Answers still needed on running of the Old Bar

The start of semester two was heralded with the news that DCU’s only student bar would be open once again. However, our hopes that DCU would be injected with some life were soon dashed when we learned that it would only be open on Tuesday nights.

While other universities and colleges enjoy a healthy social life, DCU is floundering in a sea of sobriety. Questions must be asked about why other student bars are not experiencing the same difficulties as DCU.

The fact that a full-time university like DCU only has a part-time student bar is bewildering. DCU has nearly 7,000 full time students, 10,000 overall if you include part-time and Oscail students. NUI Maynooth, on the other hand, hosts a mere 5,500 and continues to run a successful student bar.

Perhaps Trispace (the management of both student bars at DCU) and DCUSU should take note from the Pavilion Bar in Trinity College which is run by the Dublin University Central Athletics Club (DUCAC).

The Pav, as it is more widely known, is comparable to the Hub in that it is a multi purpose building with the bar acting as the central source of profit. This profit amounted to €116,000 in the last financial year. According to Trinity News, this profit will be used to fund an €800,000 redevelopment of the Pavilion. Proof indeed, that student bars can still be profitable and competitive even in these tough economic times.

The student bar is supposed to be a place to socialise and relax, a place to congregate between and after lectures. However, the part-time closure of the bar comes as no surprise as the future of the student bar has been in doubt for some time now.

The closure of the Old Bar and the opening of its replacement the Nu Bar at the beginning of the 07/08 college year proved unpopular with many of the students. Those of you who remember the Old Bar on Tuesday nights will agree that the Nu Bar failed to live up to the high standards set by its predecessor.

However, for all of its flaws, the Nu Bar did provide a full time student bar with decent grub. Midday opening times made it perfect for gathering with friends between lectures – an ideal setting for a liquid lunch.

Back in the days when I was an innocent first year, €3 Tuesdays were the weekly highlight of DCU’s social calendar. This promotion ended at the end of the 2006/2007 academic year and was replaced with €4 Tuesdays in the Nu Bar.

This was not such an appealing ‘promotion’ when cheaper poison could be found in several nightclubs in town.

Most students who returned to DCU this year expected improvements in the bar. Indeed, we were greeted with the news that the Old Bar was back, though my own excitement was quashed when I received scant change from my first round of drinks.

Blame should be placed on Trispace for this, rather than the old reliable: the recession.

In last December’s issue of the College View, DCUSU President Niall Mc Clave stated that the dwindling numbers of students drinking in the student bar was a “general sign of the economy”. This has obviously puzzled Trispace, who continue to wonder why students refuse to spend their cash in the Old Bar, when cheaper alternatives can be found elsewhere.

The College View also reported that Trispace had suffered substantial financial losses. You don’t need to be Eddie Hobbs to realise that by lowering prices, students will have more of an incentive to spend and thus increase the profits of the Old Bar. Students are still drinking – they’re just taking their business elsewhere.

It seems that the DCU Students’ Union has done it’s best to retain some sort of social aspect in university life and the buck now stops with the bar management.
So is the pint glass half-full or half-empty? Half empty of course.

DCUSU has secured the return of ‘Super Tuesdays’ and this could restore some credibility to our student bar. One night a week, with some high profile acts and half-decent drinks promotions could be the perfect ingredients for a ‘Super Tuesdays’ cocktail.

It’s not quite what DCU students hoped for, but the news should be the shot of adrenaline the university’s social scene needs.