The Pav: Facts and Figures

Posted By Ricky

Dear All,

There have been questions about why one year we were fighting to save the Pav and the year after the choice was made to close it for good.

What happened last year?

This time last year the University told the Union that the Pav had to be closed at the end of last year.
This then sparked the “save our Pav” campaign that was spearheaded by last year’s team which I was also involved in. The motivation behind the campaign was the view that the University’s request was quite simply an attack on the independence of the Students' Union particularly when the trading figures projected that although trade had decreased, the Pav was still a commercially viable venue at that point.

And now?
The easiest way to explain the change in thinking is to look at the figures. Below are the figures for the net financial contribution of the Pavilion to the Union since 2005 (calculated by taking the surplus generated by the bar and subtracting the net cost of putting on entertainments)

2005 ₤56,416
2006 ₤66,131
2007 ₤95,457
2008 ₤61,676
2009 ₤28,462
2010 ₤565 (projected)
2011 ₤(3,000) (projected)

As a result of trade falling a further 30% this year, the Pav will just about break even. Next year the Pav is estimated to make a ₤3000 loss. This loss would have to come from cutbacks in other areas of the Union. Also, from 1 June the Union will have to register as a charity. The Charity Commission takes a negative view of charities that run loss making trading activities that are not connected to the primary reasons for the charity’s existence. The Trustee Board took this into account in its decision making process too.

The new venue??

This time last year, the University promised not to close The Pavilion until a replacement venue was available on campus. Since those discussions took place, substantial cuts in higher education funding have meant that the University has had to reconsider its investment options. The development of a new venue got as far as costing out initial drawings. However, those schemes came back costing around the ₤1 million mark. In addition, the venue would only have held 200 people and would have had to operate at absolute capacity from day one to generate a very small financial return. The University’s view was that the level of investment was not justifiable to impact on a small sample of the University population, nor when it would generate such a small financial return.

The Future??

The loss of the Pav is sad, however as a Students' Union we will move on and it gives us a real opportunity to look at the offerings of entertainment on campus.
Next year we will be having a Freshers Ball and we are looking at tie ins with clubs in town.

This however is your opportunity to have you feedback please join the group The Pav is closing... what entertainment do you want next year? http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122573974434875#!/group.php?gid=122573974434875&v=info
and if you are not on facebook please get in touch by email VPHSC-USSU@salford.ac.uk

The Full Press Release from the Union can be found at http://salfordstudents.com/files/PAV_FULL.pdf


Ricky
Vice President Health and Social Care
(President Elect 2010/2011)