How not to do it (2): the entirely predictable demise of Tun

I never really expected much of Tun. It's not got much of a location: charmless, hard to find, marooned in the arse end of an industrial estate - even if it is reasonably close to the established bar areas around Sanlitun and the Workers' Stadium. It's a barn. Terrible acoustics for live music. Dead atmosphere if there are only a few people in. Noisy and oppressive if there are a lot of people in. And I hardly ever go out over that side of town anyway. However, I've known Huxley - one of the shadowy consortium behind the venture - for several years now, and I feel a lot of affection and loyalty towards the guy. So, I was willing to at least give this place a go a few times.... even though it wasn't at all my type of place, and even though - opening with negligible PR immediately before the great Olympic lull - it was impossible to be optimistic about its chances of survival. And there were a few promising signs. The staff were mostly quite good. The prices - for such a big and ambitious bar - were pretty reasonable. And they had Stella - one of my favourite poisons - on draught. Then, shrewd bar guru Chad Lager joined as a manager for a while - after the Olympic debacle, at the end of last year. And he really got the place jumping for a few months. Live bands, special promotions, the beguiling gimmick of the 'flowerpot-sized' glasses for cocktails and mixed drinks, and, of course, the infamous Friday Ladies' Night. They were packing the crowds in for a time. Too successful for its own good, really; or, rather, for mine - I don't like big crowds; and it could get difficult to move around or breathe in there on Friday nights. But Chad left again. And they don't seem to have done anything about replacing him. Nope - the few times I've been in there since, it has not been apparent whether there's anyone in overall charge of the staff on duty at all. And the whole place seems to be directionless. Or heading very rapidly in the wrong direction. I looked in a week or two ago on a Thursday, because I'd heard they were still having a live band in on that night, and also had a special on Stella all night. Er, NO. They now have a new range of promotions - crudely chalked on a set of blackboards inside the door. Thursday is now the confusingly named 'Voucher Night' - which apparently means that if you spend 200 rmb you can get another 50 rmb of drink free. Big f***ing deal! This has to be the daftest offer I have ever heard. a) It's too complicated - I have to do what, and then I get what? b) It's hardly a special offer at all, since it is so conspicuously less generous than any of the specials they used to run under Chad; conspicuously less generous, indeed, than even the stingiest of this town's mostly very disappointing 'happy hours'. c) It's way too much, for most people, either to spend or to drink. (I could drink 250 rmb of booze, just about; but I try not to make a habit of it. And not too many people would attempt it on a 'school night'.) Utterly f***ing DAFT. As soon as Dr Manhattan and I set foot inside, and started trying to decipher and evaluate the bewildering display of not-so-special 'specials', we had two over-anxious waiters trying to chivvy us to come in and order something. Inept, pushy staff - another big NO-NO. You could almost smell their desperation. Most off-putting! 9pm on a Thursday evening, and the only sound was the rustle of passing tumbleweed. Not a single punter in the place. I doubt if I'll ever be going back there again. It doesn't look as though anyone else is either. Very sad, though, that a place that seemed poised on the brink of becoming a significant success story could fall apart so utterly in the space of just a few months. But that's Beijing for you.....