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Whilst out working at the weekend I had a bit of an idea and would be interested to see how you guys would approach this if you were in my shoes.
So, myself and my girlfriend have a little side business and whilst we were setting up on Saturday, I had mentioned to her the room we were working in would make an ideal practise room for my snooker if i had a table etc. The room was a sort of miniature function room with a tiny bar with the shutters down. The building itself is a pretty big elderly members club complete with main bar/lounge area and 2x indoor bowls greens.
As it turns out the barmaid got talking to us and had mentioned that the room never gets used and she also mentioned that the lady who was using the room that day was the newly elected president of the bowls club. As the barmaid had mentioned that the room never gets used, I got chatting to the president and asked her what the deal was with the room and if there was scope to rent it for snooker for myself as my own practise room. She had said that at previous club meetings there had been talk of a pool table and maybe a little league so clearly, it's something that they would be interested in but has just never materialised. She also mentioned that the clubs are always looking for ways to improve/make money so I asked if she feels the board members would be open to a few suggestions I could throw their way on how it would work.
So how would you go about this ?
My thinking was...
Either I rent the room for my own personal practise room and be granted a key giving me freedom to go down and play whenever i want. Due to the fact i would be paying for the room and also the table etc that would be going in it club members would not be permitted to go in freely and play a couple games of snooker should the mood take them as it would be locked unless staff or myself needed in. This would protect me against table damage etc as it would all be coming out of my pocket.
or
They give me the room free of charge and I supply the table/half them for the table and equipment and members would be permitted to play on the table and maybe just stick £1 a frame in a jar and this would go towards table maintenance and all that comes with keeping the table in good order such as a re-cloth etc at the end of the year.
or if you can think of a better way to go about this to keep the costs to a minimum as playing in the club will cost more in the long run as I'd really like to get to a table at least 3 times a week to practise but costs soon rack up doing this.
Obviously, this would only be possible if it worked out cost wise as I'm still trying to win my girlfriend round with the idea and I have to keep in mind the cost of living etc at the minute. It wouldn't be the most expensive table either and with regards to having the table maintained if I was on my own I could opt for a faster and more responsive cloth but if it's the older lads there's a higher chance of it being damaged therefor I would probably play it safe with a club standard cloth.
To summarise I feel that the bowls club would be up for this idea as it may even pull in more members due to the additions of a snooker table to their club, and the way the president was talking it wouldnt be megabucks to rent the room but i guess its all about wheeling and dealing and the power of negotiation.
Any suggestions are welcome as to how i can go about this and hopefully if I manage to pull it off i could maybe even invite a local member or two down for a game.
Cheers for all the help.
Chris
So, myself and my girlfriend have a little side business and whilst we were setting up on Saturday, I had mentioned to her the room we were working in would make an ideal practise room for my snooker if i had a table etc. The room was a sort of miniature function room with a tiny bar with the shutters down. The building itself is a pretty big elderly members club complete with main bar/lounge area and 2x indoor bowls greens.
As it turns out the barmaid got talking to us and had mentioned that the room never gets used and she also mentioned that the lady who was using the room that day was the newly elected president of the bowls club. As the barmaid had mentioned that the room never gets used, I got chatting to the president and asked her what the deal was with the room and if there was scope to rent it for snooker for myself as my own practise room. She had said that at previous club meetings there had been talk of a pool table and maybe a little league so clearly, it's something that they would be interested in but has just never materialised. She also mentioned that the clubs are always looking for ways to improve/make money so I asked if she feels the board members would be open to a few suggestions I could throw their way on how it would work.
So how would you go about this ?
My thinking was...
Either I rent the room for my own personal practise room and be granted a key giving me freedom to go down and play whenever i want. Due to the fact i would be paying for the room and also the table etc that would be going in it club members would not be permitted to go in freely and play a couple games of snooker should the mood take them as it would be locked unless staff or myself needed in. This would protect me against table damage etc as it would all be coming out of my pocket.
or
They give me the room free of charge and I supply the table/half them for the table and equipment and members would be permitted to play on the table and maybe just stick £1 a frame in a jar and this would go towards table maintenance and all that comes with keeping the table in good order such as a re-cloth etc at the end of the year.
or if you can think of a better way to go about this to keep the costs to a minimum as playing in the club will cost more in the long run as I'd really like to get to a table at least 3 times a week to practise but costs soon rack up doing this.
Obviously, this would only be possible if it worked out cost wise as I'm still trying to win my girlfriend round with the idea and I have to keep in mind the cost of living etc at the minute. It wouldn't be the most expensive table either and with regards to having the table maintained if I was on my own I could opt for a faster and more responsive cloth but if it's the older lads there's a higher chance of it being damaged therefor I would probably play it safe with a club standard cloth.
To summarise I feel that the bowls club would be up for this idea as it may even pull in more members due to the additions of a snooker table to their club, and the way the president was talking it wouldnt be megabucks to rent the room but i guess its all about wheeling and dealing and the power of negotiation.
Any suggestions are welcome as to how i can go about this and hopefully if I manage to pull it off i could maybe even invite a local member or two down for a game.
Cheers for all the help.
Chris
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