York gave up on bars
Charlotta Salmi questions why the University failed to take adequate measures in time to prevent the need for the impending bar closures
So, the university has finalised plans to cut opening hours of campus bars. As a Halifax student approaching the end of my second year at York, I feel sorry for those who will be arriving next term. After an exciting and lively Freshers’ Week they will be faced with the reality that the social life our university has to offer them is restricted at best. With limited access to the bars they will quickly discover that the alternatives in Heslington and York are more suited to their needs and will soon fit their social lives around non-campus bars instead. Wouldn’t it be nice if it took more than a week for students to become disenfranchised by the services provided for them by the University?
Despite the Commercial Services’ ‘concessions’ to keep all bars open at least a few nights pers week, the impending closures will threaten the collegiate system that lies at the centre of the University experience at York.
What could be more depressing to a new Langwith student than walking into their bar to find a dark, deserted room with a dark, deserted bar? Would you blame them for feeling a lack of allegiance to their college, or even the University?
So why did it have to come to this? Why are the bars making less than half of what they made two years ago? The University claims that it’s due to the changing drinking habits of students, but a quick look in the Charles will confirm that this is anything but the case. Students are drinking just as much as before; they just choose to do it elsewhere.
So the real reason why the campus bars are increasingly failing to attract students is that the University provisions are not offering what the students want. The University has spent time and money not just refurbishing the college bars but making them increasingly homogenized. With seven different bars there is enormous potential to create a varied social scene that could rival the allure of town. So why has Commercial Services insisted on having the same pricing structure, the same drinks on offer and the same décor in all the bars? It means that visiting one bar in an evening is essentially visiting them all and this naturally discourages students from spending an entire night on campus.
When the original proposal was released, the YUSU suggested alternative uses for less successful venues, such as turning Langwith into a juice bar. This would appeal to students who don’t necessarily want to drink alcohol but want to go out on campus, and as such the University could profit from a larger proportion of their students.
Not only would introducing clearly-defined themes to the other bars rejuvenate them individually, it would also add much-needed diversity to the University’s social structure as a whole. For instance, Wentworth could become a cocktail bar while Derwent could focus on live sports. This added variety would encourage more societies and sports teams to use campus rather than town for their socials, and as such the University could expect to see profits increase by far more than the required £50,000.
If the prospect of a campus-wide bar makeover seems daunting to the University’s financial outlook there are other concerns that could be more cheaply solved. Primarily, drinking on campus just doesn’t feel cheap. Is it coincidence that the shift in profitability coincided with a rise in prices two years ago that saw lager go from £1.40 to £1.60? Although it’s not a large increase, it’s the difference between being by far the cheapest student bar and being one of many cheap student bars.
The SU and University’s “Where will you drink this Friday?” campaign to show that drinking on campus is cheaper than in popular student bars was missing the point: no-one buys the same round in every bar they go to. Anyone who buys a pint in The Nag’s Head is either rich enough not to care or stupid. Students’ choices of drink are fuelled by promotions and this is what makes bars in town feel cheaper than campus.
The University should exploit this attitude by providing different deals in different bars. While they may call upon the new licensing laws to explain why this isn’t possible, they have managed to do a promotion on Lambrini recently. However, due to the unpopularity of this drink it was never going to be a success, and so the fact that they sold so few bottles doesn’t suggest that promotions are a bad solution.
There are of course other deals available. But what are they? We all know about the doubles for singles on vodka Red Bull, but why are there no posters in bars and kitchens publicising all this and any other cheap drinks?
The fact that none of these suggestions appear to have been explored before the decision was made to close bars leads us only to conclude that the University has given up before even trying to make college bars successful in terms of student satisfaction and profits.
