editor
hiraethified
You've got to love the band playing there on the 8th Sept.
Categorically none more Scottish! http://www.saorpatrol.com/
Categorically none more Scottish! http://www.saorpatrol.com/
Hootananny pub (formerly Hobgoblin)
- Thread starter madolesance
- Start date
editor
hiraethified
Here's my little tribute to the last night at the Hob:
http://www.urban75.org/brixton/bars/hobgoblin-farewell.html
http://www.urban75.org/brixton/bars/hobgoblin-farewell.html
Gixxer1000
cant wheelie a shaftie :(
Fosters
madolesance
Well-Known Member
Here is a picture of the Hobgoblin from early last night.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverfox09/1233983692/
Was in there tonight, still on the go.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverfox09/1233983692/
Was in there tonight, still on the go.
editor
hiraethified
Vintage photos from an urban Hobgoblin meet waaay back in 2002:
http://www.urban75.org/photos/party/drink04.html
http://www.urban75.org/photos/party/drink04.html
Mr Retro
Beware hedgehogs
It's actual last day is Thursday.
Had a few in there this evening after the park and, when you look at it objectively, it was shit. Few people there and ot those that were there, lots weren't even drinking. People smoking joints, eating take away and generally using it as a place to loiter in, rather than a pub to drink in. No atmosphere and generally it felt it's time was up.
Had a few in there this evening after the park and, when you look at it objectively, it was shit. Few people there and ot those that were there, lots weren't even drinking. People smoking joints, eating take away and generally using it as a place to loiter in, rather than a pub to drink in. No atmosphere and generally it felt it's time was up.
bottomline74
New Member
Double Post
bottomline74
New Member
this from the message board - the co-owner of hootananny
Sorry been 2 busy to reply to criticism but now got a free moment. yes,we
might well go bust but my motto is do what you love and **** the consequences.
we think we are going to create a fantastic venue - Scottish music and cover
bands in the bar on the left and a continuation of what already exists (ie
commiunity pub)in the bar on the right. We have franchised out the food
operation to a brilliant Thai chef because Thai food is the best pub food -
delicious, varied and cheap. It works well in our pub in Inverness so tried
and tested.
Modern Scottish ceilidh music is sensational and probably nothing like
how you imagine it. You should come along and have a look before you pass
judgement.
I must say I don't agree with the argument that Scottish music cannot work
in Brixon because so few Scots live there. There is a successful Japanese
restaurant in Brixton. One of the great things about Brixton is that it is a
cultural melting pot. That is where it gets its vitality from. We are just
adding to the brew!
Incidentally I am against censorship of the website and stopped our
website man from removing critical texts when I discovered it was going on.
Better to be talked about even if in an uncomplimentary way than to be
ignored!
Kit Fraser, co-owner
Sorry been 2 busy to reply to criticism but now got a free moment. yes,we
might well go bust but my motto is do what you love and **** the consequences.
we think we are going to create a fantastic venue - Scottish music and cover
bands in the bar on the left and a continuation of what already exists (ie
commiunity pub)in the bar on the right. We have franchised out the food
operation to a brilliant Thai chef because Thai food is the best pub food -
delicious, varied and cheap. It works well in our pub in Inverness so tried
and tested.
Modern Scottish ceilidh music is sensational and probably nothing like
how you imagine it. You should come along and have a look before you pass
judgement.
I must say I don't agree with the argument that Scottish music cannot work
in Brixon because so few Scots live there. There is a successful Japanese
restaurant in Brixton. One of the great things about Brixton is that it is a
cultural melting pot. That is where it gets its vitality from. We are just
adding to the brew!
Incidentally I am against censorship of the website and stopped our
website man from removing critical texts when I discovered it was going on.
Better to be talked about even if in an uncomplimentary way than to be
ignored!
Kit Fraser, co-owner
lizardqueen
his little casualty
I saw the message from the co-ownder and can't help being impressed by how level-headed and reasonable he sounds. 
Still doubt it will work though...
Still doubt it will work though...
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
lizardqueen said:I saw the message from the co-ownder and can't help being impressed by how level-headed and reasonable he sounds.
Still doubt it will work though...
Sounds like quite a charitable chap
http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/441/Helping_Africa's_poor_trade_their_way_out_of_poverty.html
seems he likes poetry as well
http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/3623/Pints_and_poetry_-_an_inventive_mix.html
and he was against the smoking ban
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publican_Party
teuchter
je suis teuchter
bottomline74 said:
I think that one of the things people are sceptical about is not just the fact that it is in Brixton but its location in Brixton - a good ten minute walk from the tube and not in amongst the various other bars, which means that it's not really going to get much "passing trade", and anyone coming from outside the immediate area is going to have to know about it and make a special trip. I guess there's an assumption that what you will be providing will be aimed largely or partially at the tourist market, and tourists - at least the kind of tourists one imagines might be attracted to seeing live Scottish music, aren't going to come all the way (Brixton is percieved as being quite a way from the centre even though it isn't really) down here and then walk through what they will percieve (again largely inaccurately) as a "dodgy area" late at night.
Your reponse to this may well be that the tourist audience is not a significant portion of your audience (unlike I presume Inverness) and if this is the case then I would feel encouraged about the type and quality of music you will be offering. Although there have been a few on here whinging about the fact that you will be offering a "monoculture" of scottish music, I for one am frequently a bit fed up that the offerings in Brixton on a weekend night seem to consist of house music, house music or house music. So I will welcome the addition of something alternative, if it is of good quality and varied and I think there is a market for this in the area. I don't know how strict you will be about bands being "Scottish" but I'm sure that some traditional music from other places now and again would go down well.
I reckon that if you do as you say, and create an atmosphere in the bar bit that means folk from around the immediate area can use it without feeling like they are living in Disneyland, then you will win over most of the grumblers on here.
Good luck anyway and the proof will be in the pudding.
By the way, perhaps a few free tickets for the opening night, or something, for Urban75 posters would be good for "community relations" (hint hint hint).
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
this wasn't posted by the owner - just c&p'd by an urbanite from the website...teuchter said:
bottomline74
New Member
free tickets ................. it's all free .......
Well that was very sad. Popped down for the very last night before the changeover to say my final farewell to the old place. And encountered shut doors and sad-faced staff packing all their worldly possessions into vans. Seems the new owners unexpectedly forced closure a day early, current staff totally unaware till this afternoon.
I kind of expected to be pressing flesh and saying a fond goodbye and thanks to the staff. Instead, I ended up milling around outside, talking to a few other bemused folks and realising just how few phone numbers I hold for many of the familiar faces. You just kind of knew you'd bump into them in the same place at some point over the week.
Seems changes are afoot too. Talking briefly to the old landlady, it seems the pub's reopening again this Saturday, largely unchanged. Apparently one of the new partners has reconsidered things and backtracked a little after some visits and feedback - the main bar's going to keep sky sports,playing more classics and cover band stuff at night. The back bar will take on that more Scottish theme, bagpipes and Celidh tackyness and all.
No idea when the major refurb will take place now. Rumours were flying around a little while back that the new owners had underestimated the cost of kitting out the new operation massively. Perhaps they're trying to recoup some cash and put some feelers out at the moment.
Feel really sad to be honest. And a little cheated about a missing the final farewell in such strange circumstances. I felt for the staff too, all losing their homes and jobs in one fell swoop - I wish them all the best.
I'll always hold some great memories of the place. I'd like to share some positivity about the future, but the confused spectacle of a half-hearted Scottish effort on my doorstep seems strangely unenticing. Sure, Brixton's always been tolerant of diversity, but that diversity usually builds up organically, not by imposing a poor facisimile of a pub concept from Inverness unwanted on a neighbourhood.
I kind of expected to be pressing flesh and saying a fond goodbye and thanks to the staff. Instead, I ended up milling around outside, talking to a few other bemused folks and realising just how few phone numbers I hold for many of the familiar faces. You just kind of knew you'd bump into them in the same place at some point over the week.
Seems changes are afoot too. Talking briefly to the old landlady, it seems the pub's reopening again this Saturday, largely unchanged. Apparently one of the new partners has reconsidered things and backtracked a little after some visits and feedback - the main bar's going to keep sky sports,playing more classics and cover band stuff at night. The back bar will take on that more Scottish theme, bagpipes and Celidh tackyness and all.
No idea when the major refurb will take place now. Rumours were flying around a little while back that the new owners had underestimated the cost of kitting out the new operation massively. Perhaps they're trying to recoup some cash and put some feelers out at the moment.
Feel really sad to be honest. And a little cheated about a missing the final farewell in such strange circumstances. I felt for the staff too, all losing their homes and jobs in one fell swoop - I wish them all the best.
I'll always hold some great memories of the place. I'd like to share some positivity about the future, but the confused spectacle of a half-hearted Scottish effort on my doorstep seems strangely unenticing. Sure, Brixton's always been tolerant of diversity, but that diversity usually builds up organically, not by imposing a poor facisimile of a pub concept from Inverness unwanted on a neighbourhood.
KnickerlessCage
New Member
amen
Mr Retro
Beware hedgehogs
tarannau said:Seems changes are afoot too. Talking briefly to the old landlady, it seems the pub's reopening again this Saturday, largely unchanged. Apparently one of the nmoment.
Feel really sad to be honest. And a little cheated about a missing the final farewell in such strange circumstances.
If it's opening again on Saturday, largely unchanged, there wasn't much that you needed to say goodbye to is there?
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Mr Retro said:If it's opening again on Saturday, largely unchanged, there wasn't much that you needed to say goodbye to is there?
Just what I was about to say.
Also
Tarranau said:
Would it not be fair to wait till it's open and see what it's actually like before writing it off as halfhearted / poor etc?
And Brixton is only tolerant of "organic" diversity? I haven't heard that before. That sounds a bit like like the kind of small-town narrowmindedness that I live in Brixton to avoid....
Anotherfolky
New Member
gaijingirl said:If you mean a twmpath... it`s similar.. but not the same... as I understand it. To be fair I wasn`t way out West though.. and by your reasoning a barn dance is an English ceilidh.. in fact I`m just heading off to a Japanese ceilidh now...
eta... I guess barn dances, ceilidhs, twmpaths etc etc are all similar type affairs..
except this one will be a Chinese ceilidh!
Sorry to interrupt but yes a Barn Dance is actually more often referred to as an English Ceilidh these days..
You'll have to excuse me for not exactly whooping it up at the prospect of someone opening up a half-hearted incarnation of a theme pub on my doorstep. You don't have to be Nostradamus to predict what a night of classic pop and rock covers will be like. It'll be better than the bagpipes next door I suppose.
Frankly I'm more deflated by the cack handled way it all ended than anything else. You've had a good few weeks of sad faced staff letting the place run down, not knowing what's going to happen - it's fair to say that most of us on this website know more about the future plans than the folks did behind the bar. All the staff, some of whom have survived a few changes of managers, were turfed out at short notice, even losing their homes and jobs a day earlier than expected. A little communication would have gone a long way. They even had to employ a bouncer to tell people it was shut last night after it got a little too much for the departing staff.
Things needed to change, but there's a better way than this. You've now got the awkward situation of a pub in flux, with a good few of the regulars already moved on and the vast majority unaware of what the bleeding hell's going on. There's been a little bit of ,ahem, a bad smell lingering around the pub at the moment (see the broken windows) that's led to some people I'm fond of leaving already leaving already. Without any of the old staff at all, I'd strongly expect a good few weeks of unpleasantness as things settle down again and some unsavoury characters chance their luck.
And for what? More of the same without the old faces and the super, smashing great prospect of a kilts and bagpipes themeworld developing next door if the strangely reclusive management haven't changed course. I'm not jumping for joy if I'm honest.
Frankly I'm more deflated by the cack handled way it all ended than anything else. You've had a good few weeks of sad faced staff letting the place run down, not knowing what's going to happen - it's fair to say that most of us on this website know more about the future plans than the folks did behind the bar. All the staff, some of whom have survived a few changes of managers, were turfed out at short notice, even losing their homes and jobs a day earlier than expected. A little communication would have gone a long way. They even had to employ a bouncer to tell people it was shut last night after it got a little too much for the departing staff.
Things needed to change, but there's a better way than this. You've now got the awkward situation of a pub in flux, with a good few of the regulars already moved on and the vast majority unaware of what the bleeding hell's going on. There's been a little bit of ,ahem, a bad smell lingering around the pub at the moment (see the broken windows) that's led to some people I'm fond of leaving already leaving already. Without any of the old staff at all, I'd strongly expect a good few weeks of unpleasantness as things settle down again and some unsavoury characters chance their luck.
And for what? More of the same without the old faces and the super, smashing great prospect of a kilts and bagpipes themeworld developing next door if the strangely reclusive management haven't changed course. I'm not jumping for joy if I'm honest.
teuchter said:
Thanks for the strawman and associated routine 'narrowminded' jibes. Where did I say anything approaching 'only'?
By that I simply meant that most organisations, even the most corporate affairs, have tended to tailor their operations to, and be shaped by, the local market. Even blando Wetherspoons made an exception with The Beehive, sticking up witty signs and some new toilet layouts. What was remarkable about Hootananny's initial spin was the unrepentent way they intended to transfer the Inverness operation pretty much lock, stock and barrel to Brixton unchanged, complete with the same bands, food and approach. And all that clearly ridiculous gumph about 'cutting edge celidh' was the worst kind of unsustainable marketing bollocks that I'd loathe from the most corporate of brands.
To be fair, this Kit guy sounds more reasonable. And it sounds as if he's been mitigating the worst excesses of PR bumph in the background with a more realistic approach. A RnB/soul singer was added to the official opening night line-up on Hoot's website a little while back for example. Not sure if that's what needed, nor that it fits in with an already watered down concept, but it's a start.
Wait and see I guess, but I'm not remarkably hopeful.
