Opening a bar or nightclub

Aaronmcooper1

Free Member
Jan 29, 2014
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I was just wondering if I could get some advice on where to go next. I've got plans for opening a bar or small nightclub.

What I have is...
- a name
- colour scheme
- idea of the night events
- drink and door prices
- where to buy the drinks from
- sounds system and dj equipment

Also I've been looking online at places, and I've seen a few but I was wondering something. It says asking price for example £120,000 and then it has annual rent £24,000. So do you pay both? Or either?

Thanks for any help given!

Aaron
 
B

Billmccallum

if you plan to start from an existing business, you will be looking at a minimum of £50,000 cash requirement (that's for a less than popular pub) roughly £15K- £25K for the lease and the rest as working capital.

If you are looking to start from new premises, more like £250K for a basic set up. (fixtures & fittings, sound & light systems, stock & working capital).

Then you need personal licences, etc (which you should already know about If you have come this far.
 
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10032012

Free Member
Mar 10, 2012
1,955
321
You wont get finance.

Any bank investing or even private investor, would want you to put in at least 25% of the total requirement, or for the bank to be able to secure it against property. This is assuming you have a good credit score (if you have no credit history despite it not being adverse, it will still be poor).

Nightclubs are highly reputation bound. Only takes a cooler rival opening up, someone getting attacked outside your club, a stabbing, or a spiked drink - and it could potentially shut your club... either people don't want to go there any more or your licence taken away. The big players like Luminar can afford a few deaths or incidents due to its size... a single club operator will find it tricky to survive.

Unless you are in a large city/urban area; the police would only be too keen to shut you down. There is ways of managing risks but no ways of preventing your business being destroyed overnight.

The biggest difficulty you would face if you were able to get investment is no one is in it for the longhaul... no one will own a stake in your company without dividend/ROI and the banks wont give you an interest free loan... so in addition to the ongoing costs of the club/bar; you have that interest to pay back which will be your biggest expense.

What I have is...
- a name
- colour scheme
- idea of the night events
- drink and door prices
- where to buy the drinks from
- sounds system and dj equipment

I don't want to come across as offensive but this is the bare basic that means absolutely nothing. You have worked out a brand (good), ideas for events (great), prices of drinks and entry (good) and the costs of sound equipment (good).

No mention of business rates, licensing costs, DJ hire, club capacity (you wont know this until you find a suitable location), electricity, LIGHTS (a nightclub without any form of lighting/lasers etc.?) etc

I know people who have succeeded in this industry, they generally favour the smaller clubs, refurbish... give it a name, promote... and close down in 6-9 months time; then begin the cycle; the first 6 months is the best, it starts to drop off after then.
 
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