So then, the big day is finally here. The paint has dried, the floor has been varnished, the beer bought and the brass buffed and shone. We have our invitations in our pockets and we’re all off to the Kings Head Private Opening Party tonight, and then the Grand Opening tomorrow.
That being the case, now is probably an appropriate moment to stop and consider what the opening of the Kings Head might mean for the Taps and her regulars.
There seem to me to be several scenarios.
I suppose that the worst case scenario is one in which the Kings Head super pub hunts, kills and eats the plucky little Taps small regular’s pub. And let’s be fair – it’s not an unreasonable concern. I mean we know that it will have a good manager in place who certainly knows what she’s about (and who we all already like and know). We know that it will have a wider range of interesting beers on and (according to all the reports I’ve heard) that the place is looking good. We know that (apparently) the bar stools are wonderful oak and leather creations (complete with backrests), and we know that due to the slightly higher prices (and the range of drinks on) that it should attract the older more civilised crowd who make up the bulk of the Taps regulars.
That being the case will the Taps regulars defect wholesale to the Kings Head? Because here’s the thing. The Taps mid week after work regulars aren’t there because of the price of the drinks, they’re just there. That’s why there’s no difference between those who are there on Mondays (with Monday club prices) and those who are there on all the other days.
That is, it’s not the prices that keeps us there but the quality of the pub experience itself.
The Kings Head is also attractive in that it’s a real pub – complete with real ales and little alcoves and right angles on the bar. And that’s an attractive proposition for a bunch of people who genuinely love pubs.
Equally, the higher prices in the Kings Head should, in the long term, make it less of a draw to the George and Ratlers crowd who flock to the Taps on a Friday and Saturday night (and sometimes on a Thursday), which is a massive inducement to the regulars to go to the Kings Head on a weekend.
All of which makes for a fairly convincing argument for total destruction.
[I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure].
Do I think that will happen? Not really. I think that the more likely scenario is that the mid week regulars will, for the most part, stay the mid week regulars. I mean we’ve got a good thing going here so why spoil it? We know what we’ve got. And what we’ve got is cosy and comfortable and nice.
The weekends and the odd Thursday night are a different proposition entirely. Now, there’s nothing I like more than getting to Taps on a Friday evening after a long week at work, but after 10pm or so it just gets too busy (often with some not terribly nice people in). Now assuming what I’ve said above about the Kings Head holds true, wouldn’t it be nice to go somewhere which will stay consistently nice in the transition from the evening to the night?
All told, as I say, I think the most likely scenario is that the Taps will mainly stay the same during the week but that of a weekend we’ll just wholesale give it over to the rowdier younger crowd who like the impossibly loud music and the huge numbers of people crushed together like garlic in a Frenchman's kitchen.
I also think that the Kings Head will come to be the place for the big events – the big football games. Christmas Eve. Birthdays and Leaving parties [I think that partly that will be because given the choice the bar staff won’t want to use the Taps for stuff like that. I mean, really, they spend half their time working there, will they really want to drink there as well – well unless they’ve got loads of tickets to use that is]. It will be the place where people will say, ‘lets go the Kings Head it’s too busy/scummy/dead in here’ (depending on your personal point of view).
All in all I think that it will mean the death of the pure Taps faithful and with it that very clearly defined sense of community. It seems to me that what will instead develop are people who either use the Kings Head exclusively and people who use both the Taps and the Kings Head regularly, because there really aren’t any good reasons for not using the Kings Head at all, while I can well see why some people wouldn’t want to use the Taps.
All I think we can be certain of is that we’re seeing the end of an era tonight. I don’t know how things will change, but change they will.
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