[Albion] New proposed fan zone

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

All men play on 10!

Whereas half the East Stand leave on 80

 

[sagaman]

The inadequate staffing and service is currently really poor in the stands and 1901 for well rehearsed reasons.

How this new zone will be staffed is my question?

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Prepare to be astonished then.

There is absolutely no chance the club decide to close the concourse at full time due to the fanzone being built. Zilch.

How many catering staff stay behind after the match? 100? And that’s probably being generous. They’re probably on £11 an hour and it stays open for what? 3 hours? 4? 100 people x £11 x 4 hours is £4,400. It’s such an inconsequential amount of money for what the club get in return.

If you really think the club are going to close the concourse at full time, missing out the revenue in generates and making the transport issues even worse because Dicks Bar is moving 500 yards then I want some of what you’re smoking please.

Unless you have some inside information, you can’t possibly state that there’s ’zilch’ chance of a reduction in concourse facilities. Bars being consolidated and reducing staff costs are surely among the benefits to the club of the fan zone. We’ve heard nothing about size or capacity of the new facility but It seems very obvious to me that not only will a lot of people who normally hang around on the concourses move to the fan zone — but that this is actually the intention. I don’t know how many staff are employed in the stadium so I’m not going to copy your back-of-fag-packet financial analysis, but it’s very obvious that a dwindling clientele will instantly make the stadium bars much less economical to keep open. The fan zone is clearly very much bigger than Dick's Bar so to make the fan zone profitable you need to get far more people to drink there than do now at Dick's. They will undoubtedly get some new post-match customers, especially when it first opens, but otherwise, the club aren’t going to keep supporting more bars than they need to.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

PBOBE's programme notes from yesterday explain that "The facility will also be ideal and primed for non-matchday activities, whether it's for match screenings, fan events, or use by the local community, including our university neighbours." [my bold]

Perhaps the residents of Coldean Village could reconsider their objections given they might be able to benefit from Uncle Tony's latest largesse.

No more fan forum riff raff risk in the lounges

 

[Brok]

As someone famous once said...

"You can please most of the people some of the time, but you can't please some of the people most of the time. And some moaning bleeders you can never please, any of the time."

Or something like that, anyway.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Great idea - anything that helps keep people behind post match is a good idea

Personally think it's a shame that Dick's will 'close' (move) but I guess that will become another corporate lounge.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Unless you have some inside information, you can’t possibly state that there’s ’zilch’ chance of a reduction in concourse facilities. Bars being consolidated and reducing staff costs are surely among the benefits to the club of the fan zone. We’ve heard nothing about size or capacity of the new facility but It seems very obvious to me that not only will a lot of people who normally hang around on the concourses move to the fan zone — but that this is actually the intention. I don’t know how many staff are employed in the stadium so I’m not going to copy your back-of-fag-packet financial analysis, but it’s very obvious that a dwindling clientele will instantly make the stadium bars much less economical to keep open. The fan zone is clearly very much bigger than Dick's Bar so to make the fan zone profitable you need to get far more people to drink there than do now at Dick's. They will undoubtedly get some new post-match customers, especially when it first opens, but otherwise, the club aren’t going to keep supporting more bars than they need to.

I'm with you on this.

But I can see it be more like they keep one bar per stand open for half an hour and then invite you to go to the fanzone, or the north which I reckon they will keep open as they do now

 

[Jeep]

Looks like pl application BH2020/00919 was a prior planning approval for a simple version of this. They use the word fanzone, relocate the bike racks and got consent for a couple of kiosks.

 

[BNthree]

Yup, I am using the stands.
North West being at the corner of North and West stands.

Not much room outside the NW corner as that’s where the stairs are?

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

The inadequate staffing and service is currently really poor in the stands and 1901 for well rehearsed reasons.

How this new zone will be staffed is my question?

Let's get it past the planning stage first!

 

[Bob!]

Not much room outside the NW corner as that’s where the stairs are?

Stop being obtuse

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Knowing the Council planning department it will take weeks for the application to be registered, let alone a decision being made.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

I think some people may underestimate how many people use Dick’s Bar post match. I can’t remember a competitive game (bar some midweek late kick offs) where it hasn’t been full or close to full in there after a game. I would imagine most of this clientele are in there waiting for queues and traffic to die down, or Dick’s has become a big part of their match day routine which they now stick to. These people will likely transfer themselves to the new FanZone, though if it’s not warm some of the older folk may give it a miss. With this in mind, and with the likely added interest of many others who don’t normally use Dick’s (families with kids, younger blokes expecting something more lively etc.), I really hope the capacity is going to be considerably bigger than the current capacity of Dick’s Bar.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

I think some people may underestimate how many people use Dick’s Bar post match. I can’t remember a competitive game (bar some midweek late kick offs) where it hasn’t been full or close to full in there after a game. I would imagine most of this clientele are in there waiting for queues and traffic to die down, or Dick’s has become a big part of their match day routine which they now stick to. These people will likely transfer themselves to the new FanZone, though if it’s not warm some of the older folk may give it a miss. With this in mind, and with the likely added interest of many others who don’t normally use Dick’s (families with kids, younger blokes expecting something more lively etc.), I really hope the capacity is going to be considerably bigger than the current capacity of Dick’s Bar.

What is the current capacity of Dick's?

 

[Colonel Mustard]

I think some people may underestimate how many people use Dick’s Bar post match. I can’t remember a competitive game (bar some midweek late kick offs) where it hasn’t been full or close to full in there after a game. I would imagine most of this clientele are in there waiting for queues and traffic to die down, or Dick’s has become a big part of their match day routine which they now stick to. These people will likely transfer themselves to the new FanZone, though if it’s not warm some of the older folk may give it a miss. With this in mind, and with the likely added interest of many others who don’t normally use Dick’s (families with kids, younger blokes expecting something more lively etc.), I really hope the capacity is going to be considerably bigger than the current capacity of Dick’s Bar.

Agreed, or perhaps it will be big enough to have a quiet bar where Old Codgers' like me can sit in comfort and peace, enjoy a pint of Harveys and watch the late match.

PS I don't for one moment expect this to happen, nice though it would be. I wanted to meet up for a drink with an old work colleague after the Liverpool game but I wasn't permitted to use his lounge after the game, I knew Dick's would be rammed as usual, and standing around in the draughty concourse didn't appeal. So we ended up not bothering. It was a shame.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

What is the current capacity of Dick's?

Would be interested to know!

 

[Coldeanseagull]

What is the current capacity of Dick's?

At least a quarter of 'em in my experience

 

[chaileyjem]

Say 5,000 currently stay post match for boozing, or even if you halve that, there’s no way the new FanZone could accommodate those numbers. To benchmark, the much larger Wembley BoxPark holds 2,000. The concourse bars post match will remain, but I wonder if they’ll close some of the kiosks if they kind demand plummets.

In the interview on Albion Unlimited - Barber talks of the capacity being 1000+

 

[Milano]

The idea is fantastic. Barber refers to Boxpark in Albion Unlimited, I would hope this is similar in as far as it’s an ‘inside’ venue, closed off from the elements, however all those pictures appear to show a covered but ‘outside’ venue, well for 80% of an average football season that would be shit.
I also hope that like Dick’s it will be free to enter.

 

[peterward]

Yes it's a new corporate area above the North, just what's needed to help the atmosphere

"Whose the wa**er in the suit"