Play for free to keep a venue open....

[Wombat]

We, could have done that one for you as we’re in Bromley! We would have played to the 3 people and our fans would have only been 30 miles away!

[Dan Dare]

58 minutes ago, TimR said:

My worry is everyone is getting lazy and expecting the bands to bring punters and that a few words on a facebook/instagram/tic tok etc will draw people away from Saturday night TV, takeaway pizza and beers from the fridge. 

 

Our local pub has shut down due to a number of issues. The first was a miserable landlady. The second was cleanliness. The third was some undesirable bar hugging locals who thought they owned the pub. The fourth was a lack of good quality food that was available when people want to eat (regardless of price). 

 

21 minutes ago, chris_b said:

We were a popular cover band from SW London and were offered a gig in darkest Kent. When we turned up the landlord said, "I hope you're going to bring a good audience!!"

 

Much in the above comments. Many pub guvnors are not the brightest and/or lazy. They expect to simply open the doors and have the place rammed every night without doing anything.

 

A band I dep' for occasionally played a pub in North London recently. I turned up first and my heart sank - a dozen or so morose locals sitting about, a few guys playing pool and zero atmosphere. The landlady, all teeth and t1ts, was holding court to a couple of her mates at one end of the bar.

 

The band arrived, we set up and started playing. A few more people came in and some listened/stayed, but most punters ignored us. No biggie. The band is decent - plays classic soul, R&B and similar - and goes down well in most places. We're all well past the first flush of youth and know what we're doing.

 

When we took our break, the landlady approached. "Where's your following?", she enquired. "I expected you to bring an audience".

 

"Did you advertise or put the word out that there would be live music?", we asked. She pointed to a chalkboard on the pavement outside and then started talking about reducing the fee. A frank discussion ensued. It was obvious she expected a band to magically bring hundreds of people to her glum establishment without her making any effort. We got paid in the end, but I doubt the band will be asked back.

[Len_derby]

One thing I’m noticing is that the newer generation of pub landlords reflect, as you’d expect, the preferences of their own age-group. Music doesn’t play as big a part in their lives as it used to for older people and going to see live music, apart from maybe a festival, just isn’t on the radar and never has been.

A case in point is the pub we played last Saturday. The bar manager is in his thirties and runs the pub for his mum, who’s the licensee. He’s a lovely fella and runs a good pub, but he doesn’t know his Chuck Berry from his Chuck Norris.

[chris_b]

We used to play a lot of O'Neil's pubs and one landlord told us, "It's the pub's job to get them in, it's your job to keep them here."

 

Fair enough. We were good at that, but the people they hired as landlords started to change and the lazy element became more common.

[Jackroadkill]

6 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

We were a popular cover band from SW London and were offered a gig in darkest Kent. When we turned up the landlord said, "I hope you're going to bring a good audience!!"

 

Who travels for an hour to see a cover band! We played to 3 disinterested people. He had no customers and thought we would fill the pub. . . . when we were 60 miles away from our base!!

 

That's incredibly annoying, that sort of thing.  It's lazy and disrespectful - after all, the band do the work and the landlord (if the gig's been properly promoted) takes whatever profit the band's performance brings in.