Questions

[Lee]

Hello.

My name is Lee.

I am just wondering about my theory on starting my own nightclub. What if I brought an old place like a Snooker Club, or somewhere thats going for cheap. Now from working on some temporary job, saving up to buy it, then I take out a loan to refurbish it into a club.

Do you actually need a licence to do this? or can you do it and all you need is a Liquor licence to sell beer and stuff.

Please put into account, this is only a theory. What do you guys think of this?

Thanks, Lee.

[avenuecardiff]

Lee,

There are no restrictions to how you layout your property, so you can turn it into a nightclub if you want, however, there may be some building regs/planning permission that would have be adhered to. With regard to invite people in and actually using it as a business, you will need a premises license, which will cost somewhere in the region of £500-£1000 plus fees. This is done via your local authority, and can take months to come through, so it would be an idea to start the application process as soon as you buy a property. In addition to the venue license, you will also need a personal license if you are going to authorise the sale of alcohol (ie managers and assistant managers). These cost around £100 and can be completed in a day. They are basically there to ensure that managers etc know the law and understand what they can and cannot do.

With regard to loans etc, your best bet is to go to a bank and speak to a financial advisor about your plan. Take with you some information, perhaps a bit of market research and an analysis of local competition. Also think about what you want to offer...10+ drinks on tap? This can be cheap because brewers more often than not will install the pipwork and taps for nothing, but you will need to install the cooling system yourself, which can go into thousands. The other alternative is a bottle bar. There is a lot more profit to had here, as you have no costs for cooling a keg room, however, fridges can be expensive, but the profit on bottles is a lot more. For instance a four pack from the supermarket costs approx £4, so a pound a bottle, these are usually sold in clubs for £2.50 to £3, so already thats £2 gross profit. Also worth noting that if you can find a good wholsale/cash and carry, you can hopefully bring the cost of the bottle down to nearer 70p or less.

So simple, eh?! Bear in mind that it will take a lot of work and time, and you should not expect to see much profit within 3 years as a general rule. Obviously this is dependant on your initial costs, your GP and how busy your venue is. Fitting out a medium sized venue (1,900 ft2) is going to cost at least £30,000, and that's on a budget!

Good luck!

[Lee]

avenuecardiff, thanks you for the reply and it totally answered what I asked, thank you for your help, really, I appreciate it, thanks alot!

- Lee

[avenuecardiff]

Glad I could be of help!

Has it helped with your decision, and what are your thoughts now?

Anthony

[Lee]

Yes it has, thanks alot man :D

[avenuecardiff]

I'm guessing by the :D that you are thinking of going for gold?! :cool:

One thing I forgot to mention is the Public Perfermance License, assuming you are going to play music in your nightclub?! :p