TOPIC:

For what it's worth, on two of Spine's points only, with our new mixing desk we don't need a control point there: adjust ments to the mix can be made via a hand-held device from any part of the building. It's still good to have a sight line from desk to stage, but there are few extra advantages with being bang in the middle there, and it's not a comfortable position to mix from anyway, back to the stage, halfway up the wall, crowd around you etc.
I had imagivned that, given the height difference., bar and wall to either side, plus the remaining smaller pillar, that the natural line for a crowd to form up would still be the same. To my mind (for those who know the place), the same thing always used to happen at Moles (they may have changed it in the refurbished buidling), the crowd formed first along the line between the two rooms.

Re the mixing desk, I know what you mean - I saw someone hack into it with their smartphone a couple of hours after it had been installed. It was amazing to watch the levers go up and down on their own as he ran his finger over the screen! 'Password: password. User name: admin' I think it's been changed now...

Just to reassure you that the default username and password was changed during installation. Unfortunately one of the barstaff let slip the login details one evening. All changed again now.

Re Spine's comment that ".. there are surely other tasks that everyone can agree on" - there are other tasks and your Board is assembling a list of those tasks, both maintenance and capital work, so that we can factor them into our business planning. At September's Board meeting we agreed that we'd put this list in the Document downloads section of the forum so that members could comment on it if they wanted to. That should happen this week if your Secretary gets his arse in gear. When it happens I'll post a topic in this forum to advertise the list's arrival.
The bit about " ..that everyone can agree on" though - that's never going to happen!

I thought it was about time a shareholder contributed to this discussion, so here I am. These are my feelings, not just Bushy's, so if anyone wants to check up on this, just email me or whatever.

I have heard on the grapevine that one particular Board member whose self-confessed, personal pet project the demolition of the 'pillar' wall is, that he is now going around getting prices for not only the metalwork to support the bit of wall for when the 3 or so tons of ancient fabric are removed to form a clear sightline for the one night a week when he actually goes into the pub to see a band, but also metalwork for two new signs on the front, one of which - presumably - is to replace the wooden one made a couple of years ago, and still perfectly serviceable I would have thought. This particular Board member is pretty used to having his own way with historic structures, and it is beginning to look as though the same might happen to The Bell.

We were hoping for at least a small percentage of shareholders to air their feelings about all this before any decisions were made to spend a load of their money on what could be considered unnecessary alterations, but so far I think there has been 2.

When the pub was first bought with 536 people's money, the ethos was that things should stay as they were as much as possible, obviously allowing for inevitable change to prevent the place from stagnating.

All the changes that have taken place (with the exception of the colour-scheme of the ladies toilets) have been done in a way that the changes and improvements appear as minimal as possible, but now we have a Board member who seems set on putting his mark on the place, despite the fact that he hardly uses the pub at all.

When it was suggested that the Gents toilets were refurbished immediately after the Ladies to save money, he more or less said that nobody cared about the Gents, so why bother to spend money on them? The Gents remain a disgrace, and there is a strong possibility that they will stay that way for the foreseeable future as money is spent on stuff which falls under the category of, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

Why don't any of you other shareholders and customers say what you think one way or the other about this? If these things get bull-dozered through now, then you will never have a say again in the future, that's for sure.

All you men who have to put up with those stinking toilets, would you like to see a bit of money spent on them so that using them could be much less of a horrible experience?

As a thoroughly inconspicuous shareholder just having seen this topic then I'll give an opinion.

Firstly I hope the Board can make such decisions without the need to consult us too frequently though asking our opinions is welcome. We'll vote them out next year if they start to move the Bell away from the atmosphere almost all of us wanted to keep by supporting the Coop.

Secondly only they should really know how to balance the financial situation of the pub against any proposed changes. Can we afford the work, and will it actually earn us any extra money. I'd let them use this to decide priorities. I don't want to micromanage them.

Finally I'd scrap the pillar if it were possible or at least reduce its impact. If I can't nab a seat along the path to the toilets then on a busy music session I'm going to be jammed near that damn pillar with people pushing back and forth from the courtyard. I think that area should be the main standing viewpoint for punters face onto the band. Losing it won't change the atmosphere of the pub in my view.