The Bar Table: Nottingham's Bar and Restaurant Industry Discussion

So, who came to take a pew at The Bar Table?

• Nick Revill: Manager at Rocket at Saltwater
• Polly Reade: House Manager at Boilermaker
• Dan Carver and Jamie Barnes: Das Kino and The Bowery Club
• Matt Shelton: Director of DropHead Media
• Helen Brown: Assistant Manager of Copper
• Charlie Truman: Retail Liaison Marketing Manager at The Cornerhouse 

How have you seen the demographic of Nottingham weekend drinkers change over the last five years? 
Nick: Nottingham is still known as a ‘weekend destination’ for stag and hen parties, something that pumps huge amounts of money into the city. Even though the demographic of local drinkers is shifting, there are still big influxes of people on a Saturday – all after a big night out. Changes and restrictions concerning alcohol licenses in Nottingham have made it near enough impossible to open a new premises without having a food offering. This instantly puts an additional cost on opening a new venue, and means that the rolling conveyor belt of poor quality shots bars has come to an end. Add to that high rental costs in the city centre, and bars have to strive for quality to be able to charge the premium prices required to survive.

Polly: Students have always made up a big part of the Nottingham leisure scene, however it’s apparent that their drinking habits are changing. We see a lot of ‘non-student students’ out now, with money to spend and more of an interest in quality over quantity. How a drink looks and its presentation seems just as important as the cost and ingredients – probably because most of them end up on Instagram and Twitter.

Dan: The cheaper venues in Nottingham have really died out over the last few years. The new drinking crowd in the city centre are aged 25 to 35, and they’re happy to pay a bit more for quality. Now, even the younger generations care more about the quality of their drinks, rather than just drinking as much as they can, for as little money possible. Besides, they go out with the knowledge that anything they do could end up on social media, a pressure previous generations never had.

The city really peaked in the nineties, since then there have been numerous issues – crime, recession and generally a negative perception of the place. People that come back to the city now after having not visited in a while are surprised. A lot of clubs have sadly disappeared and the nightlife is more grown up. In a way it took a slump for these fresh ideas to come through.

Matt: Five years ago was a real low point for the Nottingham leisure scene. Since then, the recovery has been monumental – with new and interesting venues and concepts opening on a near-monthly basis. We are now seeing a different type of city centre – many of those people that made up the leisure scene a decade ago have left the Lace Market and now live in West Bridgford and Mapperley. This has resulted in high quality venues following the crowd and opening up in the suburbs – to much effect taking the ‘top layer’ off the centre. Hockley bars today are now made up of a whole new set of people.

It seems as if there was a new venue opening in the city centre every month last year – this looks set to continue in 2016. What do you think is driving leisure businesses to open new premises in Nottingham, and how is it changing the leisure scene in the city?Helen: Leisure really seems to be the only industry left in this city. The centre is small, so it’s one of the densest cities in the UK for bars and restaurants. As much as people sometimes say it’s reaching a saturation point, it’s clearly an attractive area for independent and chain restaurants to join.

Students still create a lot of the buzz here but we’re increasingly seeing an older crowd with more disposable income. A lot of places, like Copper, have sprung up in the suburbs to cater for those living out of town that are looking to get good quality food then wander home without having to worry about parking or transport. In a sense, that’s taken off the top level of customers coming into the centre - which is something all venues are feeling.

Nick: A lot of the new venues opening in Nottingham are part of much larger chains. They have huge finances behind them, an operation that means they can hit the ground running, fully booked from day one. If they were independent, standalone venues opening they may not survive.

How ‘healthy’ do you think the dining market is in Nottingham at the moment? There is a huge amount of competition fighting for the public’s disposable income – do you feel this is sustainable?
Charlie: At The Cornerhouse we work with lots of different venues so we really see how competition affects everyone. The amount of choice in the city forces restaurants and bars to give special offers to bring people in, but that isn’t always sustainable. Something like Groupon, while being great for customers, is a real headache for businesses – once you’re on there’s no coming off, and it can be a killer.

Jamie: At the moment, you can look around the city, see the bars and restaurants looking full and think everything is fine. Come summer, it might be a very different story. Nottingham is a reverse seaside town. Whenever that beach in the Market Square appears, the locals all leave to go abroad, or to holiday destinations around the UK. It’s actually quite tricky to bring people in during the summer months. You can almost guarantee that there will be a handful of venues that look healthy now, but will be on their knees or closed come autumn. It’s sad but that’s how it is.

What is exciting and disappointing you about the Nottingham leisure scene at the moment?
Nick: As quickly as bars become popular, they can often fall out of favour at an equally rapid pace. The Nottingham public is great at buying into new venues and concepts, and the support for independent bars is always great. However, in a similar vein to ‘fast fashion’, people have become more flippant. I think it’s tougher now to start a bar that’s in it for the long haul.
Charlie: As a resident of Nottingham city centre, the choice is brilliant. Every time I go out there’s always somewhere new to try. That said, working in the industry I can see that the volume of new venues is a concern. It looks exciting but whether it’s sustainable I’m not so sure.

Matt: I think it’s an exciting time for Nottingham. There seems to have been a new concept opening every other week, and there is a pretty good mix between independents and national chains. Nottingham has been playing catch-up on Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham for decades – now might be the time to really give the city a positive identity recognised across the whole country.
Polly: We are finding it harder and harder to hire highly skilled, experienced bar staff. There is a lot of competition for the best people, and as some of the more familiar faces are getting older – they are opening their own bars themselves. Many of the big chain venues come in with general managers parachuted in from another city – they then hire en masse, happy to take students working just one or two shifts a week. There is no real development of bar staff, and I think we might start to see a talent shortage in the coming years.

What would you like to see more of in Nottingham over the next five years?
Dan: There are plenty of bars and restaurants in the centre, but what else is bringing people in? There are a few attractions but generally they’re a bit poor. A lot of the better attractions in Nottingham are in the county and force people out of the city centre. It’s great for the suburbs but just leaves the centre without a real pull.

Helen: We have such a fantastic resource in the Market Square but it’s rarely used in a way that really excites people. It would be a brilliant place to showcase independent retailers and leisure vendors, but usually ends up full of the same old fairground businesses. To not make it easier for our local venues to have stands on the Square feels like a real lost opportunity for the city – it could be a brilliant advert for Nottingham, encouragement for other small businesses in the city, and probably a boost to the local economy.

Nick: Expansion out of the city centre – a road network that bottled footfall within roughly a square mile of city centre has strangled Nottingham. At the moment Nottingham doesn’t really have specifically designated ‘areas’ in the way that Manchester has the Northern Quarter, Deansgate etc. The development of the Broadmarsh will make it possible to walk (without crossing a road!) all the way to the train station. This could potentially open up huge amounts of space, including around the BBC building, for leisure and commercial developments.

What other cities do you think Nottingham should take inspiration from? 
Jamie: For a while now, I think Nottingham has led the way in terms of taking industry trends from London. There are many concepts that venues in the city have been the first to develop, before they reach the likes of Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham. Restaurants like Belgo opening their first venue outside of the capital is a big deal for Nottingham.

Nick: The Nottingham public is great in that it is very quick to embrace new ideas and venues. There is always public support for independent ventures, it’s just that the environment to encourage their opening isn’t there. Nottingham should be looking at cities like Brighton and Bristol for inspiration – they manage the balance between independent and chains extremely well.

The Bar Table took place at Rocket at Saltwater in March

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