Hot of the press.
Bushys have been informed they have not won the tender for the beer tent on the bottle neck car park for TT2018
You heard it here first!

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Bushy’s Brewery is disappointed to announce that the company has been unsuccessful in its bid to run the TT Beer Tent at the Bottleneck Car Park in Douglas from 2018.

Earlier today, we were informed by Douglas Council that we had been outbid and as a result we had not been selected to operate the site we have spent so long fashioning.

Having celebrated the Beer Tent’s 20th anniversary during TT 2017, we are naturally devastated that such a piece of traditional entertainment will now no longer be in its rightful home.

We will be extremely sad to leave the site which Bushy’s Brewery began operating so many years ago following the closure of Bushy’s Bar.

However, this is not the end of Bushy’s Beer Tent.

Since the local authority announced it would be opening a competitive tender process to find an operator for the site, staff at Bushy’s have been making alternate plans should the brewery’s bid not be accepted.

Although at this stage we cannot say where the Beer Tent will be during TT 2018, preparations are in place to ensure Bushy’s remains at the heart of TT entertainment.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters, from the Isle of Man, the UK, Europe and further afield. It has been our absolute pleasure to welcome you to the festival, and we look forward to seeing friends old and new next year.

Absolute disgrace.
All the years that Martin and his team have spent building it up, only for once again, greed on behalf of both Douglas Corporation, and the winning bidder Hooded Ram .
Speechless....

hopefully all will follow busheys and the new crew taking over there hard work strugle to get the ccrowds in and loose a fortune

this is a good example that just because its tradion dosnt meen it will be there every year

ahh begger this is a shame I along with many others really enjoyed the Bushys tent. All the time and effort building the venue up gone to waste. With a bit of luck I'm hopeful the tent will be at another site unless someone puts a Spanner in the Bushys wheel again!!, with the island trying to attract the more discerning of motorcycle fans with deeper pockets I would have thought they'd have got a pimms tent in there.

I have never been a fan of Bushys Beer Tent but I have mates that are. Once again the local government seem to  want to spoil the biker fraternities fun. I hope all the hard work that Bushies
have put in over the years pays dividends and they find a good spot for their tent in 2018 and beyond.
Perhaps the other end of the prom near where Summerland was?

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Artisan and street food is it ??... hahahahahaha hahahahaha. I used to have a site visit at Borough Market in London, £5 for a scotch egg anybody ?, poncey tat food prepared sold in the wide open ... where pigeons fly and rats run ... Best of luck with all that

With regards to the ' Battle Of Th Bands' competition, they will have an very unexpected and expensive problem on there hands.
All of the bands that have performed previously on the Carole Nash by ELS Bushys stage ( long name, but it is what it is) have been local.
There is a petition started to get all local bands to boycott the Hooded Ram stage for two reasons. The first is in support of Bushys ( and quite a few of previous played bands have confirmed that they will boycott) and the second is the format of a Battle Of The Bands means that they dont normally get paid to play. So, they are going to have to pay a lot of money ( Hotels, ferrys etc ) to get some decent bands from this side of the water, or end up with a stage full of inexperienced local bands, which brings me to the next ( huge ) expense, the stage itself.
In the last few years, the stage and all the lighting, sound, and operation has been provided by local company ELS. They are the ONLY company on the Island that have these facility's, and for anyone that has taken any notice of what is on stage, there is about £200,000 of gear.
ELS have also committed there support for Martin and Bushys, and wont under any circumstances be providing anything for Hooded Ram.
Hooded Ram are going to sh*t themselves when they find out how much it will cost them to bring over an identical facility that ELS provide.
All this 'Artisan food' baloney is just aimed to same people who have promoted the whole VIP package that the DED provide. I cant see them venturing down to Douglas Prom, walking through the fair and all the local 'yoof' to get to there 'artisan' destination.
There has previously been another beer tent on the prom opposite the Villa, and that didnt work even with all the entertainment and road closures put in front of it.
I can see another Vision 9 debacle coming down the ( Tram) tracks ( sorry, could not resist that one)

I agree there's a good £200-£250k worth of stage, sound ,lighting equipment on display at Bushys, it's a very impressive and well run show beats me why they want to change virtually every aspect of the racing/festival both at the TT and classic/Manx, I understand some aspects will be changed inline with trends, social media,tv, improvement for added enjoyment and revenue, but it seems like they keep using the "to attract a wider audience" thing for everything, there's only so much of a wider audience out there surely, who are they? the wider Punter?folk that appreciate a good artisan pickle chutney at £20 quid a throw while paying £30 a day for a covered seat at hillberry. Interesting post there c iom tt sounds like a none starter for the new guys.

I am not a big fan of Bushys, something to be done a couple of times a TT with mates, the end of the free nutter displays and moving the bands outside spoilt it for me.  Good point was the speed of service - the staff were well trained to lash the beers out. Can't imagine anyone will want to eat any food, let alone 'artisan' within 100 yards - sticky floor, overflowing bogs with no where to wash anyones hands and piles of puke from drunken chavs everywhere. Theres something about the IOM government, local and national, that stops them making any sensible business decisions, they obviously have hired someone with A level business studies and come over all commercial.  The paying customers for the TT (yes we do pay) have shown year after year they want what Bushys offer - hot sweaty packed tent with reasonably priced beer and LOUD music If some twonk wants to run Camden Market with London priced beer they will hopefully be in for a shock - I sense skulduggery by the Council, if they genuinely thought there was room for another offer why didn't they stick it where the other beer tent was opposite the Villa? Can't think of  many likely alternative spots that don't belong to the Council - what about castle mona car park while its empty?

(20-07-2017, 10:05 AM)badlyoverdrawnboy Wrote: if they genuinely thought there was room for another offer why didn't they stick it where the other beer tent was opposite the Villa? 

Quite!
They could not make that tent work profitably even by taking the entertainment from outside Bushys, closing the roads outside the Villa and putting the entertainment there, infact, there was a lot more going on outside the Villa than they ever done at Bushys.

(20-07-2017, 10:05 AM)badlyoverdrawnboy Wrote: Can't think of  many likely alternative spots that don't belong to the Council - what about castle mona car park while its empty?

There is somewhere much closer than the Castle Mona, in fact, its almost directly opposite!

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