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| - TLDR: The new Commonwealth Bar charged a $5 cover on Sunday, when I have seen graveyards with more life.
EDIT Address of bar/pub/club/lounge/bar-club hybrid or whatever it thinks it is (a plub? Clar? Lounbar? Barounge?) WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU? is, 731 10th Ave SW.
Driving past that new Commonweath Bar that I have watched being built/refitted or what have you, a few days after it opened, I thought to myself, 'Hmm..I will stop and check it out inside, have a quiet pint before heading home.' (I live nearby).
Walking along the window, I note the three, maximum four persons at the bar inside, some of them are possibly freinds of the owners.
Undeterred, I walk in, past the nice coat check girl.
"Hello!" she says, brightly.
"Oh, hello!" I reply, stopping to pace a step or two back to about to ask her what beers she had.
"Five dollars please!" she stated, surprising me.
"What for?", I countered.
"Cover charge." - she blurted.
"Oh? Is there a live band playing or on?" I asked, genuinely perplexed. I didn't catch her reaction as two male members of staff had sauntered over, perhaps to actually talk to a real live customer, instead of eachother all night. This was at 10:45pm on a Sunday. The joint was a graveyard, I could tell, there was no hubbub of voices trying to compete with the music, it had that empty, 'echoey' sound to it, as if one was playing a boom box in an empty room with hard walls. I asked them what beers, they had. Rolling Rock, apparently. Okay, a Bud-Anhauser Busch product, not a good start.
"Anything else? Anything European?" I enquired.
"mmmmmmm" Thought the taller man.
"Guinness?" I prompted.
"Nope. But I think we have Newcastle Brown in cans.", volunteered the shorter man.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. (not because Newky Broon Ale is bad, it isn't - it's delicious at about 13c, but serving it on tap would be a hell of a better idea, if only put it in front of peoples eyes, and perhaps then bud drinkers to try and and therefore educate the plebes on a beer that tastes of, well, beer.)
"Is this place a bar or club?" Seeing if I could find out what on earth charging $5 was actually for.
"A club." Replied the shorter man, positively.
I thought a moment about appealing to their sense of ridiculousness by pointing out the evidence, that the sign, stated 'Bar' outside, and the last time I checked, bars, do not normally charge covers if nothing special is happening. I quickly thought better of it, as I didn't have the energy nor time to debate bar staff who were sperm when I was running pubs, on how a bar, has the gall to charge an entry fee, and why I should not. I parted ways with the 2 black polo uniformed barmen with a simple resigned, "Nevermind.", turned on my heel, and left.
Dear Commonwealth, here's some tips, from an experienced pub landlord, that has managed several pubs in the UK, from London, to Aberdeen, and a few cities in between.
Don't charge customers money just to get into your pub/bar. Pubs in the UK and most of mainland Europe don't charge money to get in, and ours mostly do a roaring trade.
Want to be different? Then don't stock the same old fizzy, stone cold, tasteless piss that counts for beer, that EVERYONE ELSE stocks. You know, the usual suspects, Molson, Coors lite, bud, Canadian, Keith's, kokanee etc. Try stocking beer, that oh, I don't know, actually tastes of something. Pilsner Urquell, London Pride, Marston's Pedigree for eg.
Enough with the 'non gimmick' gimmicks. Maybe you are charging $5 to pay for the obscene cost to refit the bar in brand new sexy minamilist panelling everywhere, stuffed birds behind glass, and zeus knows what other props stuck behind a bar. How's this for a theme? Dark wood panels, cozy nooks, lower ceilings, soft furnishings to absorb echoes. Not everyone wants their bar to look like a branch of IKEA. Take a leaf from the JD Wetherspoon company in the UK. No music, TVs, Video games, just cheap good beer and food. They make money hand over fist.
Sorry Commonwealth, but your 'Uncommon Bar' is a similar to what most others are doing in Calgary. Same old beer, same old trying too hard theme, same old high prices. Yawn. Nothing to see here, next.
**UPDATE** A month or so later around December time, in really bitter cold weather, my partner wanted to go by themselves, to 'give it another chance', and to join a couple of chums already inside. After my other half comes back home, they tell me that they were waiting outside in a queue, in -20c weather, the queue was about 20ft long, and the place was only 1/3 full inside. This was, I believe, quite early in the evening. I was incredulous, so I drove around a 10 min short trip to look. Sure enough, a queue, and looking inside, tables empty, and Id say 2/3 full now to be generous. Meanwhile people are freezing their asses off outside. Commonwealth, you better have a good excuse for this type of callous disregard for potential spending customers. Avoid!
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