Pricing at Ewood.

[Hasta]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Still loads of pubs around Ewood. 

Err. Ok thanks.

Not much help at 3.45 on a match day ?

Edited August 20, 2019 by Hasta

[rigger]

Just now, Atko's Engine said:

Those at Hull, what are refreshment prices, variety & quality like? Good or not compared to Ewood?

A good pub at the corner of the park and the main road 

[Mattyblue]

Just now, Hasta said:

Err. Ok thanks.

Not much help at 3.45 on a match day ?

Was replying to tonygreenbank, he needs to get on Livesey Branch 

[tonygreenbank]

2 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Still loads of pubs around Ewood. 

My memory must be fading but I can’t think of loads of pubs apart from the Brown Cow and the one on the corner whose name I can never remember. But you’re right Matty in that there are match day alternatives in pubs.

My match day experience was the Manxman which was always packed on a Saturday so I never associated Livesey Branch Road as a goer!

[Mattyblue]

Fox & Hounds, Brown Cow, White Bull, Moorgate, Lord Raglan, Wellington and you can nip through to the Navigation at Mill Hill.

[MCMC1875]

On 20/08/2019 at 13:02, Hasta said:

Before kick off it's fine. You can just walk straight up more often than not. But at half time there is a huge demand.

At half time, when the majority of the orders are for one of 3 items, they should just be pouring pints and leaving them to stand at the back. You give your order, they turn around and grab what is there, you pay and away you go. It would be so much quicker. 

They have the machine which pours multiple pints at one time, but nearly every time I've tried pints from it, it is so off it tastes of vinegar. They have the technology but they obviously can't look after it well enough to use it.

Against Charlton, half of the problem was because people were going up and ordering 2 pint jugs only to be told they have run out of 2 pint jugs. The debate then ensues as to why they aren't allowed to have, in those circumstances, 2 pints for the same price as a 2 pint jug. People naturally think that's crazy and argue the toss. This delays things by a good minute.  Then the next person comes to the front and says "I'll have a 2 pint jug please..." and on it goes.

I accept that in a venue like that you are going to be paying over £4, and generally it's for something that is not the best. But at least make it so that you can actually get your hands on one without having to miss almost a quarter of the match !

I do struggle to accept how they can put the price of a pie up by 20% in the space of 10 weeks !!

The only thing I have seen recently to acknowledge the problem is the introduction of the bottle bar. Yes it's extortionate but at least you can get one in a reasonably speedy time. 

The vinegar taste is beer that has gone off.

[JHRover]

Despite the massive deterioration in pubs in Blackburn I still think that Ewood is relatively blessed with good numbers of proper pubs within a 10-20 minute walk. Can't think of many Championship grounds that have more. Hull is quite a good one but most of those pubs are quite grim. Preston has a load in the centre but not that many around the ground. Certainly a lot more options than the new grounds.

[DeeCee]

Is Ewood wmc still open? Aquaduct, Albion, Manxman all used to get good game revenue but sadly the pub trade is dying, especially for pubs of the aforementioned type.

Embrace your local, or lose it.

[MCMC1875]

59 minutes ago, DeeCee said:

Is Ewood wmc still open? Aquaduct, Albion, Manxman all used to get good game revenue but sadly the pub trade is dying, especially for pubs of the aforementioned type.

Embrace your local, or lose it.

 

On 11/08/2019 at 16:50, MCMC1875 said:

The WMC Supporters Group met last Wednesday and will be meeting again at Ewood Park WMC at 7pm on Wednesday 28 August. Great new initiatives in the pipeline. All welcome.

 

[old darwen blue]

4 hours ago, DeeCee said:

Is Ewood wmc still open? Aquaduct, Albion, Manxman all used to get good game revenue but sadly the pub trade is dying, especially for pubs of the aforementioned type.

Embrace your local, or lose it.

Certainly is, I'm a member. £2.50 a pint of lager. That must be unbelievably cheap for K Hod who thinks that the ale prices on Ewood are acceptable. 

[K-Hod]

6 hours ago, old darwen blue said:

Certainly is, I'm a member. £2.50 a pint of lager. That must be unbelievably cheap for K Hod who thinks that the ale prices on Ewood are acceptable. 

It is unbelievably cheap, yes! I go in there before matches.

As I said to clarify and evidently need to repeat, whilst I don't drink Foster's, I can't remember the last place I paid under £4 a pint, to be fair!

If anyone knows of anywhere else that operates such pricing, let me know, as I'm clearly being ripped off!

[philipl]

This is one of those threads which will get a lot of posts from the not happy unless we are moaning posters. The more posts it gets the more it shows that everything else is basically ok. 

[Mattyblue]

I don’t drink in the ground phil , I go to watch the Rovers and they are doing ‘basically ok’, but for a lot of fans they do like to put their money into the club by purchasing food and drink on a matchday. 

I dislike the piss poor product and service they are receiving and a better product would actually bring more money into the club.

 Surely the issue is three fold. 

1 - prices have gone up massively in one summer - £3.80 to £4.50 a pint is a piss take from where I’m standing.

2 - The service is terrible and facilities that should speed things up are not used properly - i.e contactless and multi pint pourers or just a simple idea like ‘how about pre pouring some pints in the run up to half time?’

3 - The club still thinks just providing one basic lager is sufficient in 2019. The club hasn’t altered its offering since the new stands were built in the mid 90s. That was a pre Wetherspoons/pre CAMRA/pre micro brewery time when pubs largely served Carling/Fosters/Xxxx/Carlsberg on draft with a John Smiths/Boddingtons esque ‘ale’ keg also on draft. Tastes have moved on massively over the last decade, the club hasn’t.

Doesn’t seem a big issue to sort to me, but it won’t be as we have a management team without the initiative to do it.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Mattyblue

[arbitro]

Just now, philipl said:

This is one of those threads which will get a lot of posts from the not happy unless we are moaning posters. The more posts it gets the more it shows that everything else is basically ok. 

That's a bit unfair. Many posters are giving reasons why they DON'T buy food, drink and merchandise and as far as I can see the common theme is the cost. As a business Rovers should listen to the concerns of fans as they look to increase income streams. The decision makers should read this thread and use it as market research.

When was the last time you bought anything on the concourse and club shop?

 

[philipl]

 

[arbitro]

Just now, philipl said:

 

I don't understand the significance of this - care to enlighten?

[Stuart]

Agree with Matty and Tony.

It’s just further evidence that fans are seen as cash cows to be fleeced (cash sheep?) of their money with the least amount of imagination

Whilst I’d say we have a great online brand and marketing these days, our creativity on the ground extends to putting a small covered outside bar serving the same crap. If you wanted value for money, you wouldn’t buy a programme, a pie and a pint at the ground, you’d by 4000 holes, a Big Mac and a pint at the Ewood WMC. That’s not even factoring in the cost of feeding the kids pop and crisps.

Business is really simple: right product, right place/time, right price. Using Blues Bar as an example, Rovers increase their prices at a time when they have the most footfall. Football clubs are not like other events, you don’t just take advantage of fans who have come on a one-off basis to watch their favourite pop star and accept that high prices are part of that experience. Football clubs are in the business of brand loyalty and repeat business.

To use Ewood WMC as an example, they offer cheaper prices for members - rewarding loyalty. Instead of “club cash”, why isn’t there a scheme for discounts on food and merchandise based on how long you have had a season ticket? 1-3 years 5%, 4-10 years 10%, over 15 years 15% - including food/drink? They have the technology (just about). Start to reward fans and not just keep going after them for more money. This is just one suggestion, there must be others that treat fans with more respect.

[MCMC1875]

18 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

I don’t drink in the ground phil , I go to watch the Rovers and they are doing ‘basically ok’, but for a lot of fans they do like to put their money into the club by purchasing food and drink on a matchday. 

I dislike the piss poor product and service they are receiving and a better product would actually bring more money into the club.

 Surely the issue is three fold. 

1 - prices have gone up massively in one summer - £3.80 to £4.50 a pint is a piss take from where I’m standing.

2 - The service is terrible and facilities that should speed things up are not used properly - i.e contactless and multi pint pourers or just a simple idea like ‘how about pre pouring some pints in the run up to half time?’

3 - The club still thinks just providing one basic lager is sufficient in 2019. The club hasn’t altered its offering since the new stands were built in the mid 90s. That was a pre Wetherspoons/pre CAMRA/pre micro brewery time when pubs largely served Carling/Fosters/Xxxx/Carlsberg on draft with a John Smiths/Boddingtons esque ‘ale’ keg also on draft. Tastes have moved on massively over the last decade, the club hasn’t.

Doesn’t seem a big issue to sort to me, but it won’t be as we have a management team without the initiative to do it.

Cask ale was sold at Ewood in the 90's/00's. I remember the pumps on the bars behind the Riverside but they were mothballed for some reason.

[Mattyblue]

Indeed, they served Wainwright’s in the late 2000s, sold really well from what I remember.

Then they got rid of Thwaites as beer supplier and that was that.

[JHRover]

I think the Wainwrights stunt was more of a Thwaites idea in an attempt to grow that brand just as it was starting to take off and they realised they were on to a winner, before selling it off to Marstons to brew in the Midlands. Probably nothing to do with Rovers as it was served from pop up temporary bars on the concourse rather than from Rovers own catering stands.

Have to say I was disgusted to see that Thwaites are now marketing themselves as a 'Ribble Valley brewery' on their new beer pump clips and posters with no mention of Blackburn. Can't remember the last time I had a pint of Thwaites beer. Shame but they obviously see themselves as being above the town these days.

 

[MCMC1875]

Just now, JHRover said:

I think the Wainwrights stunt was more of a Thwaites idea in an attempt to grow that brand just as it was starting to take off and they realised they were on to a winner, before selling it off to Marstons to brew in the Midlands. Probably nothing to do with Rovers as it was served from pop up temporary bars on the concourse rather than from Rovers own catering stands.

Have to say I was disgusted to see that Thwaites are now marketing themselves as a 'Ribble Valley brewery' on their new beer pump clips and posters with no mention of Blackburn. Can't remember the last time I had a pint of Thwaites beer. Shame but they obviously see themselves as being above the town these days.

 

There were cask pumps on the main bars.

[Mattyblue]

Just now, JHRover said:

 

Have to say I was disgusted to see that Thwaites are now marketing themselves as a 'Ribble Valley brewery' on their new beer pump clips and posters with no mention of Blackburn. Can't remember the last time I had a pint of Thwaites beer. Shame but they obviously see themselves as being above the town these days.

 

They must hate having a BB2 postcode and 01254 number then...

[JHRover]

Just now, MCMC1875 said:

There were cask pumps on the main bars.

I don't remember that. I sat in the Blackburn End at the time and they were on tables/stalls opposite the main bars next to the entrance.

[Hasta]

2 hours ago, philipl said:

This is one of those threads which will get a lot of posts from the not happy unless we are moaning posters. 

Do you think that if someone decides at half time at a football match they want a pie and a pint they should have to miss over 20 minutes of the game Phillip ?

[DeeCee]

10 hours ago, old darwen blue said:

Certainly is, I'm a member. £2.50 a pint of lager. That must be unbelievably cheap for K Hod who thinks that the ale prices on Ewood are acceptable. 

Sorry I meant the one across from the Aqueduct. ?