Serious Tiki Bar Survey... - General Tiki

TC Tiki Chris Member London Joined: Mar 24, 2002 Posts: 1542	TC Tiki Chris Posted posted on Fri, Jun 21, 2002 3:14 AM South London Pacific is a new (opened w/in the past 6 months) & seems to be a relative success. Here are some observations as to why I think it's done so well (although I'm sure theandrewssister could probably sum up the SLP scene better than I): SLP is sort of an extension of the Club Montepulciano scene: http://www.clubmontepulciano.com/ & thus, upon opening, SLP already had a sort of built-in clientel of various alterna-types & hipsters. SLP is a destination venue. It's not a local pub. Odds are that on a busy Saturday night many of the patrons were not from the nearby area. This also is a bit of a disadvantage for SLP b/c there's just nobody around on, say, Monday or Tuesday night. SLP is in London, a cosmopolitan metropolis w/ a zillion residents & visitors. In a city this size, there are bound to be a small to moderate core group to keep any sort of scene/genre specific venue in operation (as long as it's reasonably well managed & stays abreast of its customers' interests). Additional Comments: Music: what seems to go overwell @ SLP is music w/ a beat. Food: SLP tried selling "tiki tapas" but its customers just weren't down w/ it. Novelty: A lot of people seem to go to SLP to see & be seen - it's not just a place to where some guy where's his loudest aloha shirt but also where someone will come in wearing a paisley-on-paisley suit (w/ paisley shoes) or some sort of latex/fetish garb, etc. SLP also has house music sometimes during the week...I imagine people into house music might find it novel to dance in an "exotic" & off the wall venue. Image: SLP seems to be going for an "in-crowd/in-the-know" sort of image. Anything that could be considered as too kooky or kitsch would probably not go over very well. Even though SLP serves fruity drinks w/ parasols (& both customers, & staff's tongues are firmly placed in cheeks), there's still a dominant edge to the place that might be lost or damaged if, for example, staff wore grass skirts or too much Martin Denny was played too regularly. :sheckymug:

South London Pacific is a new (opened w/in the past 6 months) & seems to be a relative success. Here are some observations as to why I think it's done so well (although I'm sure theandrewssister could probably sum up the SLP scene better than I):

SLP is sort of an extension of the Club Montepulciano scene:

http://www.clubmontepulciano.com/

& thus, upon opening, SLP already had a sort of built-in clientel of various alterna-types & hipsters.

SLP is a destination venue. It's not a local pub. Odds are that on a busy Saturday night many of the patrons were not from the nearby area. This also is a bit of a disadvantage for SLP b/c there's just nobody around on, say, Monday or Tuesday night.
SLP is in London, a cosmopolitan metropolis w/ a zillion residents & visitors. In a city this size, there are bound to be a small to moderate core group to keep any sort of scene/genre specific venue in operation (as long as it's reasonably well managed & stays abreast of its customers' interests).

Additional Comments:

Music: what seems to go overwell @ SLP is music w/ a beat.
Food: SLP tried selling "tiki tapas" but its customers just weren't down w/ it.
Novelty: A lot of people seem to go to SLP to see & be seen - it's not just a place to where some guy where's his loudest aloha shirt but also where someone will come in wearing a paisley-on-paisley suit (w/ paisley shoes) or some sort of latex/fetish garb, etc. SLP also has house music sometimes during the week...I imagine people into house music might find it novel to dance in an "exotic" & off the wall venue.
Image: SLP seems to be going for an "in-crowd/in-the-know" sort of image. Anything that could be considered as too kooky or kitsch would probably not go over very well. Even though SLP serves fruity drinks w/ parasols (& both customers, & staff's tongues are firmly placed in cheeks), there's still a dominant edge to the place that might be lost or damaged if, for example, staff wore grass skirts or too much Martin Denny was played too regularly.

:sheckymug:

Post #2540 by Tiki Chris on Fri, Jun 21, 2002 3:14 AM