Stanley are 2 chunks of work away from having completed what can be feasibly done with the ground, 1 is the away end and 2 is the new bar and office complex. When the Supporters Club asked for ideas of what the new bar could incorporate I suggested that the major thing has to be its out of hours usage. This needs to be decided BEFORE the work starts rather than building a box and seeing how they can use it.
The things that Monkey Hangar talks about ARE community use and I'd like to see consideration given to those things. They mightn't make money but the users become soft supporters. The more people we have who consider the club favourably, the less moaners there are in the community. 5000 shirts will have been given out to kids over the next 3 years (and last 2), thats 5-10,000 parents who have benefitted, up to 20,000 grandparents who may consider us in a better light - these things need to be continually built on.
Its not about making money, but we need to consider how not to LOSE money by doing them. Opening and heating a large bar is false economy for a non profit meeting, but could we possibly incorporate an open space shop/cafe/museum type place? Are we able to have staff in the building for longer hours so that nobody is coming in especially for them?
The bar could and should be open 7 days a week with a bit of forward planning.
