BUSHY’s boss Martin Brunnschweiler says he is ‘surprised and disappointed’ that the site of the TT beer tent will be put out to tender next year.

And Mr Brunnschweiler said he hopes the successful tender would not be selected simply on the basis of who submits the highest bid.

This was the 15th year that Bushy’s has operated the beer tent on the Bottleneck car park and in that time it has become an iconic landmark of the TT.

The brewery’s current three-year lease of the Bottleneck car park ends this year and Douglas councillors have resolved the site should be put out to tender.

Council leader David Christian said there was nothing wrong with testing the water and seeing who else was interested.

Mr Brunnschweiler learned of the news this week after returning to the island from a two-week trip to Cambodia.

He said: ‘On on the one hand I’m surprised as I think we’ve been doing a good job. On the other hand, I realise these are hard times. In the past there was a selective tendering process. Something has obviously changed if the Corporation want to go to open tender. I’m feeling a bit disappointed.

‘Normally we like to get an indication that everything is okay before the current year’s TT finishes. But this year I sensed something was different as I couldn’t get a comment from anybody at the Corporation.’

The Bushy’s boss said he ‘certainly intends’ to put in a bid but he expressed concern about what criteria will be used in selecting the winning tender. ‘I don’t know what the wording is and I hope that they don’t have to take the highest bid.’

He said making a profit on the beer tent was by no means guaranteed.

‘It’s very hit and miss. Two years ago, we made a profit by the skin of our teeth. People just assume that we clean up in the TT but we really sweat it out. It’s an expensive thing to put on and we don’t know until the last few days whether we’ll even break even. There are a lot of factors involved. If races are delayed there is a big knock-on effect on us.’

The Bushy’s boss said the 2009 TT, when the government took the decision to cut back on TT entertainment, had been ‘disastrous’ for the beer tent.

For 14 years up to the 1997 TT, Bushy’s had operated its pub on Victoria Street. When that closed, a 10,000-name signature was collected to support the idea for a beer tent across the road.

Mr Brunnschweiler said he was dismayed by the comments of one Douglas councillor Ritchie McNicholl who said the TT is bigger than Bushy’s and that ‘maybe someone fresh should come to the site’. ‘I think that’s an unnecessary thing to say.’ said the brewery boss.

He said there would be a number of people from both on and off-island who might be interested in bidding. ‘We mustn’t be complacent.’ he said.




By Adrian Darbyshire

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