've scrapped individual player kit sponsorships this season. Previously this meant £600 per player, per home and away kit, so £1200 per player. The benefit, your (company) name in each program by a photo of the player, same on the seagulls website and 2 seats at the end of season awards dinner. Let's say 25 players/management had both home and away sponsors, £30k raised.

Now the offer is to be a generic match kit sponsor for each home match, the cost is £1200, making £27600 for the season (23 games). In return you get a meal for 4 in the Harry Bloom lounge, as well as 2 seats at the end of season awards dinner. There wasn't a kit sponsor for last nights game, so that's £1200 off the amount raised for the year, and a further 11 games still don't have a kit sponsor.

So the new offer probably can't possibly make the same amount as the old offer regardless, and it's going to cost the club more with the additional hospitality.

 

[Seasider78]

It was pitched at the wrong people , kids don't spend money neither do the parents much. It should have been marketed as a drinkers place, and people prepared to spend a quid or twenty on alcohol not a quid on a lemonade

Exactly and if you took all the people queuing to get into a already full dicks bar and those who drink outside (but won't when the weather turns) you would have enough adult customers to pack out and fund another stadium bar without entry charge.

 

[Wilko]

It was pitched at the wrong people , kids don't spend money neither do the parents much. It should have been marketed as a drinkers place, and people prepared to spend a quid or twenty on alcohol not a quid on a lemonade

Indeed, make it an ADULTS only pub and 95% of those in there will be drinking beers with a high mark up.

 

[ewe2]

It was pitched at the wrong people , kids don't spend money neither do the parents much. It should have been marketed as a drinkers place, and people prepared to spend a quid or twenty on alcohol not a quid on a lemonade

Why cant the club see this !

 

[Cold Gettin Dumb]

I personally think that WHEN, not IF the 7 Stars latest angle fails, the club will invariably change it to an alternative to Dick's.
IMO, they should have just done this this season already.
Me, the wife and boy would always meet with several families up there after every game, though I have to say that we would spend worthy amounts on alcohol. It's a shame it looks like the pub have faded this up entirely...

 

[Moshe Gariani]

it looks like the pub have faded this up entirely...

THIS

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I'm sure they have much acumen any more. They've scrapped individual player kit sponsorships this season. Previously this meant £600 per player, per home and away kit, so £1200 per player. The benefit, your (company) name in each program by a photo of the player, same on the seagulls website and 2 seats at the end of season awards dinner. Let's say 25 players/management had both home and away sponsors, £30k raised.

Now the offer is to be a generic match kit sponsor for each home match, the cost is £1200, making £27600 for the season (23 games). In return you get a meal for 4 in the Harry Bloom lounge, as well as 2 seats at the end of season awards dinner. There wasn't a kit sponsor for last nights game, so that's £1200 off the amount raised for the year, and a further 11 games still don't have a kit sponsor.

So the new offer probably can't possibly make the same amount as the old offer regardless, and it's going to cost the club more with the additional hospitality.

Baffling. And it's clearly angled at business as opposed to supporters. Distance your supporters, and raise less cash - good work.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

It was pitched at the wrong people , kids don't spend money neither do the parents much. It should have been marketed as a drinkers place, and people prepared to spend a quid or twenty on alcohol not a quid on a lemonade

Seems to me there's (at least) a couple of money-spinning options:

1. Ale House - equivalent of the outside Harveys bar, but run along the lines of a beer festival. You buy beer tokens well away from the bar, one token equals one half pint (or one soft drink). No hot beverages, no pies, no sweets, no wine, maybe just a bag of beer nuts for a quid to encourage more drinking. Basically eliminate all aspects of fannying around that bring catering queues everywhere else in the ground to a standstill and have a huge impact in turnover. Only one name for such an establishment: Fanny's Bar.

2. Seafood Bar - genuine high-end champagne 'n' seafood bar, for those with very deep pockets or very generous expense accounts. No penny-pinching on using barely-trained staff, offer a GENUINE corporate level dining experience so nobody comes away feeling vaguely cheated.

I'm sure there's many other options. At the moment though, that bar is neither one thing nor another.

 

[Ernest]

Seems to me there's (at least) a couple of money-spinning options:

1. Ale House - equivalent of the outside Harveys bar, but run along the lines of a beer festival. You buy beer tokens well away from the bar, one token equals one half pint (or one soft drink). No hot beverages, no pies, no sweets, no wine, maybe just a bag of beer nuts for a quid to encourage more drinking. Basically eliminate all aspects of fannying around that bring catering queues everywhere else in the ground to a standstill and have a huge impact in turnover. Only one name for such an establishment: Fanny's Bar.

2. Seafood Bar - genuine high-end champagne 'n' seafood bar, for those with very deep pockets or very generous expense accounts. No penny-pinching on using barely-trained staff, offer a GENUINE corporate level dining experience so nobody comes away feeling vaguely cheated.

I'm sure there's many other options. At the moment though, that bar is neither one thing nor another.

Don't forget the STRIPPERS and a pound for an EXOTIC dance behind the curtain, that would pack them in

 

[Ernest]

Instead of making it a members bar , charge a fee say £20 to go in and make it consumable so basically you have 5 pints at least before and after and if you want more you pay on top and if you drink less or eat less than £20 tough luck.

 

[Surf's Up]

Don't forget the STRIPPERS and a pound for an EXOTIC dance behind the curtain, that would pack them in

No-one would go to the football though

 

[pishhead]

Did the club genuinely believe that people would pay the membership fee? If they did then the person who made that decision shouldn't be in a position to make such decisions. In any fantasy world how the club thought this would work really beggars belief. It's like if Wetherspoons were to sub contract out half their pub to an independent company who sold the exact same products at double the price in the exact same surroundings with the same clientele and then wondering why people weren't using it.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Did the club genuinely believe that people would pay the membership fee? If they did then the person who made that decision shouldn't be in a position to make such decisions. In any fantasy world how the club thought this would work really beggars belief. It's like if Wetherspoons were to sub contract out half their pub to an independent company who sold the exact same products at double the price in the exact same surroundings with the same clientele and then wondering why people weren't using it.

Probably aimed at the people daft enough to buy seat licences

 

[dylan_bha]

For all you saying it should be an adults only bar - there is already one of those! Also pubs and restaurants make much more profit selling soft drinks than they do selling pints of beer!

As people are hinting there must be another motive here as last season it was full every game with plenty queuing outside waiting to get in. My big issue with them taking it away is they have not replaced it with anything that is suitable for those with kids or older fans who would like to sit down whilst having a beer. The club keep asking us to arrive early before games but unless you want to drink real ale, standing up whilst watching a band do their soundcheck whilst hoping that you or your kids don't need a pee then it really is limited. The club could quite easily do so much more and earn good money at the same time

 

[Brovion]

I'm sure they have much acumen any more. They've scrapped individual player kit sponsorships this season. Previously this meant £600 per player, per home and away kit, so £1200 per player. The benefit, your (company) name in each program by a photo of the player, same on the seagulls website and 2 seats at the end of season awards dinner. Let's say 25 players/management had both home and away sponsors, £30k raised.

Now the offer is to be a generic match kit sponsor for each home match, the cost is £1200, making £27600 for the season (23 games). In return you get a meal for 4 in the Harry Bloom lounge, as well as 2 seats at the end of season awards dinner. There wasn't a kit sponsor for last nights game, so that's £1200 off the amount raised for the year, and a further 11 games still don't have a kit sponsor.

So the new offer probably can't possibly make the same amount as the old offer regardless, and it's going to cost the club more with the additional hospitality.

On the face of it that does seem a bit self-defeating (if the object of kit sponsorship is to raise money). Do you think it could be an image thing? Maybe the club thought that having all those "Me and My Mate Plumbers Ltd" adverts in the programme and on the site looked a bit non-league; i.e. the sort of thing the club did in the old days at Withdean when a grand meant a lot. Maybe the club wanted to move away from people who were basically fans paying a few hundred pounds to see their names in the programme (week after week!) towards richer corporate clients. They feel it might be worth taking a hit this year in the hope of increased revenue next - and losing all the small-fry butcher, baker and candlestick maker types into the bargain.

Ditto the Seven Stars bar. Ok, it's not working out for them this year (so far), but I reckon they're hoping that when word gets around that there's a sort of cheapo corporate lounge available they'll soon be selling high-priced alcohol and charging people for the privilege of buying it!

 

[beorhthelm]

Seems to me there's (at least) a couple of money-spinning options:

1. Ale House - equivalent of the outside Harveys bar, but run along the lines of a beer festival. You buy beer tokens well away from the bar, one token equals one half pint (or one soft drink). No hot beverages, no pies, no sweets, no wine, maybe just a bag of beer nuts for a quid to encourage more drinking. Basically eliminate all aspects of fannying around that bring catering queues everywhere else in the ground to a standstill and have a huge impact in turnover. Only one name for such an establishment: Fanny's Bar.

if you're going with tokens, no reason why two cant be a pie or wine and so on, the cash handling or card processing is one of the biggest delays.

make me wonder just why they cant get service better elsewhere, range is not wide. maybe the token can have some tick boxes for the beer/pie/crips selected, they put it in like a lotto ticket, take your cash while someone else brings forward the order.