Trying to leave this drinking place, my feet are magnetised for furniture.

[reddragdiva]

Internet rumour actually true shock!

My suggestions for the SAVE THE DEV campaign:

1. Working dishwasher. Being famous for dirty glasses isn't actually a good thing.
2. Clean the pipes. The beer needs to be drinkable.
3. I've asked Robin about real ale before, and he says it goes off before actually getting drunk — even the nitrokeg stuff. But if you can sell Newky Brown in bottles, how about a real beer in bottles? (Anything but Bombadier, that is.)
4. More seating.
5. Ventilation.
6. Dress code problems, c.f. the unfortunate Earth Loop Recall incident. I've seen the obvious trouble chavs turned away, but it's biting too many of those precious few customers.

Your suggestions welcomed.

I suspect the problem is that twenty years ago goths were pretentious gutter trash, now they're overpaid computer geeks so they're fussier. (The other problem is that Camden is being methodically killed by the council, but that's not something the Dev can change directly.) For the poor, the competition is Wetherspoon's, who have no smoke and drinkable beer very cheap.

Comments

[jozafeen.livejournal.com]

Cleaner toilets! Smiley barstaff ;-)

[yaruar.livejournal.com]

20 years ago most pubs in london were like that, just that most of them evolved.

I think to even stand a chance of survival those are the least amount of things they can do. I don't know how possibel it will be to turn the place around though. Location is one of it's problems, it's jsut far enough from the main camden drag to get no passing trade and all the regulars seem to have dried up and given up on it so they aren't even dragging new drinkers there. I think the management need a serious rethink as to what they want to do with the place. Maybe diversify a bit more (certainly last times i went a long time ago the metal nights were a damn sight more popular than the other gothic nights)

[steer.livejournal.com]

Actually, I rather like the Dev as it is --- it has a certain charm and I seem to end up having a few pints there every time I visit london.

[juliet]

I quite like Bombadier, myself.

Real beer would make the place tolerable; decent seating might make it approaching pleasant - I get dragged in there by Kitty occasionally when we're in Camden & always get pissed off because there's nothing I want to drink. Vodka & orange isn't really an afternoon drink.

[vampwillow]

isn't that a factor of the problem though. The Dev gets visitors from out of town who come for the markets and the name of the place, but it is losing / has lost / isn't replacing (m)any of the 'locals' it needs for a 'base level' of customers and turnover. A place can't really survive just on occasional visitors :-(

And I'd include myself in that as I'm only a couple of miles away on a direct bus route.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I'm prepared to Support the Dev while it implements changes to make it a nicer place to be, but if they think they can treat us like crap and have me drinking there in support of them they're much mistaken!

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a manifestation of "Maybe Next Week" syndrome. It's a circumstance where a physical establishment or *long*-lived recurring event loses steam after a while purely because it's become reliable. So long as there's not a feeling that "this might be gone soon" or "This might be the last time I'll ever be here", then the emphasis on actually GOING is lessened, which means fewer familiar faces, which pushes the appeal even further away. The nearest goth drinking establishment to me ends up with about a bi-annual scramble to stay open for this reason, and the main reason that it does keep coming back is that the owner realizes that when goths DO show up, they tend to drink a lot and not get into fights. It's worth having to re-motivate them to show up again.

[steer.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's in part a "familiarity breeds contempt" effect.

[redshira.livejournal.com]

Yes! Barstaff who don't make you feel like they're doing you a huge favour just by deigning to take your money in exchange for a drink.

[edwards.livejournal.com]

Do these cookies contain real goths?

[secretia.livejournal.com]

Earth Loop Recoil incident

it's earth loop recall (http://www.earthlooprecall.com) - sorry, to be a pedant an' all, but pr is pr!
*smiles*

suggestions for improvement?
*cleaner/nicer toilets
*nicer furniture (it's not conducive to sit there for very long cos it's so uncomfortable!)

i feel however, that a lot of these suggestions are going to require a cash injection from the brewery - and unless they see trade picking up, that's unlikely to happen...so that means picking up trade without much cash - or at least good will from others

if publicity gets around that they need more trade, i'm sure that people would show up more often - whatever their reasons are for not going there anymore...i'll see if i can get the chaps at alternative london (http://alternativelondonmagazine.com) on to it to investigate the issue...

secxx

[edwards.livejournal.com]

But, a frown is goffick, innit.

[jozafeen.livejournal.com]

I have wondered if they have botoxed the staff expressions into permanent 'mope' for us grinning northern tourist goths!

[redshira.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, I forgot about that. *hands in goff card*

[markeris.livejournal.com]

It`s a rubbish beer and no atmosphere breed contempt effect I`m afraid.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

7. Music slightly quieter, or better quality sound system, so you can actually talk to the person next to you or listen to the music. Just reducing the volume and therefore the distortion slightly would help.

I second the basic pipe and glass cleanliness problem.

[steer.livejournal.com]

(Shrug) You say to-may-to I say to-mah-to. For my money it has far better atmosphere than (say) a Whetherspoons (crosses self) or a randomly chosen london pub.

[reddragdiva]

*ahem* fixed!

Drinking weak lager in a Camden boozer

[kineticfactory.livejournal.com]

And I thought this was about the Camden Town tube station yuppification (http://www.alwaystouchout.com/project/62) (i.e., flattening the entire block up to the end of the market and replacing it with a shiny wedge of glass).

Anyway, Wetherspoon's is far from the only competition in Camden as far as drinking establishments go; I can vouch for Quinn's (http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/show.shtml/2555/Quinns/Camden) having a more than decent variety of beers and ales, pleasant enough decor, and (apparently) a strict no-chavs policy.

[vampwillow]

notes for the record that I will usually drink / meet friends in Bar Uno (Inverness Street) or Henry J Beans rather than the Dev ...

[secretia.livejournal.com]

7. Music slightly quieter, or better quality sound system

oh yes, please!

secxx

[tintintin.livejournal.com]

What was the ELR incident? I think I can guess roughly, but I must have missed it when it actually happened.

[redshira.livejournal.com]

Maybe they're just moping because they know they'll not have their jobs much longer? ;)

[jasontheknight.livejournal.com]

Ben got turned away at the door by a doorman citing "dress code" as the reason. A very amusing public cancellation of the imminent ELR gig at the Dev then occurred.

[jasontheknight.livejournal.com]

They can get rid of that stupid projector that they've been using as well - I mean what's the point of losing even more space in a notoriously underfurnished pub, just because someone wants to play Nosferatu with the sound turned down?

In fact, I don't think I've been back since Robin barked at me to get out of the way of the screen (that I presume only he was watching).