Carling - What actually happened?

[rockinthecasbah]

Is £4 for a pint really extortionate? I work in London and one pub nearby is £4.40. From memory Koko is £4.50 a CAN...SBE is about £4.30 a pint. Brixton the same etc....Last time I was back in Reading it was probably about £3.80 on average. Obviously not including Wetherspoons or Sam Smiths pubs....

[ar1]

I'm not shere this idea that the bar staff are free comes from either. From what I remember the staff don't get paid but FR pays the Workers' Beer Company the equivalent of what their wages would of been and this gets donated to the Trade Union Conferance (I think or some other Union supporting body). Oh, as mentioned above, each member of bar staff effectively gets a free ticket too.

[ar1]

Here we go - £6.50 per staff hour worked

http://www.workersbeer.co.uk/volunteer-with-us.aspx

[glasto-worker]

£4 a pint, bars are always busy, no real costs, staffing and premises are free. I'm willing to bet if FR managed their own drink sales they would be better off, that is big money whatever way you spin it. Revenue in the millions with a healthy profit margin.

[mrtourette]

Sorry but your talking rubbish

[Benj]

glasto-worker, meet Mega Ross.

[glasto-worker]

I am sure that some people think its dead easy to run a bar in a field and make loads of money when it fact the equipment that is used to dispense and cool costs millions of pounds as they are Custom built

http://www.wbc-team.co.uk/wbc-image-reading-2007-23.html

http://www.wbc-team.co.uk/wbc-image-reading-2007-32.html

http://www.wbc-team.co.uk/wbc-image-reading-2007-34.html

and before one pint is ever poured we have weights and measures take samples that are analysed in their labs.

This year we have even more red tape as the UK Border Agency have let us know they will be inspecting our staff - we have trading standards doing mystery shopping to try and catch us out and many other officials who shuttle though the bars.

Its highly likely that the WBC made a operational loss at Glastonbury 2011 so running bars is no guarantee that they will always make a profit.

Staff dont appear like magic - the WBC run coaches from various areas of the UK and none of the beer tents pop up by themselves and beer tankers have to be pre booked so its a huge organsation and there is many people you never see who work when the bars are closed shifting stock about.

If people think it was that easy then I would advise them to bid for the contract - but they better have deep pockets because if its a wash out bar sales dip but all the operational costs stay the same.

Sure some promoters have tried to run their own bars but take a good look round as you will not see a cash bar - they run a voucher bar mainly because they cant trust their staff.