Myself and some Gateshead supporters are thinking about owning a pub in Gateshead to help raise the profile of the club. How do other clubs feel about this? Unfortunately the pub in mind is not near the ground but in the town centre but it seems that this is the only problem with the pub in question.
Would away fans be willing to go to this pub before or after the game? It is easy to get to.
Are there any other clubs who have a pub away from the ground advertising the club and there home games?
Some fans might be prepared to do this but i think most fans would prefer something at the ground. I for one prefer to have a drink at the ground or a pub next to the ground.
This is another problem of playing at the International Stadium. The nearest place to go is McDonalds, however I don't think anyone has tried to get them to sponsor us. Not knowing the surrounding area much I have no idea where the nearest pub to the ground is but it must be a fair distance away.
To be brutally honest Alan, the area around the IS isn't exactly the most welcoming of places. (Probably why they've spend years knocking everything down round there).
The 'supporters business' is an idea that has done the rounds at a few NE clubs lately and seems the way to go. Best of luck!
But Alan - would you really trust Gibbo to handle your hard-earned profits?
Don't Emley run a pub in the centre of Wakefield as a means of raising money for the club and increasing its profile to the local community???
Al, if you can persuade the female bar staff from baja and buffalo joes to work at your pub then i'm sure you'll have no problems in attracting clientele....
Why dont you reovate the pub out side the stadium what with a new housing development, all the attractions of the stadium and not a public house around for miles.
the enquiry was made by one of the supporters and it is being knocked down by the council as part of the "excellence of sport centre" they are building. They're turning it into a car park. Makes sense huh?
Yes Emley run the pub which is actually in the corner of the ground. The lease was available and we took it on because people could go into the pub and basically watch the match from the bar.
The other reason is that we tendered for running the bars in the executive boxes behind the goal last summer but lost out. This meant that we didn't get any profit from the bar takings.
Running our own pub which is open before and after the games allows us to make some profit, although doubt we will see any financial accounts.
Not sure how often it is open though, possibly only on matchdays. It's a long way for me to travel to it on the off chance. If that is the case not sure it will raise the awareness that we play in Wakefield.
By the way, what has happened to Bishop Auckland and Ossett Town this season vindicates our decision to move to Belle Vue. If we had stayed at the Welfare ground we would have ben out without a doubt. Our old ground wasn't a patch on Ossett's.
That doesn't mean that we couldn't have explored other options for developing the Welfare but the trustees and cricket club didn't seem to want to negotiate and we didn't have anyone who had recently won a BIG jackpot on the lottery.
Finally, did anyone out there here that early in the new year we were investigating an option to go to the Dewsbury Rams ground. It was secret (ish) at the time
but it was subsequently reported in the Huddersfield Examiner. Nothing came of it though. I also believe that Osset Town were discussing it ... if they had followed this through they would be up now (if the Unibond management committee had allowed it!)