All-round entertainment

Jo Grobel kicks off our new technology series with a look at how one licensee is making more money after investing in an entertainment system

What does the MediaTheme system do and why did you buy it?

Just over three years ago we decided to invest in an all-in-one music and games system - our pub is big on entertainment and we were paying a fortune to various DJs, quiz people and karaoke companies. The machine offers karaoke, quiz programmes, all sorts of games and competitions, bingo and horse and dog races, as well as thousands of juke-box tracks.

The jukebox is different from most - we control it from behind the bar and customers choose a song from a book of more than 5,000 tracks. We can create our own playlists for a particular night, and there's also a background music function.

For games such as bingo or quizzes, we can press a button to have a famous personality - such as Michael Caine or Larry Grayson - read out the question, providing extra en-

tertainment.

Using the in-pub advertising function, we can publicise our own events, or sports matches we plan to show, on the screens.

How much did it cost you?

The machine cost £6,000, plus £2,250 for 36 months' support and £65 a month for a

MediaTheme service.

How are you using the system, and when?

We use this system every day. From Thursday to Sunday evenings we have charity horse-racing, followed by karaoke.

I trained someone up to be a DJ and now he works full-time for me on the machine. Recently he developed a quiz which he runs using different questions every Sunday evening.

There's also a game called "Take Your Pick", where a customer picks a number between one and 20 to reveal their prize.

Buying the machine is a big investment. Has it paid off?

I don't know exactly how much more we're taking, but we are using the machines to full capacity.

We make a huge saving - between £16,000 and £20,000 a year - by not having to hire DJs and pay other entertainment companies.

How has it changed your business?

It's reassuring to know that I won't be let down - DJs often failed to turn up on the night, but now I know that if my DJ is suddenly ill, I can work the machine and our entertainment can go ahead. We don't have to hire anyone for race nights, and there's no need to advertise events externally as we do it all on our pub screens.

I think of the box as having at least 10 different DJs inside it, ready and waiting to play. It also saves space - DJs used to turn up with car-loads of equipment, but now we just have one machine and several TV screens.

Has anything ever gone wrong with the system?

No, although occasionally we have had to call the support team to talk us through setting up a game or something similar. We've never had any problems during events.

In your experience is MediaTheme only suited to certain types of pubs?

It will work as long as customers are into

entertainment and games such as karaoke and horse-racing.

We're in a town centre, but this idea could also work well for rural licensees who find it hard to attract decent DJs.

Licensee: John Farrel

The pub: The Duke of York, Blackpool

The location: 200 metres from the seafront

Typical trade: A wide range of customers from 18 to 90-year-olds; tourists are the main users of the the pub's entertainment.

John Farrell has run the Thwaites-owned Duke of York with his wife, Elizabeth, for six-and-a-half years. The pair have worked in the trade for 20 years, running two pubs and one club. Until three years ago, Farrel didn't have a system in place but decided to install MediaTheme to make it easier to entertain his customers.