Prince Of Wales...in receivership?

[-matthEw-]

My mum and dad are having kittens over reports that the Prince Of Wales pub has gone bankrupt. Can't find any news about it on www.thisisnorthscotland.co.uk but supposedly it was broadcasted on Northsound that it has.

Can anyone comfirm or deny to put my parents mind at ease?

[NARC]

That's a shame if true, that's a regular pre-Exodus haunt for some of us. We always get strange looks when we walk in though....

[huntedbyafreak]

That would be really strange... It always seems quite busy whenever I go in!

[Spoonie]

that can't be right, his ma is minted!

[framheim]

it's owned by the people that own estaminet, o donoghues and the like isn't it? i'm sure if one pub went they'd all go or they'd just sell it off. i could be wrong about the ownership but they certainly used to own it. it's always busy in there though and none of these places i'd imagine would have huge outlays apart from staff and stock because they've not had major refurbishments or anything.

[lowball]

it's owned by the people that own estaminet' date=' o donoghues and the like isn't it? i'm sure if one pub went they'd all go or they'd just sell it off. i could be wrong about the ownership but they certainly used to own it. it's always busy in there though and none of these places i'd imagine would have huge outlays apart from staff and stock because they've not had major refurbishments or anything.[/quote']

i thoughtit was part of belhaven breweries?????

[-matthEw-]

yeah I find it hard to believe as well, thought it would've been doing good business. Probably just a false alarm, but your responses have managed to settle my mother down a bit.

[threeornothing]

Heard about this on northsound although wasn't really listening....but it confirmed some of the theories in here anyway.....

[-matthEw-]

Breath easy people, it is indeed the PoWs parent company in recievership but everyone involved with the Prince is confident it will come through this unscathed

[Smooth_groover]

Prince of Wales is my favourite bar of all time.

So yeah......

[Hog]

Must investigate further. Anyone fancy chipping in to buy the place?

As long as it was connected via a large tunnel to the Moorings.

[Flash@TMB]

Sorry no can do. Maybe next time.

[Cloud]

Seriously-POW=mountains of cash. Just believe me on this. Someone with a bit of local business savvy' date=' snap up this pub and save it from the chain gang. Please.[/quote']

I believe you, simply because I went in there hunting down someone the other week at about...6pm on a friday? and the place was absolutely rammed with all types of people - one corner had a load of old guys drinking whatever old people drink, another corner had young people drinking stella, and everyone in between...says it all really.

[Benji]

The should expand and build a superclub where Gap is....Call it 'The Princess of Ireland'....Or not...As long as I get to go into the wee side alley for a piss, and not realise the place untill 9 people walk out and catch me running backup the lane with a strange waddle...

Tru story dat.

And security lights are the scurge of any man who wanders into a side alley for the customary piss..I too have been scarred by this.

[Sue Denim..]

It's true, I read this in Yesterdays P&J. Apparently, the staff wages are going to take an extra week to get paid or something but it doesn't mention any changes to the pub itself.

Nothing to worry about. It'll still be the same non-atmosphere, music devoid pub.

[Flash@TMB]

What the place needs is an inepedent buyer (or consortium) with about 1M burning a hole in his/her pocket that has drank there for at least 10 years and understand what the place does, how it does it, and who it caters for. And they'd ahve to be prepared to keep it that way and not try out any new ideas. Seriously - the last thing that place needs is a new broom.

But here's my prediction...

Last time it was sold it went for something like 1.4M. Which was a lot, and would indicate annual profits of about 150K, which is decent money. The chain immediately made some minor changes which detracted from the place, and took the shine off it's edge. Next year we have the smoking ban coming in, this makes pubs harder to sell. Even the bigger chains are being more cautious about buying anything which is why the likes of Morgan's is still up for sale. I reckon that this time around the place will fetch nearer 1M, and in all liklihood, unless some retired oil exec with a liking for real ale can be found, it will go to a chain.

The next chain makes it 2 steps removed from the revered independent owner. More changes will be made with less respect for the places heritage... by some appointed manager, almost certainly not someone from Aberdeen, whose never set foot int he place before. Fruit machines will be introduced, and probably piped music like Ma Camerons. The menu will be changed to standard out of the freezer pub grub, like lasagne, scampi, BIG STEAKS, chicken maryland etc. The real ales will be changed from indepedent breweries to things like Directors Bitter, Tetley's, and Timothy taylor Landlord. Eventually the number of handpumps will be reduced from 8 to 4 to 2 and then to just 1 pump with some whacket Landord on it. Then it'll be changed out for another John Smith's font. But you'll get pints of Miller for a pound, and double house vodkas for 50p.

All the customers will drift away and new clientele seeking to get pished on 5 will fill the void. Eventually the place will be renamed something like 'Upstarts' and be given a 2M makeover than will rip out all the original fittings. It will turnover 50K a day for 4 months, then go bust a year later, where it will linger on the market until the asking price drops to 300K.

*SHUDDER* the poor Prince.

[-matthEw-]

would be terrible if that happened.

[Cloud]

What's wrong with fruit machines?

Just a thought : if the smoking ban coincides with a ban on irresponsible drinks promotions, won't the industry become an utter bloodbath?

[feeble!]

Fruit machines... I always lose when I play them. One time I had a handfull of pound coins, I put ten pence in the machine and had one go then threw all the coins into the bit where winnings come out and pretended that I'd won money.

[Mick Maverik]

man hope it isn't I worked here as a cleaner for a little bit. The staff are so friendly and it's such a nice little pub

Andy

[Benji]

What the place needs is an inepedent buyer (or consortium) with about 1M burning a hole in his/her pocket that has drank there for at least 10 years and understand what the place does' date=' how it does it, and who it caters for. And they'd ahve to be prepared to keep it that way and not try out any new ideas. Seriously - the last thing that place needs is a new broom.

But here's my prediction...

Last time it was sold it went for something like 1.4M. Which was a lot, and would indicate annual profits of about 150K, which is decent money. The chain immediately made some minor changes which detracted from the place, and took the shine off it's edge. Next year we have the smoking ban coming in, this makes pubs harder to sell. Even the bigger chains are being more cautious about buying anything which is why the likes of Morgan's is still up for sale. I reckon that this time around the place will fetch nearer 1M, and in all liklihood, unless some retired oil exec with a liking for real ale can be found, it will go to a chain.

The next chain makes it 2 steps removed from the revered independent owner. More changes will be made with less respect for the places heritage... by some appointed manager, almost certainly not someone from Aberdeen, whose never set foot int he place before. Fruit machines will be introduced, and probably piped music like Ma Camerons. The menu will be changed to standard out of the freezer pub grub, like lasagne, scampi, BIG STEAKS, chicken maryland etc. The real ales will be changed from indepedent breweries to things like Directors Bitter, Tetley's, and Timothy taylor Landlord. Eventually the number of handpumps will be reduced from 8 to 4 to 2 and then to just 1 pump with some whacket Landord on it. Then it'll be changed out for another John Smith's font. But you'll get pints of Miller for a pound, and double house vodkas for 50p.

All the customers will drift away and new clientele seeking to get pished on 5 will fill the void. Eventually the place will be renamed something like 'Upstarts' and be given a 2M makeover than will rip out all the original fittings. It will turnover 50K a day for 4 months, then go bust a year later, where it will linger on the market until the asking price drops to 300K.

*SHUDDER* the poor Prince.[/quote']

Prediction?

More like sci-fi novel....

Here's my take on it all.

I reckon all pubs are on the decrease, times need to move on and there's too much strain on the force to cope with the rantings of 17 yr olds drunk on Bukky.

Pubs and clubs are good, but the competition for them around the streets of Aberdeen are frankly getting ridiculous.

Clubs that, like you say bring in cliental for about 4 months ..then go bust. Then remain just a building untill the price drops.

It looks scabby when that happens. and what the feck is the point.

So what the Government need to be doing, and IMO are doing at the moment, is keeping the younger generation away from the pub. Because they cant handle it, the force seemingly cant handle it, and the fact is, I'd rather go anywhere other than the city centre for a pint because of all these Nippy 17 yr olds thinking that there all grown up, drinking till they cant see, and making a complete nipple out of themselves.

And ! Like you say there putting a ban on smking next year, for who??? The vegetarians who ponce in once a month and are affected by it.

Bollocks, you don't like smoke, you go elsewhere. I like smoke, I stay!

Give us our Cafes that we so desprately need...Whats the effect? Everyone gets stoned and chills the fuck out...no fighting, just a happy bunch of mincers, and an extrordinaly huge Q for sizzlers...Mmmm Sizzlers The effects of alcohol are far worse than those of cannabis..

It pisses me off I tell thee..Legalise it, no issue and no need for a country to be so uptight, plus they can charge us for it...Defecits gone....Tax's lowered...and people who Whitey, not get their stomachs pumped....

Does anyone know why this hasn't happened yet>>>>?

[Flash@TMB]

Just int he last 2-3 years both Ma Cameron's and The Globe were consigned to chaindom. The Globe used to have an antique period fireplace in the gents. Gone. Instantly gone. And as for Cameron's? Might as well be renamed Yate's because the deocr is indistinguishable. Has been given the standard Belhaven make over, offers standard Belhaven food, and standard Belhaven products. Although Yate's and Belhaven are two different companies but both their pubs look the same and offer pretty much identical food even down to the diameter of the onion rings.

The road to hell was laid one slab at a time. And the sad thing is that once the chains have destroyed the character of these places it's very difficult to restore them.

Chains are only interested in, and driven by one thing. . Their rationale for buying somewhere like The POW would not be "oh what a lovely original little pub full of character that's doing a great trade". No no no. Their thinking is "Look at those non-conformest cunts taking valuable customers away from chaindom. THEY MUST BE NEUTRALISED!

Chains know they cannot compete with originality. There are plenty of people that would pay 2.20 for a pint of lager in The Prince in preference to 99p in a Wetherspoons. The Weatherspoons manager, usually someone with 3 O Grades that they've transferred up from the central belt to work 84 hours a week at 5 per hour is simply incapable of discerning a period fireplace from a chalkboard advertising "BIG STEAK PUB", or a freshly homemade steak and ale pie from a frozen chicken kiev. And he'd probably turn into a gibbering wreck if he couldn't locate the remote control for the BIG SCREEN TV SPORT at 2pm every Saturday brought to you by BSkyB and sponsered by Carling Extra Cold "the lager drank by most people in England".

Unfortunately there's bugger all we can do about these fuckers until the revolution comes.

[Princess]

News

This is up today..

[-matthEw-]

News

This is up today..

oh fuck.

[framheim]

i hope they don't fuck with estaminet too much either, it might be full of hipsters but it's got it's own character and you can usually get a seat and some good music in there.