The Gown Student Newspaper at Queen's University Belfast

Not only does the Union put profit before people, they put profit before students...and as far as I can remember it's a Students' Union...isn't it?

Also, the recent changing of 'general manager' to 'director' in the job description of Andrew Dodge just stinks of this whole "Union is a business, get over it" notion.

Don't accept this. PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT. Always!

there's no problem with the Union making money. The sooner everyone accepts the union is a business and like all other businesses its main motive is making money, the sooner we will all have become adults and not idealistic children.
The only reason for their existence (again like all other businesses) is to make a profit - what is wrong with that?

Three for a fiver has never encouraged me to drink three drinks really quickly, just you go for roudns with your friends. Parlour does it as well and as htey are so close, the union needs to be competitive. Also all the posters clearly state that it was over 18s only and ID was required.

The reaction to this is way over the top! First of all approximately eleven customers entered the doors of Speakeasy on the night of A Level results. Secondly the Three for Five deal is not something new- it was on offer on a Thursday night Mandela for a number of years (up until last year), is on offer on selected drinks every saturday in Bar Sub as well as the new Ragnarock night, so why only now has a fuss been kicked up about it? For a newspaper this isn't particularly news.

In answer to a few other comments:

- 3 for 5 being worse than all you can drink promos, in a word ridiculous. Firstly it isn't all you can drink for £25, it's £20 and has been proposed it be lowered to £15 in The Kremlin.

-The Union as a business- why is this a bad thing?

Ultimately no matter what drink offers are in place the responsibility is on the person who is drinking. If they don't know when to say when, they are to blame, not the drinking establishment.

haha,

saw Catherine Wylies little letter in the Irish News on saturday. Give it up love! your bitterness towards the union isn't gonna convince people that they are an evil megacorporation hell bent on blinding students to their nasty ways.

hopefully this years students don't get too bored of the gowns constant whinging!

btw i hear nobody showed up to this "party" and thats why the only way you can get your "story" any attention is through letters columns.

Sorry, the last paragraph should read:

Will this happen or are the present S.U. representatives capable of thinking outside of the “box” time will tell but I believe there is more chance of finding that the Moon is made of cream cheese.

Maybe those who actually run and profit from the S.U. bars should contemplate the unthinkable, stop taking any manner of form of renumeration in the form of expenses...

The money could then be reinvested in revamping not only the bars but the whole mentality of a S.U. sponsored drinking culture which doesn`t reflect the attitude of the majority of Queens students. Who vote with their feet, some through conviction many more simply because the S.U. doesn`t offer a relaxing alternative to the culture of drink...

But then this is the job of those paid to run the S.U. and instead of being an unwelcoming little self serving elite, they should for once act in the interests of the whole Queens student population and not those small unrepresentative cabals that elected them!

Will this happen or are the present S.U. representatives capable of thinking outside of the "box" time will tell but I believe there is more of finding that the Moon is made of cream cheeses.

this wouldnt have happened in the lily dufy era

the bot draws a crowd because it's a gaa stronghold, gaaers and culchies go there because renshaws closed, best having the scum of the student population off up the malone road, so the rest can enjoy their night out

@ Amused
@ jd1991

The Bot is probably one of the most common bars for QUB students...does it run any promos? It might, but none come to mind. Therefore, I would question jd1991 on this survey he/she is referring to. The Bot draws in the crowds effortlessly, and if I'm correct does not run any high profile drinks promos. Certainly not on the drinks I drink anyway. The Union shouldn't go down the drinks promo route, even to save face if nothing else. They should instead establish themselves as having consistently reasonably priced drink. Not a riduclous 'pound a pint' thing, but just prices which are reasonable enough. Therefore, they are not actively encouraging a "bulk buying" trend when a student goes to the bar. Simple.

And jd1991, questioning the gown on being a student newspaper? Just because it entertains the notion of questioning drinks promos for a-level students? Oh, please. Who are you jd1991? A stereotypical Holylands farm boy who loves his cheap beer and doesn't go to class and gets a 2:2 or lower?

Amused, I think what this highlights is the hypocrisy of the Union.

You can't have cheap drinks offers AND condem drink-fueled anti-social behaviour and the like. The Union can't have it both ways.

Amused, the issue is hypocrisy on the part of the union, this is a valid story. It isn't The Gown's place to tell them how to run their bars, besides the union reps have already responded IN the story.

In my opinion the solution to many of the union's bar woes is to offer consistent good value and sensible promotions that do not result in customers getting obscenely drunk extremely fast.

I'm taking note of a great many complaints and attacks on the Unions decision to provide drinks promotions. However, I do have to ask... If you consider these inappropriate then how would you run the Union Bars and what offers would you provide in the place of the current management?

I see a lot of complaining but no realistic suggestions or alternatives to what seems to irritate a number of individuals.

At last near two months into their office term I get an email from one of the VP's!

Motions of no confidence at 1st council me thinks

Beware, have you any other arguments that the 3 for a fiver deal is worse than all you can drink other than 3 for a fiver 'seeming innocent'?

How about buying 3 drinks for myself and my two mates fo a fiver and them returning the favour? Innocent enough to me i should think.

wtf gown?

aren't you supposed to be a STUDENT newspaper?

a survey of QUB students showed that more than 50% chose their bar of choice on drinks promos. shouldn't you maybe rein in yer self righteous busy bodying?

sure Renshaws did 3 for £5 for what - 10 years? didn't see you doing an exposé on them?

No doubt the sabbs and union staff will come on here and try to discredit this story and the Gown for even entertaining the notion of highlighting this issue.

Well, hopefully Gown readers, particulsrly new students, will not be influenced by these indignant attempts to rubbish Gown's decision to write this.

It is nigh on impossible for a union rep to defend a drinks promo and then in the same breath talk about drinking responsibly. And, yeah, we all have to take responsibility for our own actions and try not to drink too much ourselves. If we get drunk and fall on our face, it's our own fault. Nobody is denying that. But a Union cannot be hypocritical and behave blatantly like a business.

They need to be consistent. They really shouldn't bother with the posters and videos they produce to encourage people to drink less. They'd save money that they could spend on things they actually believe in.

The Union should be genuine. Not, exploitative and contradictory.

The 3 for a fiver deal that they run is in ways actually worse than city centre bars' "all you
can drink for twenty five quid" offers. Both those bars and the union have one common aim - to make money. At least the city centre bars are being open and honest about it. The union's 3 for a fiver deal seems innocent on the outside but could actually result in more drunk people than the city centre deal.

People have choices to make the whole way through life.
Drink and how much you drink is one of them! Quit trying to blame everyone around and let people make their own decisions.

Drink was considerably cheaper when I became a student and I didn't piss my education away, sure you can take advantage of drink offers - every other bar in town has them. If money isn't brought into our Union it will become a ghost town. During my time at Queens i had no idea what the union even did until i started going out there rather than into town - only then did i even know we had sabbatical officers. May sound stupid but look at the voting figures, I'm guessing there are lots more like me.

So the Union is a business - so what? we have previous sabbaticals to blame for that! Lets at least try and support it commercially rather than competitors who are doing the exact same.

Stop conforming to this nanny state and expecting every institution to lead you by the hand.

It is an issue for an individual to take responsibilty for how much alcohol they consume, that being said, the union staff should refuse to serve anyone who has already gone beyond their limits.

Drinks promotions such as 3 for £5 are not irresposnible, however continuing to serve someone who has already reached their limit in my opinion is.

how can any SU rep defend a drinks promo!!!

Could it be, that their "expenses" rely on these drink promos!!!

Hypocrites..

I'm really glad the Gown has highlighted this. It's something that usually we all just accepted as ok and normal. But having the A-Level party and immediately introducing the Union to prospective new students as a cheap drinking haven is disastrous. The same people advocating this promo will complain about the apthy of students and how it's so hard to get students interested in campaigns and voting etc. Maybe that's because students view the Union as a social club...and barely know anything about why it really exists. Again, I'm not at all against drink. I just think that instead of being completely hypocritical by running drinks promos alongside sensible drinking campiagns, that the Union should have reasonably priced drinks all throughout the year. Not really cheap drinks...but reasonable. At an amount that doesn't scream "irresponsible" and fly in the face of sensible drinking. The Union has been quiet enough for some time now...which would suggest that drinks promos aren't the road to go down. My friends and I love the Union...none of us actually drink any of the drinks that are usually on offer. The price of drink does not dictate where we spend out night out as students, and contrary to popular belief I think that is actually the case for a lot of people. In my opinion, social establishments are en vogue for a period of time....go out of vogue...and then come back. I think the Union is still slightly out of Vogue....but its time will return. It doesn't need to promote an environment in which students get pastered. Anyway, it is now en vogue to be a "sobreista".

"What better way to get a handle of life as a student?"

than by having a bit of craic in the student union? gownies, i hope this isn't gonna be another year of nitpicking at everything the union does?

if it is, you can continue to see the amount students care about the Gown dwindle. why not snoop around QUB in stead of the Union?

for goodness sake, the preachy tone of so many comments is getting the way of an actual date.

Should the union have bars?

If the union gets alcohol at a reduced wholesale price (through a consortium with other SUs) should they then pass this on to students?

if yes to the above - should the union advertise this?

Nathan Anderson's comment that the SU is "a business, a service, and also a union" shows that they have clearly lost any sense of what a Union is or should be. To them, it's a money-making exercise, first and foremost.

"What better way to get a handle of life as a student?"
I would like to know who moderates the Bars&Ents' Facebook page, because whoever wrote this should explain themselves.

I believe that offering such cheap drink promotions while running a safe drinking campaign is hypocrisy by the SU. Surely the Union's first duty of care is to the health and wellbeing of its students. The Union cannot promote both.

We all drink too much, myself included. Drinks promos are bad news.

Look at this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-11...

I bet her behaviour was fuelled by a night of drinks promos.

Newsflash! Students drink! Prospective students drink! The issue is the scale of the drinks offers compared to the 'regular' prices; 'all you can drink' is irresponsible, and is essentially baiting the market. If the Union established itself as a cheap night out for a few pints all through the week instead of these gimmicks that encourage people to 'get the most for their money', i suspect their financial troubles would be greatly reduced.