So whats the story with the DCU bar?

Joe5ie

Well?
Ive been hearing rumors about the old bar closing altogether and the new bar only opening on a tuesday?

what about 3 euro drinks?

Would make DCU a very dull place if this is true.

Matthewthebig

Waf

OldBar is not open as a bar. But some of it will be open for pool and arsing around.

NuBar will operate as normal, except opening late on Tuesdays. And the top of the venue will be opened as extra space.

Afaik

Alanthroneus

this was posted on life.dcu.ie

Yes, apologies for my lengthy absence - I was off in the real world dealing with various assorted rent/work/car issues.

Roysh, here is the deal with the bar, as I understand it.

The previous operators of the Old Bar (Mark Power Management) allowed their contract to expire at the end of last academic year. They stated that they were not interested in renewing the contract due to the extreme dip in sales.

This is true; I met Johnny one Monday night as he was closing the bar at about 10pm. When I asked why he was closing early, he said that they had taken in 70 euro since 5pm, not even enough to pay the bartenders' wages.

The Old Bar last year bled cash. The place was a ghost town every night of the week, apart from football matches, Toxic Tuesdays and major events. Even on 3 euro Tuesdays the place was empty until after 10pm, then filled up as people who had spent the evening drinking at home came over for the frantic final hour.

No management company in its right mind would take on a tender for a bar that opens from 5 til 11.30, 4 nights a week (with only one of them busy) and about a dozen special events throughout the year. It's a receipe for distaster; who could blame them?

Many ideas were bandied about - getting the Porterhouse to run the bar was one (interesting). Getting Barcode was another (potentially scary). But in the end a suitable candidate could not be found in time to begin the tendering process; with Trispace already showing interest, the descision was made to move operations to the nuBar.

Modifications are currently being made to the Venue so that the top of the Venue (the bit that's level with the street in the HUB) will be used as an extension to the nuBar, thus increasing its size. The lobby of the Old Bar will remain open, as will access to the pool tables. The main room of the Old Bar will not open (apart from large balls/events etc.).

The main room of the Old Bar will be made available for use by any club or society that books it. It can be used without opening the bar shutters, thus avoiding the need to hire barstaff.

Although I have to confirm this, it is my understanding that the entire HUB building is a licenced premises and therefore students should be able to bring their drinks across from the nuBar if they wish.

It's not an ideal situation to be sure, but it's pointless to open the Old Bar on a regular basis when there is absolutely no business there to merit its being open.

We will keep a close eye on how things go this year, and changes may or may not be made for next year depending.

More news as I get it,

Bob

Joe5ie

that doesnt sound so bad. If you are allowed bring drinks across to the pool section of the old bar, its pretty much the same thing and with the revolving doors it wont be freezing to walk across and get drinks.

Will there still be "toxic tuesdays" with 3 euro drinks?

Alanthroneus

yes afaik there will be

StickyMcGinty

brilliant.

i used to actually like going to DCU but now i'm delighted i'm out of there after this year. everything is a joke. How come every other student bar can stay open and remain profitable? are you telling me that a bar in a college with 10,000 students cant make money?

gizmo

VinnyL wrote:

How come every other student bar can stay open and remain profitable?

Because their students use the bar on a regular basis.

VinnyL wrote:

are you telling me that a bar in a college with 10,000 students cant make money?

Unfortunately yes, I also spoke with Johnny several times during the year and the story was always the same. This move doesn't surprise me in the least, as Bob said, no management company in their right mind would take on the bar if they saw those accounts. It's unfortunate that you're all left with is Trispace but at least they're better than nothing...

Alanthroneus

Well nobody was there all week, except from 10 till 11.30 on teusday night. so bar the events there was only an hour and a half of decent sales , A WEEK!!

so i can understand why they didnt want to continue with the bar

StickyMcGinty

its true students dont drink in the bar, but its not because they're all tea totallers. The old bar just needs to market to students better, if the porterhouse or barcode do take over the contract you can be sure there'll be money made as they know how to run a businness rather than some mickey-mouse management company

drink sells itself. irish students are probably the heaviest drinkers in the world. all DCU have to do is provide the premises and they cant even do that right.

Philthy

Now I'm really glad I'm finished with DCU. There was a brilliant atmosphere in the old bar when I was in first year in 2003. It started getting weird in second year and even though I paid for bar membership for 2005/06 and 2006/07, I can count on my fingers the number of times I was enticed through the doors in that time.

I think the bar needs more contact with the class reps. I spent a gruelling four years in AF. I can count on one hand the amount of sucessful get-togethers we had. Come to think of it, half of those were in town. Hmmm.

DCU is going rapidly downhill, and not just because of the bar. Lunch-time around campus is like a ghost town sometimes. It's just not an appealing place to hang around.

gizmo

VinnyL wrote:

its true students dont drink in the bar, but its not because they're all tea totallers. The old bar just needs to market to students better, if the porterhouse or barcode do take over the contract you can be sure there'll be money made as they know how to run a businness rather than some mickey-mouse management company

Any ideas on how they'd do that? (Not being sarcastic but I'd be interested to see what you think could actually be done that would guarentee an improvement in the bars business)

VinnyL wrote:

drink sells itself. irish students are probably the heaviest drinkers in the world. all DCU have to do is provide the premises and they cant even do that right.

Incorrect. The bar has been there in the same state for at least the last four years (i.e as long as I've been in college). In my first year there was always a decent crowd in the bar 4 days a week. After first year the numbers began dropping off significantly until we got to the situation this year when it was only ever busy from about 10pm on a Tuesday night for €3 drinks. Now look at what has changed...The bar? The management company? Nope and nope. Our drinking culture and our students are the only thing that has changed unfortunately and that has been reflected with the drop off in bar business.

StickyMcGinty

gizmo wrote:

Any ideas on how they'd do that? (Not being sarcastic but I'd be interested to see what you think could actually be done that would guarentee an improvement in the bars business)

right, just of the top of my head, how about having a look at The Pav in trinity.....

The DCU bar buys cans of beer in bulk at wholesale prices, serves them over the bar to students for a fixed price, which obviously is going to be much lower than the price of a pint. Make sure the profit margins cover wages and the other various costs associated with running a bar. Another benefit would be that there would be practically no queues at the bar, therefore less staff would be required to be working at one time, thus saving money.

Now some students would miss beer on tap, right? No chance. The beer on tap at the bar is muck anyway, and bottles are too expensive. Operate the same marketing campaigns as an off licence does - offer specials, promo's etc.

now i know there are disadvantages to this idea too, such as people trying to bring in their own cans.... but even if some people manage to slip into the bar with their own beer there'll be customers coming through the door which will in turn create a better atmosphere in the bar..... which will attract more customers.

just an idea anyway

Micko23

gizmo wrote:

Any ideas on how they'd do that? (Not being sarcastic but I'd be interested to see what you think could actually be done that would guarentee an improvement in the bars business)


Incorrect. The bar has been there in the same state for at least the last four years (i.e as long as I've been in college). In my first year there was always a decent crowd in the bar 4 days a week. After first year the numbers began dropping off significantly until we got to the situation this year when it was only ever busy from about 10pm on a Tuesday night for €3 drinks. Now look at what has changed...The bar? The management company? Nope and nope. Our drinking culture and our students are the only thing that has changed unfortunately and that has been reflected with the drop off in bar business.

Yes the bar hasnt changed and thats the problem. I dont claim to be an expert in management but its stupid to accept nothing can be done. Its a pricing issue. Cheap drink between, say, 9 and half ten will get people to come in and get them locked enough to stay. It works in a lot of places. One thing is for sure is that there is a market and that the one crucial thing you need to make a profit. And where are the students? We are up in res and in houses around dcu skulling cans into ourselves. Houses parties are cheaper but I'd definitely be down in the hub if drinks were cheaper early on and big crowds came in for wednesdays and thursdays.

gizmo

But look at Tuesdays, drink is cheap all day and it still doesn't entice people down?

Will

Its been said before that you make your own craic in dcu. Two years ago the christmas party was cancelled due to lack of sales. Wouldnt happen in any other college.
The bar needs to be refurbished, its like an old mans pub youd find in the back arse of nowhere. Bit of investment needs to go into it.
My idea would be to refurbish it totally. Make it more "cool" looking, more relaxed, we are students not old farts sitting by the bar sipping pints and talking about the good old days. The back end of the bar made into a chill out area, slightly raised off the ground. put down bean bags and coffee tables. Get rid of the old style bar tables and seats. Dare i say it bring it in the 90´s or even this century *gasp*
So much could be done with it, prime location in the dead centre of the college. I think it is down to the marketing of the bar. I feel there was no effort put in at all, just "ah f!ck it, theyre students they will come because theres beer" attitude. Alot of money to be made by the company who develops it...

jdivision

Micko23 wrote:

Cheap drink between, say, 9 and half ten will get people to come in and get them locked enough to stay. It works in a lot of places.

That's actually illegal. You can raise the price of drink over the course of a day but you cannot decrease the prices below what you were charging earlier that day.

TBH I was in old bar a couple of times this year and apart from the smoking area it's the exact same as it was when I was in first year in 1996. Even then it looked old.

gizmo

Wilburt wrote:

Two years ago the christmas party was cancelled due to lack of sales. Wouldnt happen in any other college.
The bar needs to be refurbished, its like an old mans pub youd find in the back arse of nowhere.

Have you seen the student bar in NUIG? It's basically a bigger version than ours, is harder to get around and on top of that is more expensive YET its always full of students.

Wilburt wrote:

Bit of investment needs to go into it.My idea would be to refurbish it totally. Make it more "cool" looking, more relaxed, we are students not old farts sitting by the bar sipping pints and talking about the good old days.

I think that's called the NuBar, and it's not too popular either.

Therein lies the problem, who can justify the cost of improving the whole place and spending a large amount of money in the process if there's no guarentee that the students will go and drink there.

df1985

to be honest i thought the old bar last year on a tuesday was savage craic,there most tuesdays and into coppers afterwards. but i can see why it didnt make money-the group i was with always drank in shanowen or somewhere till about half 10, then fell across into the bar.even then we wouldnt be buying drinks coz we'd usually have shoulders with us.a shame its not open this year. the last 3euro tuesday when chelsea dagger came on as the lastsong was one of the highlights of my time in dcu, complete mayhem.he had played total eclipse of the heart for some unknown reason but he got abuse until he played it. some of the barstaff were tryin to get people down off the stage and tables but it just wasnt happenin. RIP old bar.

Ice87

Last year I think I went into the old bar no more than five times..the place is a mess and it needs to be refurbished there's no doubt about that.Students aren't going to want to enter a place that isn't attractive..simple as!There's deffinitely money to be made from it wether our drinking culture has changed or not.

doonothing

i was in the old bar almost everyday... this sucks.
i dont think it's that it's unnattractive, i couldnt care less how pretty the place is once it sells cheap drink.
there should've been different promotions every day. monday 3 euro alcopops, wednesday 3 euro pints, thursday 3 euro shots etc.

Matthewthebig

NuBar wasn't all bad...

Needs better bar staff and more tills though

KenHy

Matthewthebig wrote:

Needs better bar staff and more tills though

That is the understatement of the century, It took forever to get drinks after about half nine. The only saving grace was that freshers didn't seem to understand the concept of push your way to the front, and preferred to try out that orderly queuing lark

Other than that it ws very good, good atmosphere and crowed, hopefully the bar staff wont drive freshers away.

gizmo

KenHy wrote:

That is the understatement of the century, It took forever to get drinks after about half nine. The only saving grace was that freshers didn't seem to understand the concept of push your way to the front, and preferred to try out that orderly queuing lark

Other than that it ws very good, good atmosphere and crowed, hopefully the bar staff wont drive freshers away.

Was this last night?

Shadowless

gizmo wrote:

Was this last night?

Yup, NuBar was wedged. 2/3 bar-staff serving and only one till. It's a disaster trying to get booze but good craic all the same. The upstairs bit in the venue doesn't seem to be open yet either so that might ease the pressure somewhat. If your headin over for €3 Tuesday tonight I'd recommend gettin the drinks in early because I can only see it being the same again if not worse.
Not a bad complaint to have though in fairness!

Darz0re

bring back the old bar!!! (and mark power)

:|

Yeah I was there last night but left cos I couldn'tget a drink. That place seriously needs to get more staff and tills, it was like the summer ball all over again.

We need the old bar!

public_enemy

I was in there earlier for 3 euro Tuesday and it really was quite poor. The New Bar is just way too small for the crowds that turn up and it was a complete squash, I really don't want to be there next week when everyone else comes back to college and wants cheap drink. There's no atmosphere in the place even with all the people crammed in, it just has a real cafe sort of vibe that doesn't work for those kind of nights. The staff aren't very good either and as there's no toilet inside, you have to leave the place, then join the queue to get in again when you're done and possibly be ID'd again.

The Old Bar certainly wasn't perfect, but at least it was fun

Alanthroneus

WOuldnt this be a ingenius idea. Make up stories of the bar closing, throw people in the new bar so they realise how bad it is. then reopen the old bar and students will turn up in droves in the hope of not losing it again.....

Matthewthebig

I think the steps in NuBar are also a problem, it creates a bit of a bottleneck.

I had to go in the gate at the back just to get to the smoking area.

Flashraziel

A few small events during the week could be fun. Maybe gamesoc could do a games tournament. Worked in Fibbers.

Wii Sports wednesdays, anyone?

and w00t 100 posts! only took 4 years!

rugbug86

wii sports wednesday would be great!! i heart the boxing!

public_enemy

Alanthroneus wrote:

WOuldnt this be a ingenius idea. Make up stories of the bar closing, throw people in the new bar so they realise how bad it is. then reopen the old bar and students will turn up in droves in the hope of not losing it again.....

:O

*crosses fingers*

And Games Soc does have a Wii now, this certainly sounds like a good way to use it

gizmo

Yea I must get that back to you guys.

Evangelion

gizmo wrote:

But look at Tuesdays, drink is cheap all day and it still doesn't entice people down?

But thats crap, thats the point. 3euro on tuesday, big freaking deal. 3 should be the max for any student bar for any drink. you can get that in clubs. sure you go the right time you can get it for e2.
Booze is too expensive, students drink most theyre booze at home.

When I was in 2nd year, Bavaria was e3 a pint (the only one that cheap) and in the slipper it was 3.10....but i didn't feel like i was catching a disease from something living in the woodwork.

also, the bar is badly designed, the divide in the middle segregates too much, and I think they got rid of some dividers and theres just nothing, no couches, nothing!!!

gizmo

Well first of all look at it from a management point of view. If they couldn't get people down to the bar on a Tuesday when drinks are €3 AND they're not making money as is, then how does it make sense finanically to have €3 drinks all the time?

Also, find me a bar in the country where the max price of drink is €3? I honestly doubt you'll find one. On the other hand find me a student bar who's prices are the same as us yet there are plenty of students in it, I'd say you'll find a good lot. As I said earlier, Galway's bar is the same, as ours albeit bigger, yet it has always been full when I was there.

As for the Old Bar being badly designed, hrm yes and no really. Those central partitions are load bearing so they can't be removed but on the other hand if they weren't there I think you'd be bordering on NuBar territory where the place is far too open/exposed and people don't feel comfortable standing around.

StickyMcGinty

13 euro bar membership yea? am i wrong or does all of this money go to the bar?

€13 X 8000 students (10,000 DCU students minus ones who didnt pay the 13 quid, i'm just guessing that 20% of students didnt join the bar) = €104,000 euro


where does this money go? surly the bulk of this money could be used to refurbish the bar. i know they call it "City Centre membership" or whatever vague name they use but since all i seem to get is a "Y" for bar membership on my card i presumed it was for the running of the 2 bars and the venue. so what % does the bar get? surely they can do up the bar out of this money

and considering it is our money we should be given an explaination of where its is going

gizmo

Short answer, no it doesn't all go to the bar afaik.

Long answer, I'm not sure. I got as breakdown of the figures last year but can't remember them now off the top of my head. As far as I know, the money goes to the Hub Management Committee who are the body which manages the entire Hub. From there the decisions are made on what to spend the money on.

Oh and on a side note, you'd be surprised at the number of students who aren't members of the bar.

Shadowless

Yup I'd I'd agree there's alot of students who don't bother.

Personally I don't mind the layout of the NuBar too much. I just wish they'd get in 2 more tills.

Regarding the €2/€3 drink thing Evangelion conveniently forgot to mention that any club selling drinks at these prices all night is charging at least €8 in at the door which would obviously be a horrible idea in the hub. It's just not feasible to be charging those prices more than one night a week.

davidorgan

But why have two student bars in the first place? Its just spliting up the students and making the bars only half full and have no atmosphere.

If the old bar was refurbished a bit and the nubar was turned into a cafe type place, then everyone would have to go to the old bar (and nobody would mind if it was refurbished) and the atmosphere would be much better which would in turn make more people want to go. Its a vicious and profitable cycle :P

:|

I don't mind as long as they rectify the situation with the tills asap, it's a joke trying to get a drink in the nubar.

rugbug86

yea, but a lot of people go to the new bar for a drink and a chat (well when the old bar was open) ever tried to have a chat in the old bar?! WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU. NO, I DONT WANT A BEER, I CANT HEAR YOU. etc

Matthewthebig

NuBar was fine last night. Swinging and no trouble getting a drink.

Kenny_D

Just out of curiosity, do most student bars around Ireland require membership?

dregin

I've never been stopped going into any.

Limerick Dude

Probably been asked a miiiilion times buuuuuut will they ask be for student id only when going into the nubar from now on?

Cos i have a few mates from DIT who came last week and they want to avail of the 3 euro tuesdays from now on

phreak

Limerick Dude wrote:

Probably been asked a miiiilion times buuuuuut will they ask be for student id only when going into the nubar from now on?

Cos i have a few mates from DIT who came last week and they want to avail of the 3 euro tuesdays from now on

you can sign non dcu students into the bar. Think you might be only able to sign one person in but i'm not 100% on that

:|

Yeah one person per person is the norm. But you can normally just go in and ask some friendly looking people to come out and sign the rest in

Arctic_Monkeh

Was at the freshers ball other night and trying to get a drink in the nubar was atrocious...could almost put me off going on a tuesday.:eek:

:|

Yeah, it's just ridiculous. If I go for toxic tuesday I'll probably just pre drink so I don't have to queue up, which defeats the purpose of cheap drink. I never pre drank for tuedays last year.

lego

I never go to the old bar in DCU, crap staff make for a crap atmosphere and a crap bar, no one wants to go somewhere where they are treated like s**t because they're students. I'm a regular in the Porterhouses in Glasnevin and Temple Bar. They have good staff, good beer and good service. They also do oktoberfest, Belgian beer festivals etc... If the Porterhouse ran the old bar like that I'd never leave the place! Its far too close to resist.

Caryatnid

I went into the bar today and as usual I took out my student card to get in.
The security guard wouldn't let me in because I AM NOT A MEMBER!!???
This is the despite the fact I
a) had my DCU student card
b) have paid the fees for the bar
and as an aside - c) the bar was half empty anyway

WTF is the story with that? He didn't tell me how I can 'become a member', and I didn't want to pursue it too much because I felt I was going to blow a fuse at him. How much more of a member do I have to be????