Not such a great party....

Oh dear.

Some details have finally been announced for the Closing Down Party at Room 101 tomorrow.

It's not sounding that good, I'm afraid. There had been talk of all kinds of special offers on drinks to clear out the stock. These may yet transpire on the night; but all we're being promised so far is a couple of free kegs of Beijing draught beer. Big f***ing deal! I don't drink Beijing draft in there. I don't know any of the 'regulars' who do. And the stuff is so goddamned cheap that many restaurants do actually give the stuff away FREE (or for a very token 5 kuai a pint) all the time. So, this isn't exactly an enticing show of generosity from the owners. (I'm really at a loss as to why they introduced the stuff there in the first place - only relatively recently - since there is very little demand for it, and it only tends to [very slightly] diminish sales of their imported beers.)

Oh, and they're having a DJ! WHY????!!!!

The only success the place has ever really enjoyed has been when it has live bands playing on Fridays and Saturdays. Are none of those bands available this weekend? I had been hoping we might have a repeat of the Sichuan Earthquake Benefit, where nearly all of the 'house bands' turned out to keep the joint rocking through the early hours of the morning. But it seems that this is not to be. All we're getting is a sodding DJ. (And what a DJ! It's a French guy, a friend of the boss's. I'm not sure what the favoured term for his style of stuff is, but...... well, I'm sure it's fine if you like that sort of thing; but it's kind of a narrow niche, lacking general appeal - and not very obviously danceable, to my mind! And I just know it's going to be way too f***ing LOUD. They had this same guy play - similarly superfluously, annoyingly - at the great Jack Daniel's Night, and it nearly ruined the evening: he pretty much managed to empty out the ground floor of the bar! Luckily, it was a warm evening in early summer, and we were all able to spill out into the street outside. That might not be an option this time.)

And promotion?? Well, I think they managed to get a small mention in the bar listings of the expat magazines this month - but nobody really reads those, I don't think. They claim they've sent out e-mails to quite a few people - but I think the people that leave their e-mail details tend to be transients rather than regulars (they don't have mine, for example). And I don't think they've asked my pal The Barman to help put the word out (he doesn't work there any more, but remains on good terms with them): he has quite an extensive contact list of e-mails and mobile phone numbers, and managed to get strong turnouts for the Jack Daniel's Night and the Earthquake Benefit Gig purely on word-of-mouth. All I've seen so far are a few not very eye-catching posters (posters that catch the eye, really, only because of the dread word 'DJ' on them!). And, of course, this is a week when a large number of foreigners are going to be out of town, on holiday. Last weekend, or the weekend before, really might have been a better time to throw such a party.

I am reminded that a large part of the reason why this place has "failed" is a certain touching ineptitude on the part of the owners with regard to events and promotion. It was a very nice bar, a very nice bar indeed, but they never really had any idea of how to attract customers to it on a consistent basis.

I have a bad feeling about tomorrow now. I think maybe I'll say my goodbyes tonight instead......