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Post by rubbishpay on Aug 29, 2009 15:05:33 GMT
IYesterday I posted a message on the official forum. I firstly said how great I thought the people from Bacchus were and how useful their delivery service was. I went on to say how, whilst in the village, I spoke to a landlord who told me that last year, the owners of 6 local micro-breweries had approached the organisers and put forward a proposal to arrange and stock the bars at this years festival. Obviously, in the current financial climate, this would have generated much needed income for the local economy and, in my opinion, provided better (and possibly cheaper) 'refreshments' for the festival goers. Unfortunately, these local firms were told that the barcontract had already gone out to a London based firm. The micro-breweries then put forward other proposals, whereby they would just provide one bar etc. They were told that this would not be possible as the London based firm would not allow it. I went on to say that I thought that this was a real shame and contradicted the Green Man 'ethos'. I also stated that I thought it would be a nice idea for other local shops (I used the example of the local newsagent) to be able to sell things on site, rather than contracting out to other, non-local firms.
This thread was deleted.
I went on again today to query why there was a need to delete this thread and intimated that the organisers would prefer people not to know what had really gone on. This was again deleted.
I feel a bit disgusted, to be honest; not just with their refusal to allow local, struggling firms to try to generate much needed money (in favour of these London based firms) but also with their apparent need to try to stop this information (which, due to the organisers lack of any statement to the contrary, I definitely believe to be true).
Green Man seems to try and portray itself as one of the more 'right on'/ 'greener' festivals; maybe this self perpetuated image is a little untrue.
Thoughts?
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Post by peridot on Aug 29, 2009 22:54:03 GMT
Hi rubbishpay and welcome to the unofficial forum.
I say your post in the 'other place' and also noticed that it had been deleted. It did surprise me as I felt there were a lot of other posts in recent days that needed to be deleted but were not. I would also have like to see some explanation, however brief, of the reason why this was not deemed to be a topic for discussion.
On the topic itself, I know that the organisers do work closely with local suppliers and the community in general so I do not believe that they are presenting a false image in any way. The bar arrangements for an event of this scale will obviously be subject to strict commercial terms and I would expect an exclusivity clause to form part of that so I would accept that it was not possible for the local breweries to have a separate facility on site.
The local firms might offer cheaper refreshments but if the main contractor didn't have exclusive rights the deal for green man would not be as good and the shortfall would need to be made up elsewhere.
In my experience Green Man has the most relaxed refreshment policy of any festival - allowing (or turning a blind eye to) deliveries to site from a local off licence is not something you will find at many other events.
I would also be wary of information provided by any local business interests as there will always be local politics at play. However if local micro breweries are interested in having a presence at future GM festivals this is something that I would hope could be accommodated within the overall arrangements for the bar facilities.
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Post by blackpumpkinhead on Aug 30, 2009 13:32:55 GMT
Good to come back to a more agreeable forum--sad to see the petty squabbles on the official forum. Also was surprised when your post was deleted-surely would have been better to have give a reasoned explanation--they might have just applied to late.I've always found the bars to have well kept drinks at a reasonable festival price with good service but its always disappointing to see the lager of choice at mass corporate festivals also the green mans choice.Its probably the one area of the festival which is not as good as EOR festival or lounge on the farm,but still good compared to most. I thought they were much more relaxed at taking your own drinks in this year.I'm not sure about the liberal approach to Bacchus because i don't think they would have any control over anyone using the roads around the festival site or parking near the gates. I think the festival was close to being perfect this year--in fact i couldn't get a word out of my wife driving home for the first hour because she was so upset that it was over.So many positives this year it seems a shame some people are trying so hard to find negatives.
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Post by cyfarthfa on Aug 30, 2009 15:42:49 GMT
Not a lager man myself...although the wheat beer was pretty good. Most of the beers did seem to come from relativly small brewers, not artisan or craft I admit, but reasonably local. But a 100% improvement on last year. The beer tents strike me as being a pretty complicated operation- and one that would cause consternation if it went wrong.
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Post by sullie on Aug 30, 2009 15:53:51 GMT
I'd have thought a real problem for the organisers would be relying on the really small local suppliers if they went bust. It's not like they brought in someone like Carling to provide the main bar and plaster their advertising all over the place is it? Crickhowell wasn't that far away either, and you could always carry your own stuff in if you where desperate I can imagine there has to be some compromise though to keep the prices of the bars and tickets down and the capacity to a reasonable amount.
Would have preferred Weston's cider though than Addlestones in the main bar. They're better and more local.
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Post by rubbishpay on Aug 30, 2009 20:00:27 GMT
I actually thought that the bars were excellent (although the prices were maybe a little dear, particularly for lager- £3 for a can of Red Stripe!) and I really enjoyed the festival; actually thought it was the best one by far at Glanusk.
I was just a little perturbed by how my original post was deleted, not once but twice. I'd thought that the organisers would have liked to reply to some of my comments or at least welcomed a debate, but obviously not. It's left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, to be honest. (Unlike the beer - ha ha ha etc.)
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Post by rubbishpay on Aug 30, 2009 20:09:19 GMT
Bacchus were one of the reasons I was able to enjoy the weekend so much; it's a shame that it may not even exist by the next festival. Ditto alot of the smaller local breweries.
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blarn
New Member
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Post by blarn on Oct 1, 2009 14:35:37 GMT
I worked on the bars to get a ticket and I can tell you that the festival runs them. They do not use a London based company.
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