In response to: "So farewell then, Morals Bar"

Earlier this year, Jock wrote a blog post on Morals Bar, the students' union run bar at Oxford Brookes University. I used to work for the students' union so i have my own perspective. I posted my response as a comment but have copied it here...

Hi Jock,

My thoughts on Morals in no particular order:

a) There is basically a completely new set of customers every year (present company excepted!). That means an opportunity to build a new reputation every year. The fact that it has repeatedly got a bad repution --> fewer customers --> lost money implies there is something more structural as the problem e.g demand from students, design of the bar, products offered, management of the bar etc.

b) An SU service doesn't have to make a surplus as long as it is clearing offering something that students value and that can be justified to the university (e.g. safety bus). Harcourt Bar seems to fit this but Morals doesn't. I'm not sure why.

c) I've always found Morals unappealing from the outside. The entrance is in the wrong place. It is hard to see if it is open until you are practically on the doorstep. 

d) I've always thought that a pizza delivery service, run out of Morals delivering to student should be be a gold mine. The starting point should be "what services do students want?" not "what do students want from a bar?". Then work out the best combination to target a large an audience as possible.

e) I'm not surprised Morals barely features in the elections - the candidates are unlikely to live on site and are unlikey to think of the number of voters as significant. It is also a complicated issue so it is much easier to campaign for longer library hours or more buses than to suggest a specific solution to a commercial problem.

f) It is easy to look down the hill and romanticise JCRs - the environments are different but i'm sure some ideas can be borrowed

g) I don't want to comment about staffing/management as i know too many of the people involved