Hootananny pub (formerly Hobgoblin)
- Thread starter madolesance
- Start date
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
Tricky Skills said:I like to think that somewhere up in the East East of Glasgow, a 'Brixton themed bar' is selling red stripe and jerk chicken to the locals
Let`s do it!Rollem said:if this wasnt so bleeding tragic, i'd be pissing myself laughing !
someone, somewhere has a very big screw thats come loose....<shakes head>
If I seem to to be reduced to taking the piss inanely on this thread, taking lazy stereotyped potshots at 'Jocks' and all things bagpipe, then please don't let it mask my real sadness that my local of too many years to mention seems to be about to go through some kind of gawdawful theme makeover.
The Hob's not a flash place, nor it is always pleasant or sparkling clean. But it's a proper boozer, where all types and generations meet, either sprawled round pool table, watching sport or just outside in the warm concrete of the beer garden. I'll never be short of local contacts - from plumbers through to electricians and even stonemasons ever again. It's a place I can walk in and instantly know a hefty chunk of the pub at any time. W/e events, from the Comedy Club, through to Jazz and RDK Hi-Fi playing outside, through to a Ukelele band practicing and some dodgy RnB nights swing randomly around, reflecting the diverse neighbourhood. That's a good thing in my book.
Now I may be wrong and this won't be a hopelessly forced pub with a dubious Highland theme. Maybe it won't have a music selection which veers between ersatz Celtic aural wallpaper, furiously and craply retro Celtic-themed folk shindigs and some second rate bands that happen to have a Scottish connection, but I suspect that I'm not that far off the money.
It'll close within a few months unless they've very deep pockets, are willing to compomise or they manage to bus in a new clientele. I can't see most of the current crew being happy to sit listening to Scottish themed background musuc. And if there's the sound of bagpipes washing across the pub, then I suspect the new management may well end up with a speaker up their rectum.
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
tarannau said:
Nah, the Hob's not heaving, but it was doing respectable trade for a wettish summer and the football season holds great promise - it's the pub in the immediate area with screens now. In general it's doing enough to survive, but not enough to reinvest heavily in the premises - it needs more major work, but they've only been offering it with 2 year leases.
The more Scottishly they theme the pub, the more customers they're likely to lose. The folks in there are a tolerant and long suffering lot, but there's a limit to how much bad music and relentless Celtic-theme muzak that any non-ginger human being can take. If it continues to show sport then it's likely to retain some customers from the old days, but even they're likely to baulk and leave quickly if Wee Johnny and his bagpipes make a parping entrance after the game.
The more Scottishly they theme the pub, the more customers they're likely to lose. The folks in there are a tolerant and long suffering lot, but there's a limit to how much bad music and relentless Celtic-theme muzak that any non-ginger human being can take. If it continues to show sport then it's likely to retain some customers from the old days, but even they're likely to baulk and leave quickly if Wee Johnny and his bagpipes make a parping entrance after the game.
corporate whore
oh, thought you were dead
hoots mon!
What odd - and unhappy - news.
Aren't ethnically-themed pubs yesterday's papers? O'Neills is all but gone and in the locale even Ganley's couldn't make a fist of an Oirish-themed pub in a boozer that was fairly authentically Irish to begin with, despite the early promise of gentle stand-up comedy piped into the toilets
Like tarannau sez, all life is in the Hob. I haven't been there for ages now I no longer live within staggering distance, but it was always reliably good, unpretentious and easy-going.
all round.
What odd - and unhappy - news.
Aren't ethnically-themed pubs yesterday's papers? O'Neills is all but gone and in the locale even Ganley's couldn't make a fist of an Oirish-themed pub in a boozer that was fairly authentically Irish to begin with, despite the early promise of gentle stand-up comedy piped into the toilets
Like tarannau sez, all life is in the Hob. I haven't been there for ages now I no longer live within staggering distance, but it was always reliably good, unpretentious and easy-going.
all round.
DJWrongspeed
radio eros
it does sound of a last gasp idea, but if it means it staying as a boozer then so be it. The outside area could do with a bit of tidy up to be honest that'd bring more peeps in. I guess it suffers from not really being properly sound proofed and that back room space isn't really a gig/club space. It's great for comedy though.
so nobody's looking forward to seeing Peter in a kilt then?
tarannau said:
If its a quick and dirty refurb then what makes you think all these legendary regulars will move on? Of course they won't... theres nowhere else in the vicinity besides mango landin. Which aint great.
I think you a) underestimate the staying power of the people in question and b) overestimate how different the new scottish/chinese owners will make the place
Wasn't on the last gasp though - FWIW it's a fairly profitable pub with considerable potential upswing. The difficulty is that it needs some fairly major infrastructure work - they need to rip the toilets up and repipe for example - that nobody's willing to invest in on the basis of a 2-yr lease.
The back room's underused, but it suffers from that inbetween a club/pub atmosphere. Comedy clubs, a belly dancing convention (I shit you not) and the odd well regarded nights are sell outs in there, but the average Friday night suffers.
The back room's underused, but it suffers from that inbetween a club/pub atmosphere. Comedy clubs, a belly dancing convention (I shit you not) and the odd well regarded nights are sell outs in there, but the average Friday night suffers.
The real danger for the Hobgoblin is being turned into flats. You could easily get a couple of big flats worth £300k each on the ground floor. That's equivalent to a profit of £600 a week for a pub. Doesn't sound huge but I wouldn't be surprised if the Hob doesn't make a fairly small profit since it's rarely rammed...
gabi said:
I doubt that, seeing as I'm one of those regulars with serious 'staying power' and with no ambition to change the place I've drunk in for umpteen years. Yes, I'll put up with a lot and the beer garden's always a refuge, but nobody's tried to foist off novelty Scottish branding and boasted of playing 'Live Scottish Music Every Night' on the regulars before. That's enough to make me choke on my pattie, whichever way you look at it.
Maybe, as I've said in an earlier post, there'll be more of a compromise than the website suggests. Maybe the Scottish soundtrack and schtick willbe less than relentless and the bands will be shipped out to a deserted and soundproofed back room, letting the old guard sup their pints unmolested by bagpipes and fiddles. Maybe there'll be more a variety and the place will attempt to be more inclusive and inkeeping with its surrounds. But - judging from their website and proud Scottish branding - something's got to give before that happens.
lizardqueen
his little casualty
Bob said:
This is my biggest worry.
The hob could be a great pub if the money could be found to rectify the problems that currently put off potential punters. I know the loos put a lot of people off, the garden could do with a clean up and I'm sure a new pool table and a lick of paint in the back room would encourage more people to go there.
Yet instead, some buffoon has decided to change it into a ridiculous theme park that is so incongruous with its surroundings its laughable. Its never going to work
Then once McDoogals or whatever its going to be called has shut down, the council will be more likely to accept an application to turn the place into flats, on the grounds that it is no longer a viaible business option as a pub.
Tragic
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
I have a blinding idea. They could make it into the new Nelson Mandela Academy.
They wouldn't have to worry about a sports field either as they could just walk across to the park
They wouldn't have to worry about a sports field either as they could just walk across to the park
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
Bob said:
With the new "luxury"* flats opening up opposite Brazas imminently and that area`s proximity to the tube it`s only a matter of time I reckon. I think the Hobgob is a lovely building and I bet some developer out there has his/her eye on it.
*small rooms, low ceilings, paper thin walls, flash looking but flimsy fitted kitchen, laminate floors, extortionate price (although, to be fair, I had a nose around these ones during the building and they`ve got a nice little secure bicycle park thing round the back) - also the shop underneath currently seems to be hosting an enormous amount of kids` clothes stock - whether this is temporary or it will be a kids clothing shop, I don`t know.
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
gaijingirl said:
Did you know that the HobCanning used to be a privately owned bar?
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
Minnie_the_Minx said:
I`m a bit confused - sorry -
... privately owned as opposed to what?
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
Like Lizardqueen and Tarranau, as long time local of the Hob, I am gutted by this and I still cant quite believe this isn't a piss-take.
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
gaijingirl said:I`m a bit confused - sorry -
as opposed to being owned by a brewery or leased out.
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
Minnie_the_Minx said:
oh right... well, no I didn`t, as such, but wouldn`t that be the case with most pubs? I can`t say I know that much about the ins and outs of pubs although my mother was born and brought up in a pub.
Anyway, am I missing something here?.. I have had quite a few rounds of sake.. it`s almost 11 where I am.
gaijingirl said:I`m a bit confused - sorry -
Bit confused too here
Sod it. Me and some of the other regulars are going to grow Mr Whippy combovers, don some bad suits and bumrush the nearby Conservative club.
beats bagpipes anyway.
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
gaijingirl said:oh right... well, no I didn`t, as such, but wouldn`t that be the case with most pubs? I can`t say I know that much about the ins and outs of pubs although my mother was born and brought up in a pub.
Anyway, am I missing something here?.. I have had quite a few rounds of sake.. it`s almost 11 where I am.
Apparently many decoades ago it was privately owned before being sold off to brewery.
Just a useless piece of info
In fact, I think it was a private members club
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
Minnie_the_Minx said:Apparently many decoades ago it was privately owned before being sold off to brewery.
Just a useless piece of info
It won`t be useless when it turns up in Mrs M`s pub quiz!!
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
gaijingirl said:oh right... well, no I didn`t, as such, but wouldn`t that be the case with most pubs? I can`t say I know that much about the ins and outs of pubs although my mother was born and brought up in a pub.
Anyway, am I missing something here?.. I have had quite a few rounds of sake.. it`s almost 11 where I am.
The majority of pubs are brewery owned these days. You'll see the words 'free house' - which can mean the pub is owned by a chain, or is independantly owned (very rare these days)
