For it to be a rum festival I expect two things. Decent rum and a festival atmosphere.
Ok, I expect more than that but that’s my starting point. The other things are hardly worth mentioning, you know, simple things llike knowledgeable bar staff, effecient service, friendly banter etc. Get that at your pub anyway right?
What we actually got here was this:
£11.25 to get in. £5 per 25ml shot once you are in. A choice of approximately 20 rums, 2 of which I would say were half decent. The best one (the Dictador 12 yr old) sold out after the first hour.
6 deep at both of the two tiny bars for most of the two painful hours we spent there.
You have a massive hall with two, tiny bars selling bad, overpriced booze and awful tinny music playing too quietly in the background.
It was like going back to Jesters in 2004.
Awful. Shocking. What a massive waste of a good opportunity.
I am currently sat at home sipping a large Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva… Miles better than the cheap rubbish they were peddling at the Guildhall (they went for the cheaper Diplomatico).
I’ll stick some Bob Marley on the Sonos and wonder why the hell I bothered.
What I’m drinking = £32 per bottle £1.14 per shot.
Hey! A bit of respect for my old work place. It’s an architectural gem. The glass zodiac signs in the bar wood pannelling, art deco lamps, the ceiling and mosaics. Sadly it’s been battered by load in and outs of music equipment and they’ve not sorted the toilets out. The o2 run it now and apart from the bars being changed (the curved bars were a nightmare for speedy service and it’s where they make the money) the rest appears to have stayed the same.
The problem with the Guildhall, (architectual gem or not) is it’s got no atmosphere or vibe whatsoever. It never has done.
The acoustics are shocking … easily remedied (if anyone cared), according to my sound engineer friend, with the use of some strategically placed acoustic damping.
The bar’s a joke, the staff are worse, the council don’t give a fuck as long as it’s booked out and the promoters (o2) don’t give a fuck as long as the tickets sell, which they inevitably do, being the only 1000+ venue in town.
The civic design for Southampton is as a city of commerce. Subsequently the arts come very low in the councils priorities and anything they contribute towards it’s cultural well being is little more than a token gesture.
Which does kinda back up the jist of Barrys argument in his famous ‘spinnaker tower’ thread, I suppose
the council have very little to do with it as it was privatised a long time ago. Re staff and bars - give the management feedback otherwise it won’t change.