So would we all mate believe me… but if the club can extract extra funds to buy better players by using revenue from The Locker then this is another way to top it up surely.
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See my earlier post. Who is going to use The Locker, especially on a school night, instead of their local. A trip to the boozer is a ‘dying art’ anyway, especially for over priced beer and probably needing a taxi home?
I know exactly what you’re saying, I actually use The Railway pre match as the beer prices are so much cheaper, and they are building a new bigger Social club on the strength of it.
I’m not saying I don’t use The Locker, but I spend more money in The Railway because of value for money.
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I thought it was being used for private hire and exhibitions .isn’t it I enquired recently about holding a Walsall fc celebration promotion party there .but they wanted to know what dates .which I though was a bit odd asking me .Im waiting for them to get back to me .
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If a lived within walking distance of Bescot. I would have watched the fight there on Saturday and maybe the football on Sunday too but lets be realistic the only reason any of us go to the Bescot area is on a matchday is to watch our beloved Saddlers. The Locker has been a very welcome addition to that matchday experience but very few of us live close to the ground these days and we wont be heading there for any other reason. It has very little to do with price of beer or the £5 matchday fee for non members. Its all about the location and its going to take some very imaginative and clever thinking by the club to make it profitable on a non matchday.
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To right mate they are taking the **** always get together with immediate family couple weeks before Xmas for a get together meal at a pub 6 adults two teenagers .nothing grand go withe Sunday lunch carvery or Xmas pub offerings or main menu we’re all driving so couple drinks each maybe only the kids went. 3 course .this year with a tip an extortionate £450 .and a pretty average experience at that. Top earner with a big bonus picked the bill up .like you say becoming a luxury most people can’t afford .country has gone mad .
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It has huge car park right by it and easy transport links either the train station buses and m6
Whack some good quality gigs on
Show you can run Them well alot of people will come
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I was called negative when these plans were being made, for saying I would rather we spent 300K on a striker than an old club for somewhere else to drink on a match day at the ground.
The counterpoint to this was that “this place will be making us money 7 days a week!” and that it was going to be some bistro/restaurant/corporate event centre/sports bar/craft brewery/wedding venue/God Knows What.
I said I hope so, because I have knowledge in this industry, I have seen the finances of pubs and clubs in the local area and it isn’t pretty. In fact, it’s not pretty across the industry as a whole. Drinking habits have changed. Unless you have a solid customer base built up over literally decades, you better have a USP or a /God Knows What, because just being a bar doesn’t really cut it anymore. Much less in an area of very limited foot fall, with no other amenities close by other than a clapped out retail park and a football ground open 9 months of the year and every fortnight.
The result was, in my opinion, a basic refurb, with an uncomfortable and cold look, bizarrely based on a garage. And people go “well what did you expect! It was never going to be a bistro/restaurant/corporate event centre/sports bar/craft brewery/wedding venue/God Knows What! Its just somewhere to buy a pint on a match day! 
”
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It’s future as a revenue generator has to be as an event space. Private hire, trade exhibitions, corporate gatherings etc. Which would explain the big roller shutter door.
I think the midweek sports bar that we have seen recently is just them testing the water (the odd sports event may make profit possibly England games at the Euros). Local music gigs and comedy gigs some live boxing/MMA events could be decent add ons.
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Hmmm yeah this is exactly the talk I’m on about where people flip flop between it being a smart investment revenue wise to just a pint on a Saturday anyway.
I think they got the fit right for a multi purpose venue. It is cold and plain when empty but when packed on a matchday I thought it was a vibrant good space.
No idea what the market is like for events and exhibitions etc but if there is no money or demand for those then as a bar it will take a lifetime to get a return on the investment.
Hmm. Do you mean vibrant or do you mean full of people going to the match? Because it was always going to look busy on a match day, I never denied that. They could have opened it in it’s original state and people would have gone there rather than queue for half an hour in a bar behind the goal. I honestly don’t get it, and as I say I deal with a lot of these places. It looks like they’ve gone for the “craft beer” look, with group benches and big plain walls and … well the aesthetics of a garage. Cool if that’s what you do (which isn’t charge nearly 6 quid a pint for craft btw), but will it draw people in on a week night or will people want to use that space for events? Over much more convenient locations or stylish places? Not convinced. Never mind just be somewhere people go casually.
I can MAYBE see gigs and music events in there. But if you are taking my word on what state the Pub industry is in at the moment, I won’t burst your bubble by telling you the state small gig venues are in.
Yes, totally agree on the state of the pub industry and small gig venues. Been to lot’s of trade shows and the like and they charge fortunes for exhibition space so can see that being a viable use.
People obviously make the vibrancy so to speak but the Locker in my opinion helps. Big and spacious, high ceiling. For me it works. It couldn’t just have been opened in it’s existing state as it was in disrepair so needed work of somekind anyway. At the very least in my experience it has added to the much vaunted matchday experience which does matter to me anyway.
Time will tell on it’s financial success.
Maybe they can charge £20 to get in,or make it more realistic by putting on bands/comedians etc like the old supporters club used to. Let’s face it nobody is going to go there for a fight that starts at about midnight are they? They’re lucky as far as the advertising screen goes in the position they’re in,but unlucky as far as footfall for the locker is concerned,if it was close to the town center then maybe,but it’s an unremarkable venue in the middle of nowhere? No chance!
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I was being facetious about how desperate some people are for a quick pint on a match day 
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I remember years ago Mick Kearns used to arrange Tea Dances during the day and they were very popular with older citizens. I suppose today you would look at putting on Strictly come dancing type of events; lessons, competitions which may prove popular with todays retired generation looking for something to do and keep fit. Agree with other posters that getting people to use The Locker as a drinking, wathcing sport venue is going to be hard work. The Stadium is out on a limb and the I would say a big percentage of the people who live around there don’t drink. Improved public transport may help but it would have to be targetted and very reliable. The Train station at Bescot is in need of a major upgrade which I can’t see happening any time soon.
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Just for balance, it’s currently under consideration for our company to host an upcoming corporate event there. When you take into consideration the location and upkeep of other similar venues in the area, it actually scores pretty well.
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Out of interest, why the locker as opposed to The Stadium Suite etc. I drove past the ground on the way to Moms earlier and there were lots of cars parked there, as seems to be the case most times I pass.
Isn’t the locker and the suites competing for the same market in general?
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Product based launch and the access is better in there for what we need to get in and out.
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Really? I’ve always thought of our ground (never mind just The Locker) as really out of the way and a bit of a dead area generally to be honest. I’m not saying it’s not true, that just surprises me.
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