POLL: Music pubs near me are changing

[Happy Jack]

Partly driven by idle curiosity, but also by my experiences over the last 10 years.

And this is multiple choice, i.e. you can tick more than one box if you want.

Edited February 10, 2015 by Happy Jack

[Nicko]

You missed the boxes

"Pubs near me are mainly shut down"

"Moving to open mike nights"

[Silvia Bluejay]

Yes, I would definitely add "Being turned into luxury flats after a newly moved-in neighbour complained to the Council and had them shut down" to the poll list.

[JTUK]

New pub venues are starting music nights all the time here...
If I compared pubs and venues from 20 years ago...which everyone
assumes was some golden age, then I'd say there are more and better
gigs around now. One or two absolute classic have gone for sure, and it
is those that people lament over, but there are two local towns to me...
that have about 15-20 gigs in them, each, over the weekend. And those
two towns aren't the biggest towns around.
Looking at a local gig guide for Kent, I'd guesstimate the county would easily
have 100 gigs per weekend... and that is just the ones that are advertised.
Many pubs do no more than FB and they are 'regular; so that it must work for them.

The problem is that the biggest venues might have closed but there are more places and
more bands out there, so the potential punter attendence is watered down by choice.
This is why fees have remained the same, pretty much, IMO, over 10 years.

[chaypup]

I'd agree with JTUK here, at least for Cardiff at any rate. There is more and more live music and of greater variety than I've ever seen before. Not just venues and pubs either but many restaurants are having regular bands as well as pop up venues and art galleries etc.

[BigRedX]

You missed out: Music pubs near me have never been better and it's never been easier to get a gig. I think in the four and a half years that The Terrortones have been going I've probably played more and on the whole better gigs than I did in the whole of the 30 years before that.

[Number6]

I live in the East of London and although some of the old haunts are closed we are seeing new pubs getting into live music so it's fairly vibrant.

[lurksalot]

I think the pay for a gig has come down a fair bit which often means that duo's, backing tapes , and acoustic sets are more common as it is less faff to a full 4/5 piece band set-up and a better pay day as there are less to share it with .

[Marvin]

Demographics...basically octogenarians don't frequent pubs, don't like anything but James Last - hence a real lack of venues, pubs etc.

[lojo]

You missed

New neighbours have moved into the square next to a pub that's been there for a few hundred years and playing amplified music since it was invented , have complained so much the nights logistics are getting harder

Landlord had to install double glazing , a porch, change end times , and no outside music in the summer

Even a pa singing gig on an early sat eve to a packed garden attrActed phone calls from the said neighbor , landlord asked the singer to go inside , but the sun was to hot for the punters to want to follow

[JTUK]

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1423595847' post='2686878']
I think the pay for a gig has come down a fair bit which often means that duo's, backing tapes , and acoustic sets are more common as it is less faff to a full 4/5 piece band set-up and a better pay day as there are less to share it with .
[/quote]
Only really happens round here if the pub can't fit in anything else. It takes a very rare duo to generate the numbers and interest
that a decent band can and should. There are one or two exceptions, of course.
Duos price is around £180 here and bands get upto £300 in the better pubs, but better draws do even better than that.

[pfretrock]

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1423638259' post='2687215']
New neighbours have moved into the square next to a pub that's been there for a few hundred years and playing amplified music since it was invented , have complained so much the nights logistics are getting harder

[/quote]

There was a petition about this (with the expected government response!)

[url="http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk./petitions/70689"]http://epetitions.di...petitions/70689[/url]

[Lozz196]

It seems to me that the pubs very near me now put on music/bands, but their customers don`t really care if the music is on or not. Hardly anyone watches the bands, virtually no-one applauds, but they keep on getting booked. And it`s a variety of styles, and all the bands are good. Every now & then a band really gets some good applause - I believe our very own Gary Macs DefunkT is one of them - but most seem to be virtually ignored.

[JTUK]

Lozz, this is strange as the acts are the draw here and after a slowish Jan, most pubs I've been to
have had very good crowds or at the very least encouraging.
As for applause and reaction, the best bands start off with a reaction that a lot of bands might be happy to end with
so I lay that point squarely at the bands feet, myself.
I can only really comment on how it seems to pan out around here but I make a point of seeing quite a lot of bands
even if a lot of it is actually social. I don't regard it as my fault as such, that the band might be just plain dull'n'boring

[Silvia Bluejay]

I think we're beginning to see a split between London and The Rest Of The Country. Quelle surprise.
Either Londoners are so spoilt for choice they end up not going anywhere and instead staying at home to watch something from Netflix, or they think that going to music pubs is sooo last century, dahling, or London councils are so cash-strapped they will find any excuse to close down pubs and sell the land to developers to build luxury flats for Middle Eastern and Chinese absentee buyers.

[neepheid]

I dunno where to start. None of the options in this poll are applicable to Aberdeen. We're spoiled up here with music venues which have house PA and backline and a separate circuit of pubs which put on cover bands who are expected to come fully equipped. We've never had it so convenient. We get paid peanuts as original bands, but hey ho.

[Drax]

Living in Broadstairs, we have the annual Folk Week which invades every single pub / hall / club, so live music (and it's ability to ring the tills) remains front of mind for landlords. It's a relatively small high st, but at least 3-4 pubs have live bands both Fri / Sat.

[lojo]

[quote name='Drax' timestamp='1423743988' post='2688466']
Living in Broadstairs, we have the annual Folk Week which invades every single pub / hall / club, so live music (and it's ability to ring the tills) remains front of mind for landlords. It's a relatively small high st, but at least 3-4 pubs have live bands both Fri / Sat.
[/quote]

Went there many years running , usually found the one or 2 bands I liked and followed them around, the kids also loved the precession (clarence).