{"id":131,"date":"2023-12-07T22:52:08","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T22:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-symes\/?p=131"},"modified":"2023-12-14T11:43:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T11:43:39","slug":"from-struggling-bar-to-a-wetherspoons-has-the-luthers-rebrand-worked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-symes\/2023\/12\/07\/from-struggling-bar-to-a-wetherspoons-has-the-luthers-rebrand-worked\/","title":{"rendered":"From struggling bar to a Wetherspoons: Has the Luther\u2019s rebrand worked?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Newcastle University\u2019s student union bar, Luther\u2019s, has recently been rebranded into a Wetherspoons pub after struggling to gain enough customers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the rebrand, Luther\u2019s was left empty almost every day, with pints waiting to be drunk but never making it out the kegs. Kate Roebuck, Newcastle student union\u2019s operations co-ordinator who has worked at the union for over 4 years, said: \u201cCovid killed the trade that we did have\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: \u201cwhen people came back after Covid, people didn\u2019t know that we were still a bar, and so it got quieter and quieter after that\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the income began to dwindle after the Coronavirus took its toll on the bar like it did to many other businesses, prospects looked bleak for Luther\u2019s. The student union\u2019s staff tried many different methods to keep the bar afloat, such as creating social media accounts<\/a> to try and advertise the place online and make some noise. However, these methods simply weren\u2019t working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roebuck said \u201clong-term potentially\u201d there was a possibility that the bar could\u2019ve closed down. But, in an unusual turn of events, Luther\u2019s was given the chance to become part of the Wetherspoons<\/a> franchise and rebrand their entire image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wetherspoons is one of the most popular pub chains in the UK, due to their extremely low prices for drinks and food in comparison to most other pubs in the Britain. One student claimed that the original student union\u2019s drink prices were \u201ctoo expensive\u201d, which is definitely one way of deterring a student crowd from visiting a bar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, it seems like Luther\u2019s and Wetherspoons were bound to kickstart a partnership, as one pub was down and out whilst the other was looking to expand its ever-growing empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new Luther\u2019s identity saw a complete refurbishment of the bar space, with a brand-new kitchen as well as the sleek looking bar set up and iconic Spoons wooden tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visual insight into what the refurbished student’s union looks like now.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Current Luther\u2019s staff member and Newcastle University student, Rohan Chettiar, has been working at the newly rebranded bar since it first opened on the 15th<\/sup> September 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Picture of Rohan Chettiar pouring a pint. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When asked whether he thinks the rebrand was needed he said: \u201coh yes definitely, because in my first year it was always pretty empty\u201d. He added: \u201cMaking it a Spoons has made it more accessible\u201d which ultimately is the aim of any business in the hospitality industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This idea of accessibility was shown with the bar\u2019s Instagram account receiving over 800 likes<\/a> with the announcement of the partnership, which is double the amount of their current followers. It\u2019s safe to say that there was a lot of hype and intrigue at the prospect of a Wetherspoons being located in a student\u2019s union, as it has only been done once before in Hull University\u2019s Student Union (HUSU) which opened in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, was it a success or a failed experiment? In response to the question of whether they thought it was a triumphant transition, Roebuck said: \u201cYeah I do\u201d and further added: \u201cwe\u2019ve got the student audience and the older audience\u201d which is remarkable considering they were struggling to find any customers before the rebrand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was reported that over 70 jobs would be created<\/a> from this that would also be suitable for students. Rohan Chettiar added: \u201conly a few people could work there last year as they couldn\u2019t do much because there weren\u2019t really any customers, and now the number of staff employed is comparatively a lot\u201d. In this current cost of living crisis, it must be motivating for students to have the option of gaining a flexible job through their university, who\u2019ll understand that they\u2019re not always available to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now the question you\u2019ve all been waiting for, what\u2019s it like on a matchday? Luther\u2019s only has licensing for TNT sports on their TV\u2019s, which means that they\u2019re able to show Champions League games but not Premier league. However, that doesn\u2019t stop the \u2018Toon Army\u2019 from invading on a Champions league night, as Chettiar said that game days are \u201cintense\u201d, which definitely showed as one till made around \u201c\u00a37500\u201d after the first game against PSG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Picture of a crowd watching a game on the TV inside of Luther’s student union<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The rebrand has also benefitted other aspects of Newcastle\u2019s student union, such as the ticket demand for gigs. The nicheness of having a Wetherspoons on top of the music venue is a combination that not many would be able to refuse. Roebuck added \u201cwe now get pre-gig traffic\u201d which wasn\u2019t a common occurrence before the partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, Luther\u2019s student union seems to have welcomed the Wetherspoons franchise with open arms, due to them being on the brink of collapse before Tim Martin\u2019s company came swooping in. The bar is bustling almost every day and staff couldn\u2019t be happier about it, so it seems to have been a huge success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for reading\/listening. Please remember to follow the NUFC Pub Trips Instagram\/Twitter pages @nufcpubtrips<\/a> and @NufcPubTrips123<\/a> for more additional content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Newcastle University\u2019s student union bar, Luther\u2019s, has recently been rebranded into a Wetherspoons pub after struggling to gain enough customers. Before the rebrand, Luther\u2019s was left empty almost every day, with pints waiting to be drunk but never making it out the kegs. Kate Roebuck, Newcastle student union\u2019s operations co-ordinator who has worked at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":5,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-feature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-symes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-symes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-symes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-symes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-symes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-symes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-symes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-symes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-symes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-symes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}