The Chairman of the Pavillion Bar (the Pav), Professor Cyril Smith, has blamed the new academic year structure under the Trinity Education Project (TEP) for a considerable drop in the revenue for the student bar this year.
This year the Pav saw a 5.7% drop in turnover and ran a deficit of €50,707. The year saw a drop of 6.7% in drink sales and a drop of 1.3% in food sales.
Presenting the annual accounts of the Pav at the AGM of the Dublin University Central Athletic Club (DUCAC), Smith said: “We face a new type of challenge, that is the challenge of the new academic year.”
Smith’s report estimated that the bar lost €5500 due to the impact of TEP. He stated that had the new academic year structure not come into place the bar would not have run on a loss.
The Pav has traditionally raised a significant proportion of their revenue in the months of April, May and June. Last year, the bar made 38% of their revenue during those three months. This year, however, only 28% of the bar’s revenue was made during these months, with a 44% decrease in drink sales seen during the month of May.
The proportion of the bar’s revenue raised during April, May and June has never previously fallen below 34% since 2013.
Smith warned that without a reversal of the changes to the academic year structure, “I don’t think we will ever return to the days of students sitting outside drinking in the May evening sunshine”.
He added that they “could not have predicted consequences of new academic year” but now that they were aware of this they are “trying to do things to avoid it”.
Smith ended his presentation by encouraging those at the meeting to “spend some money in The Pav every week”.
The Pavilion bar was founded in 1961 and is the only bar on Trinity campus. All of the profits go to support sports clubs in the college through DUCAC.
The DUCAC AGM is taking place in the Hamilton building, where its new officers are to be elected later this evening.
