[Travel] BHA in Philadelphia

[smillie's garden]

On my brief and only visit to Philly, I had a jimmy on the Liberty Bell pavilion during the wee hours (natch). I read that the bell ended up moving to new digs.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Funnily enough my only ever visit to Philly concept restaurant Passyunk Avenue (the one near the BT Tower) was before Palace away last season. Couple of Palace fans in there too.

Passyunk Avenue Cleveland St Fitzrovia London

Step through the front door and transport yourself to the neighborhoods of South Philadelphia without having to get on a plane or clear immigration. Enjoy the relaxed vibe, the frank and friendly hospitality in a venue that has been obsessively curated to mimic life in a Philly dive bar, which...

passyunkavenue.com

Great place to eat and hang out. We went there last summer before the Taylor Hawkins concert and sat watching the baseball for a couple of hours first. Love it.

 

[BrixtonBrighton]

Thanks for this everyone, really appreciate the advice and warm welcome back! Will check out that Irish place people have suggested, see how they go. UTA!

 

[BrixtonBrighton]

Just to close this out, Fado was a successful shout, thank you! They had 30+ TVs, 25 of which were showing the Six Nations to a packed pub of Irish but we spoke to the landlady and she flipped one of them over to the Albion. Another group got one turned to the Arsenal game so they can clearly show multiple matches. $4 Mimosas too, which got us off to a good start!

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Just to close this out, Fado was a successful shout, thank you! They had 30+ TVs, 25 of which were showing the Six Nations to a packed pub of Irish but we spoke to the landlady and she flipped one of them over to the Albion. Another group got one turned to the Arsenal game so they can clearly show multiple matches. $4 Mimosas too, which got us off to a good start!

One thing we don't really have in the UK, or at least not outside of London, is a really good sports bar. I'm sure one would do well in Brighton.

 

[Marlton and Hove Albion]

One thing we don't really have in the UK, or at least not outside of London, is a really good sports bar. I'm sure one would do well in Brighton.

I wonder it is because of the cost of broadcasting multiple events in the UK? US cost of broadcasting is very low and everything is on TV, very few rules around live content even in the local markets. Peacock show every EPL game and the cost is free for Cable subscribers + Rugby Union games. Funny enough, only Cricket is an add-on sub via Willow.

 

[albionalex]

I wonder it is because of the cost of broadcasting multiple events in the UK? US cost of broadcasting is very low and everything is on TV, very few rules around live content even in the local markets. Peacock show every EPL game and the cost is free for Cable subscribers + Rugby Union games. Funny enough, only Cricket is an add-on sub via Willow.

There are also a lot more sports in general. On pretty much any evening of the week there will be games on across NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, so if you go to a sports bar there will be something to watch.

In the UK, if there's no midweek Prem or CL/EL, there wouldn't be anything to watch, so a sports bar would be empty most weeks.

 

[Phoenix011]

One thing we don't really have in the UK, or at least not outside of London, is a really good sports bar. I'm sure one would do well in Brighton.

The Font in the Lanes has been reasonably good every time I've been, not sure if it's what you're wanting though.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

One thing we don't really have in the UK, or at least not outside of London, is a really good sports bar. I'm sure one would do well in Brighton.

I used to think the same - but Im not so sure anymore tbh, as much as I would love one to open. We just dont have the market down here.

As @albionalex mentions above, the range of sports over here during the week is limited (and the amount of people following them), and most EPL football fans would just head to their local pub if they wanted to watch a game. At least in London you have people from all over the world that will turn out to watch their teams no matter the time of day (case in point is Passyunk Avenue which is always full of Philly sports fans. Year round they have the Eagles, 76ers, Flyers, & Phillies) plus they do other events like film nights.

Every year me and a group of mates go down to Walkabout on West St for the Superbowl, and 4 or 5 years ago it was always rammed in there for the big game - you couldn't move for NFL fans. I couldn't make this years meet, but they still booked a booth and went along. My friend emailed me yesterday to say they needn't have bothered as the whole place was dead and barely anyone there (the covid effect?)

I think the only way a sports bar would work is if it was solely aimed at a certain market (like Passyunk Avenue) Eg: make it a specific US sports bar that is themed around the 4 big leagues, and basically show all the US sports programming that SKY / BT / Viaplay have on throughout the day (PFT, game highlights, Hockey Tonight etc), and it might do ok....but Im far from convinced.

I would love to be proved wrong though.