Retail, Food & Drink Outlets Thread

[lbaspotter]

Its a bloody airport bar not some local pub down at the end of you street, What were they thinking??

Same old "Yorkshire Evening Post" with it anti LBA views now-a-days, Its such a shame as they use to be big supporters of LBA as well in the past!

 

[whoshotjimmi]

Simon Jenkins ought to bob down to Heathrow Terminal 5 where, despite one of the largest and calmest terminal buildings in the world, the bar is still chaos (and is under a low ceiling with a walkway right through the middle with no windows to the outside world). He also might think about going to Manchester Airport Terminal 3 where the bar is the focal point of the entire terminal, is where everybody congregates and, again, is total chaos (and is currently partially a building site with no windows to the outside world).

However.

We are not comparing airports or bars and, as a review goes, the man with a thousand clichés has summed it up reasonably well. It is too noisy, it is too busy, the service is lousy, it is a bit scruffy and it is definitely overpriced. I applaud his solid grasp of the English language and his skill in using it to paint an abstract picture of the story he is telling.

I feel that it should also be pointed out that the review ends on a reasonably positive note, with a fair and capable description of the goods on offer in an apparent attempt to add some much needed balance to the piece, giving the bar a little credit for the things that are done well. Despite this, the aforementioned Mr Jenkins has not escaped my derision....

As lbaspotter rightly points out, it is a bar in a airport - a busy, frantic, chaotic environment. He writes the review as though it is to be lambasted for not having regular punters; as though the function of it is for customers to turn up on a Sunday evening and have a quiet pint whilst reading the paper. One of the vagaries of an airport bar is that there is no predictable pattern of custom. It does not attract a certain type of visitor (despite the petty assertion that Tomato Ketchup suggests a low class clientele) and it does not have traditional busy sessions. One could walk in on Thursday morning at 6am and find a raucous, drunken atmosphere with little room for manoeuvre or arrive on a Saturday evening and find it less energetic than the Duracell bunny.

What I imagine has happened here is that Mr Jenkins has been on his well earned holiday, found the pub was not to his liking, wrote a very subjective review in the time that he had to wait for his flight and submitted it to his superiors in lieu of visiting another pub. I think the YEP then published such a poorly manufactured article happy in the knowledge that, regardless of what they print on the matter, they won't substantially alter the fortunes of one retail unit with a captive audience of three and a half million people a year. Had the review been about a start up ale house with a few loyal customers where a poor review could be the difference between success and failure, I suspect more care would have been taken.

Whatever the case may be, Mr Jenkins has seen an opportunity to make a name for himself and, to a certain extent, he has succeeded as we are discussing his article here in the Forums4Airports book club. But he may look back upon this piece of work in the future as one of the reasons he didn't quite make it out of the low rent regional paper serving the very people he tries to abuse - the low rent regional paper that is lucky to have him - to the big leagues of the national tabloid, or even broadsheet press. After all, if he wants to write good reviews he needs to know his stuff and remain objective, even if he wishes to display his linguistic ability ad arbitrium.

His piece suggests neither skill is attributable to him and, though The Saltaire Bar takes twelve rounds of pounding, it is he that is left flat out on the canvas.

 

[JakeS]

What I imagine has happened here is that Mr Jenkins has been on his well earned holiday, found the pub was not to his liking, wrote a very subjective review in the time that he had to wait for his flight and submitted it to his superiors in lieu of visiting another pub. I think the YEP then published such a poorly manufactured article happy in the knowledge that, regardless of what they print on the matter, they won't substantially alter the fortunes of one retail unit with a captive audience of three and a half million people a year. Had the review been about a start up ale house with a few loyal customers where a poor review could be the difference between success and failure, I suspect more care would have been taken.

Hear hear!

 

[LeedsPilot]

Finally a review on alcohol sales in airports. It's been mentioned countless times on the forum that many of the incidents involving drunk passengers could entirely be avoided if the existing laws on serving intoxicated individuals was adhered to more closely. I'm sure this will also be welcomed by Jet2 who in my opinion have been setting the trend and bringing the issue to the forefront of the news, particularly in the last year or so.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36920665

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Interesting dilemma. Would or should passengers in premium lounges also be restricted in the amount of complimentary alcohol they could consume there?

 

[Aviador]

Note the report says they will only "look" at it and there are "no plans to specifically address the issue."

 

[LeedsPilot]

The issue is definitely complex and it'll be interesting to see what the "review" finds or recommends. However I don't think that the issue will die down anytime soon - especially with the work being done by the airlines themselves. Hopefully a suitable compromise can be found.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

There needs to me more action at the gate without allowing the problems on board.
There are at least two issues that are not properly sorted at the gate and left for the poor cabin crew to sort out, drink and overweight/oversized cabin luggage.
Certianly when I was in Essex recently you were being breathalyzed as you entered clubs if it was felt you had had too much to drink, the level was double the drink/drive limit, surely we can adopt the same level for going on a plane. Even people who passed the test were barred if they were unsteady on their feet etc.
There needs to be equipment for weighting hand luggage at the gate and controling it on board.
Ryanair and Monarch are controlling the number of cabin cases taken on board, Jet2 unfortunately are not.

 

[Aviador]

From the moment you arrive at the airport you become a customer. It's all about pleasing the customer. Now for most people that's how it should be but in a customer service driven environment there is very little way of deviating from this. Having had firsthand experience of the way airports work I can assure you that customer service and speed of access at check-in, through security and boarding comes first before anything else. The security of passengers does not make airports any money. Why do you think airport security get paid similar to cleaners and wear a customer service, "please everybody" style uniform? You wouldn't expect a policeman to be wearing a waist coat for example. The whole design of airports is geared to making people drink with numerous bars encourage multiple spends. At LBA you can buy beer at Café Rittazza, again from the Soltaire and again at the Sports bar. A different theme at each to encourage almost a bar crawl culture. Not to mention the alcohol you can buy at World Duty Free.

 

[752]

New Boots store set to open up in the terminal, is this replacing Superdrug?

 

[B737]

Yes, the now closed Superdrug unit between WDF and WHSmith is currently being fitted out as a Boots.

 

[Aviador]

Boots will be hugely popular although I'm disappointed it's not in addition to Superdrug as opposed to instead of it.

Out of interest is anybody aware of what is planned for the void area that is being filled in at the top of the escalator leading from security?

 

[tleeds]

Boots will be hugely popular although I'm disappointed it's not in addition to Superdrug as opposed to instead of it.

Out of interest is anybody aware of what is planned for the void area that is being filled in at the top of the escalator leading from security?

What has been said is that the Boots image "Fits in" and is "More in line" with the kind of brands/shops the airport want within the airport.
Saying that apparently the new floorspace above Check-In Hall A and opposite Travellex along the walkway into Departures is going to be a Subway.. A nail-bar/spa has also been rumoured by airport staff.

The current layout of the new floor space is actually on two levels and looks more like it is going to be a sandwich bar/cafe rather than anything else. It looks like at the minute there is a lot of bar-stool style seating in place at current, so probably something like a Subway!

I've heard it was the airports decision, rather than Superdrug's to end the tenancy...

 

[imagineif]

Long overdue, they need to start by stopping World Duty Free and Alpha from selling Miniatures in Duty Free too as people buy those to avoid detection by crew onboard as they are usually identical to the stock they have.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

What has been said is that the Boots image "Fits in" and is "More in line" with the kind of brands/shops the airport want within the airport.

Interesting, you swap from Superdrug owned by the worlds largest health and beauty retailer, for Boots owned by what is not even the leading H & B retailer in America (Walgreens)
Maybe Superdrug owners who own 3 phones, Felixstowe docks, Hong Kong Docks etc etc and one of the largest infrastruture groups in the world were seen as a threat to LBA owners. (just joking)
I am fairly sure CK Hutchinson Holdings have far more to offer LBA for the future then Walgreens, however, they employ some fabulous negotiation staff and maybe it came down to money in the end.

 

[tleeds]

Interesting, you swap from Superdrug owned by the worlds largest health and beauty retailer, for Boots owned by what is not even the leading H & B retailer in America (Walgreens)
Maybe Superdrug owners who own 3 phones, Felixstowe docks, Hong Kong Docks etc etc and one of the largest infrastruture groups in the world were seen as a threat to LBA owners. (just joking)
I am fairly sure CK Hutchinson Holdings have far more to offer LBA for the future then Walgreens, however, they employ some fabulous negotiation staff and maybe it came down to money in the end.

I think it was more down to the fact that from a consumers point of view; if you think of a pharmacy to go to on the high street for example, Boots would be the number 1 in the U.K.

...And probably would entice more footfall than a Superdrug store would. You'd be surprised even after walking past Superdrug, how many passengers ask is there a Boots..!!

A lot People stick with what they know and that's Boots over Superdrug!

 

[Aviador]

With the limited space available I'm sure money was the primary factor in their decision.

 

[B737]

Apart from Boots, I wonder what and where the new shops will be?

 

[B737]

LBA are advertising jobs on their website for the new store. The job description describes the store as: 'a brand new concept store selling fashion and sportswear for the summer season, with the store expecting to trade from mid-May until the end of October initially.'

Personally I was hoping for a Made in Yorkshire style outlet selling local products and souvenirs, or even better as rumoured somewhere else a Subway, like at Doncaster.

 

[JakeS]

'a brand new concept store selling fashion and sportswear for the summer season

Mike Ashley's USC brand instantly comes to mind