IRISH CLUBS AND CENTRES IN BRITAIN - a sustainable business suggestion

 A Discussion Paper written by 

Ted Ryan and Pauline Roche

RnR Organisation Ltd

September 2014 

IRISH CLUBS AND CENTRES

IN BRITAIN  

ACTIVITIES NECESSARY TO DEVELOP

A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS  MODEL

This discussion paper was triggered following a discussion about support for, and the future of, Irish Clubs and Centres at an Irish in Britain (IiB) meeting in July 2014.

We believe there needs to be a discussion as whether support should be offered, as well as the nature of support to be developed and offered - this paper, however, offers some radical solutions, solutions that may not be palatable to some people.

We believe that, given the history of support offered by IIB, and the state of some clubs, such a discussion should be considering radical and far reaching proposals if the role of the clubs and centres at the core of Irish Culture in Britain is to continue.

This discussion paper is essentially an introduction to the issue – it is not an in depth analysis of the background, governance structures, source and nature of issues and potential resolutions.

We produce this paper, not only as interested members of IiB and people active in the Irish community, but also as professionals who have worked in the field of community and cultural development for over 25 years.

We have a track record of project and partnership development and management, cultural and arts delivery and governance and organisational troubleshooting.  

Hopefully, if there is the appetite to explore the issue further, there will be greater, more in depth analysis of all the issues as per the recommendation.

                   BACKGROUND

Irish Clubs and Centres (from now on just referred to as Clubs), have been core to Diaspora life since anyone can remember, and have been core to the social and cultural life of the Irish community in Britain since the major emigration in the middle of the last century.      

 The creation of these venues fulfilled the need within an emigration pattern long gone. The venues enabled emigrants to meet and speak with other emigrants, listen to and play music they were familiar with, sing and celebrate their language, dance and watch dancing, and celebrate the sport of their Ireland, GAA.

 Families held christening parties, birthday parties, wedding receptions and wakes in clubs.

GOVERNANCE

Predominantly managed by committee, elected through a membership, the vast majority of clubs followed a ‘democratic’ process in their management and development.

A variety of governance structures were also adopted: charity, mutual and beneficial, limited company.

PROPERTY. BUILDING, SALES AND ACTIVITIES

A variety of arrangements exist as to the tenure, ownership, leasing or renting of clubs.

The same applies to the contract for the purchase and sales of beer, as well as what other services a club may offer.

The licensing changes in 2005 modified how Clubs were licensed. While most remain as ‘clubs’ they tend to be licensed as ‘premises’ and not as private clubs. 

 ISSUES

On July 12^th 2014 at the Irish in Britain (IiB) meeting in Birmingham the issues and problem that some clubs are currently facing was raised. While accepting that there is a general malaise in the licensing sector, IiB were requested to consider supporting clubs to ensure that they continue to be capable of playing an active role at the heart of Irish cultural activity.

There is a tradition of IiB offering support to clubs. In previous years this support has been extensive. There is also a pattern of clubs either ignoring or not recognising the value of that support. This is not an absolute across the board - some have listened and benefitted - but it can be said that clubs are not the easiest of groups to work with. 

IiB are currently undertaking a review of clubs. While the current research is being undertaken it may be necessary for additional information to be obtained.

If the problem of the sustainability of clubs is to be addressed then the issue of accepting, listening to and acting on support, also needs to be addressed. The issues on both sides need to be identified in a frank and honest manner, acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses on both sides, and recognising the need to develop a workable and sustainable solution.  

The issue of sustainability does, however, not apply to all clubs. While these other clubs may not seek support from IiB it could be hoped that they may play a role in identifying solutions, enabling other clubs to learn from their experiences, skills and activities.

Some issues that have been expressed and need further exploration:

•          The experience of club board -  business, venue and financial management
•           View of role of club – purely for Irish Activity or recognition of other money earning activities?
•          The willingness of board members to listen and act on advice
•          Unwillingness/reluctance to work in partnership with other agencies
•          Inability to develop an economically viable programme, as a business, rather than a series of services to fulfil community need  (this is when there is a view that the club or centre is a community asset and not a business)
•           A narrow view of Irish Culture and need based on the dominance on the management group of particular elements of the emigrant community
•           Reliance on Irish Government funding to develop services or undertake improvements.

           WHAT INFORMATION NEEDS TO BE SHARED

Some clubs may be reluctant to share information. If support is to be offered and sustainable models developed, providing such information is essential.

Any sustainable model must be developed and enshrined within a business proposal.

While the cultural role of the clubs may be considered as their primary function, there is a cost to that activity, a cost that needs to be raised either through grants, which, in the current economic climate, are more difficult to come by, or through commercial activity.

The collation of business, property and structural information needs to be provided and analysed as an initial examination as to the structural (building) and economic (trading) state of the clubs.

Initial research should examine  

a.       Physical size of club

                                                               i.      Provided in floor size (m²), number of rooms and sizes.

                                                              ii.      Car parking

                                                            iii.      Transport, access, location in town/city

b.      Tenure of club

                                                               i.      Rented

                                                              ii.      Leasehold – extended

                                                            iii.      Ownership

                                                            iv.      Other – church hall

                                                              v.      Other

                                                            vi.      Ability to raise money against club as an asset

c.       Investment

                                                               i.      Required - building requirements

                                                              ii.      Potential - based on value of premises and tenure

d.      Governance

                                                               i.      Private sector,  Community Interest Company , Company Limited by Guarantee , Mutual, Charity

                                                              ii.      Membership and size of ‘active’ membership, and diversity

                                                            iii.      Meetings and voting activity

                                                            iv.      Skills analysis  - experience of board

e.      Structural Changes

                                                               i.      Ability to merge/collaborate

                                                              ii.      Mandate of committee and governance arrangement

                                                            iii.      Membership structure

                                                            iv.      Rights and responsibilities of Board to enter into agreement for partnership and collaborative agreement

f.        Business/market

                                                               i.      Business turnover

                                                              ii.      Staff management and business activity

                                                            iii.      Community activity, and charges

                                                            iv.      Private sector links and services outsourced

                                                              v.      Market  knowledge/development proposals

                                                            vi.      Business plan

                                                           vii.      Skills training – staff and board

                                                         viii.      Identification of business potential

                                                           ix.      Income/Expenditure – how much does it cost to run the club per hour/day?

           WILLINGNESS TO LOOK AT A NEW MODEL -

           COLLABORATIVE OR BUSINESS AMALGAMATION

The state of the clubs within the community is not a new issue.

The support received from IiB in the past has had some impact but, for a number of reasons, some clubs remain in decline.

It may be necessary therefore, to look beyond helping individual clubs, and to explore the potential to develop business partnerships and joint business practice, formal amalgamation, enabling a managing body to treat the Irish Clubs as one business. 

The information gathered in part 5 will create an overall picture of the ‘worth’ of the clubs, the property and turnover. Once this baseline has been established, the potential for business development can be explored.

Amalgamating clubs, developing business partnerships or other forms of joint operations can be explored, including the creation of one company to manage and develop activity.

The potential advantage of one company would be

•   Identification of assets and value, transfer of assets to central company
•   Central management process informed by local advisory groups , clubs managed as going businesses – long term assessment of viability of club prior to amalgamation[1]
•    Central purchasing and monitoring will lead to savings
•   Marketing and development of services etc.
•   Booking of bands, theatre tours etc could increase potential of additional funding and sponsorship deals
•   Development of investment programme based on value of ‘company’ assets
•   Preparation for investment readiness of ‘company’

However, we recognise that this is a major change, and possibly a step too far for the clubs.

Developing collaborative activity, not a formal business amalgamation but the development of memorandum of understanding, joint partnership agreements etc. may be more acceptable.

In this model individual clubs would join and ‘buy in’ to a business model and process. In this case however, there are not so many advantages:

•   It is a weaker business model, whereby clubs ‘buy’ into a process.
•   No robust business assets to enable development or investment.
•   Similar to previous support offered – which ultimately closed as it was felt that clubs abused the process.

7.       FINAL THOUGHTS AND A RECOMMENDATION

There is not an easy answer to this issue. Clubs are in competition with other venues like never before, the demographics of the community have changed, and those people that established the clubs when they first arrived are less in number and up-to-date experience of venue management.

In many cases, these first generation (late 1950’s-1960’s) emigrants still dominate the clubs and have ‘difficulty’ in handing over the reins. This transition probably should have happened 10-15 years ago but it didn’t, and now, those who may have been willing, have moved onto other venues and interests.

Questions to be considered by club committees/boards

What is to be the legacy of the current committees and structures? How long will you last if you don’t change?

What are you leaving behind and what do you want to leave your children and children’s children who will move further away from their heritage and culture if what’s there is not accessible and acceptable to them?

Recommendation

The IiB could set up a commission to consider this idea comprising representatives from the clubs, the Irish Embassy, businesses, Irish cultural organisations and funding be identified to carry out this activity – there may be funding available in Britain e.g. Big Potential

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[1] The last thing needed after a club joins the ‘company‘ would be disagreement between a local advisory committee and the central management of the process over viability; therefore, a robust business case is required.