This Opinions Piece Was Submitted Anonymously …
Those of us who have spent years frequenting George Street are seeing a change on our beloved entertainment district. And not for the better.
Just a few years ago, crowds of people of ALL ages flooded George Street every weekend and all summer long. It was always busy, and bar hopping was a necessity to see who was out. Often times the street itself was so full that you’d be able to spend the whole night outside and still have fun and see dozens of friends.
But lately the street is a ghost town most nights with the exception of a few consistent bars, or whichever bar is hosting the most hyped event of that week (if any). Many bar owners are struggling to keep their doors open due to a lack of market in the formerly prosperous area, and industry related workers from taxi drivers and food service establishments are feeling the pinch as well.
Many theorize that the slowing economy is to blame, however industry staff and bar owners who have experience will often attest to the fact that historically George Street has gotten busier in harsh economic times. People seek entertainment more when stress levels rise, even when money is sparse. So where has the market gone? Has George Street just lost its appeal to locals and tourists alike?
The Role of Minimum Drink Pricing …
Competition on the street is dead, and the market has become almost impossible to breach. Though there were many possible factors leading to this, one of the main issues that allowed such a polar shift in the market was the provincial minimum drink pricing rate (a part of the Liquor Control Act).
This, in combination with the wholesale liquor crediting (discounting), has opened the doors for mini-monopolies to develop and prevent competitors from entering or surviving in the market.
The minimum drink pricing in Newfoundland is among the lowest in Canada at $1.67 per Oz or 355ml beer. This makes deals like 3 for 5 just barely legal.
At rates like 3oz for $5 it is almost impossible for bars to make enough profit to survive considering 3 vodka cranberries will cost over $5 when taking into account cost of cups, straws, ice, juice, and liquor (not to mention the labour from the bartender, Dj, and security during the time it takes to make the drinks).
Similarly three 355ml beer these days will cost you over $7 at the liquor store. It’s also important to note that the price of alcohol goes up every year too due to taxes. And in case you weren’t aware, Liquor licensed establishments pay the same for liquor as you do up from at the liquor store!
So how is this even possible? How can bars possibly make a profit when selling drinks so cheap?
The first strategy is an age old business technique where the most profitable business in an industry or area willingly takes a loss on the products they sell to make sure the entire market comes to them, maintaining the competitive advantage until they either run out of money or bleed the competitors dry (at which point they raise prices again unopposed).
This method is legal and often used in the business world, however when the product that is getting sold for next to nothing is a drug like alcohol there should be some concern for public mental and physical health as a result of this practice.
The Role of Liquor Discount Incentives …
The second method that allowed a market monopoly to take place was Liquor discount incentives.
As a liquor retailer, depending on the liquor or beer representative, the business receives 1 free bottle of liquor for every 3 or 5 bottles of their sponsored brand purchased (Basically buy three get one free). The same goes for beer products as well.
Therefore the higher the sales of a bar, the more free booze they get, which they in turn sell for the minimum legal price to undercut competitors, leading to more sales and more free booze to sell for the minimum and the process grows exponentially.
The longer this goes on, the more difficult it is for new bars or existing bars to try and regain enough sales to become once again profitable.
The above factors are causing a rapid narrowing of the market on George Street because:
- Those who don’t enjoy the music, environment, or dense crowds of the dominant bars are now refraining from going downtown at all.
- Struggling bars are turning to bending or breaking rules like drug or age policies to facilitate more sales, leading to an increase in unsavory characters and drug-related violence on the street and a decrease in those who try to avoid that type of environment.
- Since cheap drinks and binge drinking mainly cater to youth, relatively older people feel less welcome on the street anymore and refrain from going down.
- Music enthusiasts and musicians who crave unique or local music are turned off by the commercial music nature of the dominant clubs and no longer attend George Street.
- Many bars on the verge of closing their doors.
Not only is this trend affecting bar owners, taxi drivers, and the food industry, it also hurts our local economy in other ways. Binge drinking often leads to destruction of public property, costs incurred from arresting or controlling belligerent citizens, crime rate increases, and immediate and long term medical expenses charged to taxpayers.
Tourism is also taking a massive hit by this trend. There’s not much reason to visit the island for George Street anymore, once boasted as the highest density bar district in canada, it’s now just a sketchy ghost town with a few busy bars. Not to mention the bad press the street has been getting on news outlets from the telegram to CBC to The Globe and Mail for violence and sexual assault likely at least in part, due to the recent trends.
So Who Sets the Minimum Drink Prices?
Provincial governments are responsible for setting these regulations and every province does it differently. Newfoundland has one of the lowest minimum drink rates (and highest rates of binge drinking).
Newfoundland in particular hasn’t changed its prices since the early 90s, meaning in hasn’t been adjusted for inflation over the past 16 ish years. Meanwhile taxes on alcohol increase every year, making it even harder to sell at the minimum drink price every year.
Accounting for 16 years of inflation the minimum drink price should be around $2.68. After adding the increase in cost of liquor over the past 16 years to the equation it should be well over $3.00 in Newfoundland right now.
The Health & Cultural Implications …
According to the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse “higher prices translate into lower consumption and reduced alcohol-related harm, while lower prices lead to increases in consumption and related harm.” This provides reliable evidence that lower prices are related to alcohol related harm, at the same time these lower prices are targeting our youth who will be at the forefront of the damage done.
“NIAAA defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL. This typically occurs after 4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men—in about 2 hours.”
3 for $5 or $2 drinks is an insane drink price when you consider the facts above. One person can walk into a bar, drop $5 and drink 3 drinks within 2 minutes. Since you can’t hold 3 drinks at once, chugging them is common.
When 4 drinks in two hours can be defined as binge drinking, how can we justify serving drinks this cheap? Then we wonder why there’s so much violence on the street and why our population has staggering rates of mental health issues, drug abuse, and obesity.
About a year ago the City of St. John’s tried to weigh in on their opinion for why there’s so much crime on George. “What’s happening is that sometimes when the bars close people congregate in that area and things happen that shouldn’t,” said Art Puddister, council representative on the committee.
Puddister is alluding to fights, drinking on the street, and drug use. All of which escalates, the committee suggests, when crowds spill from bars onto the famous downtown strip.” The report also suggested moving food vendors off George Street and into a well-lit location.
It’s absolute insanity to blame the on-street location of food carts (a damn good way to sober up by the way), or the fact that people tend to be social and stand in groups.
It’s also wrong to blame the time of day for violence and crime. The time of day is literally just the location of the sun in reference to the point where you’re standing, so no Mr. Art Puddister, the sun’s position in the sky does not affect a human’s capacity or tendency for violence. Lets look at the real issues here, and start addressing them.
The Cultural Implications of These Changes …
George Street used to be a place of musical inspiration, a place where musicians from all over the province could come play or enjoy local music, or just music that is generally unique from the radio.
The current generation of patrons are only interested in getting drunk cheap and quick. They pay no regards to the real musicians who bust their ass for true love of the art (this includes DJs too!), or the local music in which this street was built on (this includes local electronic music too!).
George Street is dying and it’s not because of our economy or the weather. We need to get enough public support to invoke a change in our minimum drink pricing, because the government is not looking out for us in this case. A few more years of this trend will lead to a lot of boarded up windows on George and that will be a sad day for St. John’s.
This Opinions Piece Was Submitted Anonymously …
But seriously though, a ten dollar cover charge is beyond reasonable when you have 3-5 bands playing over the course of 3-4 hours. If you don’t like music, that’s totally cool, but don’t pretend like spending money on entertainment is some sort of brand new, offensive idea.
Also, by’s, there’s nothing wrong with staying home out of it. We don’t all have to feel like our culture is dying because George St. isn’t as busy as it once was, if in fact that is true, which I wouldn’t know. If people are more content to go to a house show or, I don’t know, read a book or listen to a record, is that really terrible?
Some people have a certain amount of money and some other people have a different amount of money and some people walk out of restaurants because they don’t serve coors light and other people wouldn’t enter a public bathroom without a HAZMAT suit on. We don’t all have to be affected by our changing society to the extent that everyone seems to think so. We all, after all, have the right to choose to do what we want to do, regardless of how the world, or one small part of it, is changing or has changed. I’d gladly pay 20 bucks, with ten dollar beers to see Local Tough or Kujo or whatever deadly band is playing some night. But that’s because I like music and I’m willing to pay for the opportunity to take it in. This idea that prices are too high, as I’m reading in the comments here (not the article) is silliness. Bars only sell one tangible thing: booze.
You are an idiot to even consider spending that much money for the single reason that the majority of it is going to the owner of the bar and not the bands. Gladly pay 20 dollar cover and 10 dollars a beer, you are a fool!
Nah dude… any place I’ve ever played, that money goes to the band, with some of it coming out for the door person and the sound guy. Some places though, have sound and door people on staff and pay them from the bar and not the door.
If there are places where bar owners take a cut of the door, I’ve never played them and I’ve never heard of them. Bands build relationships with bars and they come to have a mutual understanding that when one of them benefits, the other does as well/
This idea of the parasitic bar owner is not completely wrong as some of them do exist, but it takes a band one show to realize it and then they are avoided at all costs.
I’ve never had an issue with bar owners screwing me over. The only problem I’ve ever encountered is when a ‘promoter’ gets involved. Promoter’s are usually young go-getters with the best of intentions. Unfortunately they pay a shit ton of money for some band that only they and their friends care about, and then laugh and say “Sorry man, we still owe so-and-so money…so there is none for you.”
All that being said, if you know of any bar that screws the band as you say, please tell me, as I will avoid playing there or attending shows there at all costs. But I can assure you, our small community of musicians has already fingered these pricks for what they are, and don’t play their bars.
Whole lot of false info here, and the article seems to focus mainly on the kiddie/crack bars like your konfusion, allure and other congregations of the damned. Bars that have live bands instead of djs have much less trouble, I’ve scarcely ever seen anything go down at O’Reilly’s and I can assure you their drink prices aren’t on the cusp of being illegal for being too low.
This article was obviously written by a pretentious fuckwit. Without those low prices, bars wouldn’t attract enough people to stay open.
I think you need a little more evidence to support your points. Very vague remarks like “Since cheap drinks and binge drinking mainly cater to youth, relatively older people feel less welcome on the street anymore and refrain from going down.” Did you do a poll of “older people” and how they feel about downtown? lol. Each bar tends to have a demographic and most “older” people don’t spend a lot of time in the 3for5 bars. There are 23 bars not including a few more around the area. There is literally a place for everyone and lets not forget that some people jut don’t enjoy being in bars. I spend quite a lot of time downtown and I can’t agree with what you are saying. Tourists generally gravitate towards bars like O’rielly’s, Greensleeves, Shamrock, etc. If you are trying to find tourists in a 3for5 bar, you are looking in the wrong place. People don’t gravitate to George street from around the world to party with university students. I will also note that there are an insane amount of bars for our small population so it’s survival of the fittest in a lot of ways.
I get what the article is trying to say “blame the government because the big places are doing well while small venues struggle”, but it’s not that simple. Times have changed. People have access to so much media these days that people can lead fulfilling lives without the need to go out. It’s a shift in the overall needs of society. And it’s not only the cost of George Street. People live further away these days, Mt. Pearl, Paradise, Torbay, CBS. People need a dozen others sharing fare to afford the transportation! Anyways, if people didn’t fight the condos, and the city didn’t tax downtown businesses out the hole, then there would be opportunities for comfortable low key spots, and a local population to fill them.
Bar scenes in every city change all the time. It’s naive for St Johns to think they are immune. Some bars in major cities change their decor every three years. You can’t expect people to want to go to the same old places on the same old street forever. It had nothing to do with drink prices and everything to do with been there , done that.
No mention that the street is like a slum - which might also be a turn off to mature and or business patrons? God help walking the street in the day…disgusting! The city needs to clean itself (especially downtown) to continue to hold the appeal of citizens and tourists. Super sub-par neighborhood!
YES. She needs a proper wash. In fact, most of downtown could use a sparkle. Idk how St. Johns attracts tourism at all given its current state.
Everyone’s reply is dead on. Mine will be more of story from when till now..since I’m still working down there, and I’m giving the street 2 yrs before it’s dead.
From all of my friends, they would rather stay home, friends house or shed than to go downtown. This wasn’t the way when I was 20ish. You went to a friend’s house drank a dozen beer between 8 - 11 then caught a cab down for .50 - 1.25 beer, ALL NIGHT btw…
I 1st started at normies where they made a killing on Thursday night for 345 specials. They done the by 4 get the 5th free deals.
Yes there were fights, bouncers were bouncers. They didn’t calm you down. Then done the job. You acted stupid, you made a price for being so. I recall one bar had a name for being one of the busiest. But if you done something to another paytron you most likely took a knock on the way out. But that was a reason why the club was so busy. They had people in there that showed respect. Which today’s street has none, whatsoever.
I 1st started working ad a bouncer on the streef and bouncers had the have the attitude if you fucked up, you got thrown out, from either your belt buckle or the scruff of you. Today, people/bouncers we are worried they will get stabbed, or pricked with a needle or get your ass beat up by 5 guys (because they think it kool, lack of reespect) anndddd the price to become a bouncer. Most clubs pay today 12 to 14 bucks. When I started you worked 5 hrs roughly fpr 60 bucks. Whatever the averse is I’ll find out later lol q
From then till now the biggest thing I hear alot is the price of beers, whatever.
I hear alot of kids (19+) 30 to 40 and a few yrs older complain that the price is outrageous.
I understand the bar owners need to make a profit and pay for securitiy/singers/bands/dj’s. So most will have a cover charge to help cover some charges.
Now I get that people are afraid to be down there because of drugs and people that are mental and do the shitty things. But back when I was 20ish there were drugs as well. But today’s dealer from yester year is totally out of it. I won’t go Into detail but respect is probably the biggest thing. Anyway let’s keep going.
The street today should have a lower price on booze because then the smaller clubs can start to survive. Lower the prices at the club, so people can come out and enjoy a night. Let bars bring in strict rules on how you act and wear clothing.
Bring back respect to george street; because it’s losing it from high prices, skeets, bad deals, people who are afraid to be down there. Bring it back that pepole can go out at 6 to have a beer and stay out till 2.
Like I said, 2 yrs and I think half the street will be closed, maybe more.
I’m sorry everyone for my rant. I’ve been dow here for a very long time. 10 yrs plus working and alot more drinking haha
Cheers to everyone.
Let’s bring the street back to its old ways.
Yes agreed the pricing of alcohol has something to do with diminishing crowds, but as a frequent George street patriot I feel there is no draw for people who can actually afford the $7 dollar drink. I’m happy paying for my 1,2 or 8 drinks if I’m entertained and when I say entertained I don’t mean the fighting, drug use and under age children in little more than underwear! George street was a place where there was live music in every bar, people watching was not fight watching and if you banged into someone you said “sorry” and smiled… You didn’t fear for your life. The George street attitude has changed .. It was a happy place! It was only a few years back when I would leave bars on George alone and make my way to subway for a late night snack and head home… I wouldn’t do that these days without an entourage. But times change, people change, society changes… It’s just very sad that a once happy iconic place has turned into an unsafe, and the second choice for people who called George their home!
I stopped reading when the author said time of day, aka “the position of the sun in the sky” has no impact on human behavior or crime. This person needs to go back to reddit.
Cheap drinks attract the skeets - in high numbers - you can almost smell the level of skeet. As a proud non-skeet, I’ll continue to avoid George in favor of some of quieter, higher class places located NEAR George. As a non-skeet, I can say I could honestly care less if George shuts down if they continue to cater to the skeets and skanks. Blame it on the government all you want, the owners of the skeethole bars wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing if they weren’t making money - they aren’t running a skeet charity. I’ll sip my grape martini like a fucking boss in the window of Gypsy and be glad the skeets and skanks continue on their way to Konfusion or where ever the fuck they like to snort cocaine off of toilets these days.
Do you ever get a sunburn on the top of your mouth from holding your nose so high? Jeezzz!
Matt, is that what that’s from? I thought it was from the inferno wings at Jungle Jim’s.
You may not be a skeet but you areally, clearly, a giant douchebag.
George, what makes a douchebag, much like what makes a skeet - is subjective. I’m sorry if my definition of skeet doesn’t correlate with yours. But hey - if someone slammed on cocaine half dressed stumbling around George street 4 nights a week, hasn’t missed a 3 for 5 in 6 years because its so “deadly” - isn’t a skeet, then I dunno what is! If you think a douchebag is someone who proudly enjoys a grape martini in peace and quite from time to time - then I’m the biggest douchebag in town! BTW, how are the whiskey sours an Konfusion these days? I KNOW YOU KNOW!
Not many bars do 3 for $5 anymore!!! I usually spend $7 on one beer. If it was cheaper I would go more! Cover is also a big turn off. Street performers are a great idea!
I’d say its more to do with the bar owners and bouncers selling illegal drugs… If you want people to go to dumpy dive bars, clean them up…. Get rid of the drug dealers!!! Bouncers asked me and my family the last time we were downtown if we needed any snow, or some inspiration for love!! I mean come the fuck on!! The bar owners obvisly know whats going on!! Will I ever go back, NO! Hope the plce burns and there all to f***ed on coke to fee the heat
This article is so insane I think less of the Overcast for publishing it. Especially where it’s anonymous. I’m actually considering it might be a troll piece. In case it’s not:
Having lived through the era of all-you-can-drink / super discount booze, I can’t imagine how anyone would recommend it as a positive thing overall. Yes, you can get hammered for cheap and yes, I loved it at the time… but I was 20 something and stupid.
I also knew a security guy at the old Molestic who went to work KNOWING he was going to have to fight a guy to throw him out at the end of the night. The discount booze just made things disgusting and dangerous. If you added it in on top of the now commonplace cocaine: It’d take a water cannon to clear the street off at the end of the night.
So if this writer is correct and we can’t have George street without a minimum drink price policy, then fine: we can’t have George Street.
Dude: It’s a Letter to the Editor, not an Overcast article. The Telegram is full of these things, lets folks in the community share some opinions, harmless. And there are some good points, but, overall: no one’s on george Street because it’s a violent, cultural-less shitshow of coked out maniacs with no entertainment … other than The Rockhouse and Fat Cat.
My bad. I caught the Overcast Guest Article heading, not the Letter to Editor heading.
I stand by the rest of it and agree with your overall comment.
I’m not sure you even skimmed or read the article. My interpretation was that the minimum drink price being so low is what causes those things you referenced. Nowhere did it say anything about not being able to have George street without a minimum drink price.
Legislation by the provincial government now has it at $1.67, the article merely suggests raising that to $3.00 to keep in line with other provinces and to deter binge drinking and margins so low for smaller bars that they have to choose between profit and competing against the bigger bars which are filled with belligerent patrons drunk off 3-4-5 drinks.
This article says nothing about not being able to have George Street without a minimum drink price policy. There will always be a policy regulating the minimum drink price - the article simply states that the fact that it has not been changed over the years to reflect inflation is archaic. The article states that the low price is the cause the chaos. As you said yourself “The discount booze just made things disgusting and dangerous”… well that’s exactly what the article says now.
You can no longer have all you can drink either, because of places like the Majestic and the impact of promotions like that. I’m just confused by how you think it’s a troll article and then continue to make points in favor of the view point it portrays.
I remember the good old days, when George Street was free of all these ills. I mean, you had to let them sell drinks to women for 30 cents on Wednesdays because come on, who goes down on Wednesdays except if there are drunk women there. Not sketchy!
Yes, musical inspiration on George. I mean, you could go down to O’Brien’s and hear The Irish Descendants or over to Christians and hear Shanneyganock or all the way down to Rob Roy’s and hear the Irish Descendants cover band!
Be serious. George isn’t where the good stuff happens. Never has been. You want culture, go down to the Ship or the Duke or the Black Sheep or the Rose. You want to get drunk, go to George. Nothing wrong with that, just asking you to own it.
I attend clubs and some restaurants which feature live music.
more expensive prices in these economic times?? gas goes up, libraries close, taxes go up.. what can we do if we cant drink.
Protest, advocate for social change, dance play music. There is more to life and social life then just alcohol. You could create a hobby club, leisure club, book club. Write and perform music. Do improv, act, perform, etc. Make art.
The fact that a person has to ask that question indicates it may be time to get off the booze and go get all hooked up on real life. 🙂 Not like anyone can afford the tax on booze anymore, and with the second wave of Bennett’s excrement on the way the “fallout” has just begun … on George and everywhere else! … Time to set up the fan again boys, cuz Cathy’s stuff will hit ‘er this time for sure!!
The cheap drink prices are the only reason I go downtown. As a student I don’t have a constant or a large amount of income to be able to go downtown and spend over 30-40$ a night. Those cheap prices bring young people out who spend money on taxis and who spend money on food vendors. Bars who are struggling with getting people to come out should start to brainstorm different ways to get people to get to their bars because if the prices are raised I can guarantee that the student/youth population downtown will be cut in two turning George Street into even more of a ghost town. Good ways are lowering/eliminating cover and raising drink prices, or maybe the city can look into getting entertainment (street peformers) on the street and not in the bars to bring out people who just want to have a few beer and not binge drink and to make the street more packed.
you can tell this was written by someone with a bad attitude. people drink. times change. bars open and close. still people drink.
Drink/Beer prices have sky rocketed down there. I know of places selling one beer for $7+ and doubles for 14+. I think that you hit the head with drink prices being a DT deterrent but on the wrong end of the spectrum. Why would someone spend over 21 dollars on 3 beer in a place that’s crime rate and drug use is at an all time high?
Exactly cover charges are ridiculous too. 10 (sometimes 15) bucks to get into a bar.
I recently went to a Screech In and they were charging over 7 bucks for a bottle. That is nothing more than taking advantage of you customer.
I haven’t payed 3 for 5 in more than a decade.