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Opening a club
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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I've seen quite a lot of threads lately about opening clubs and I just can't see them as a real money earner, there are a few exceptions but most clubs only have 2 maybe 3 nights a week and most don't have the liscence to sell booze, so it must be a very difficult business to make a viable concern and there are easier ways to make money, I'm glad they are open but any thoughts ? |
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It's certainly hard work and to set up a club, the initial investment is probably far more than most people think (well it actually was far more than we expected!).
We personally think that swinging is becoming more popular and mainstream these days, and will continue to grow in popularity over the coming years. In turn we think that clubs will too 
You are probably right that there are easier ways to make money 
xxx
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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A lot don't know what is required to open a club or to run one...it's not just licences for selling alcohol you need....but entertainment ones for music or videos...environmental ones...health n hygiene ones...plus normal over heads n upkeep costs.
Good luck to anyone who wishes to venture into running a club as variety and choice is always a good thing |
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Opening a club is a mine field and it's not done properly from the start, it will be shut down. A large amount of money is needed to set up and as the swinging community is very transient, there will be quiet times, so a contingency fund is always needed.
It's not a huge money maker to run a club but it is a lot of fun! I don't think you could do it if you didn't love what you do as it's bloody hard work. We work approx 80 hours per week...there are the perks of course lol
Anyone who wants to set up a club in this climate, I tip my hat to you and wish you all the luck in the world...you will need it! lol xx |
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a lot of clubs don't sell themselves well.as an x nightclub owner I would offer the following advice.differ nights ,cpls only ,some single cple nights ,theme nights ,music nights,gb nights st8 and bi nights,dress to impress nights,sport nights,food eves,and best of all swingers want daring fare not same week in week out. |
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There is definitely scope for a handful of clubs to be opened in the uk. Swinging is only going to increase and a lot more new couples, fresh faces will enter the scene.
I feel a lot of people are happy and content with the current level of clubs on offer in 2015.
I don't think a super club is the answer. I am more or less thinking of a small club which has around 50-100 members who will keep the club afloat.
Who says that it needs to be profit making from day one. Aslong as you break even for the 1st 5 years in sure once established you will be able to take away some income.
We are looking at opening a club for strictly members only and creating an experience for everyone. We are not looking at making lots of money from the start but I'm sure we can get back 3/4% return of investment. Better than what most high street lenders are offering and most importantly the perks of having your own club.
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Would have to be from savings and funds that a new potential owner already has...a bank would not lend to a swingers club..no use hiding the fact that it will be... |
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By *oo hotCouple
over a year ago
North West |
"There is definitely scope for a handful of clubs to be opened in the uk. Swinging is only going to increase and a lot more new couples, fresh faces will enter the scene.
I feel a lot of people are happy and content with the current level of clubs on offer in 2015.
I don't think a super club is the answer. I am more or less thinking of a small club which has around 50-100 members who will keep the club afloat.
Who says that it needs to be profit making from day one. Aslong as you break even for the 1st 5 years in sure once established you will be able to take away some income.
We are looking at opening a club for strictly members only and creating an experience for everyone. We are not looking at making lots of money from the start but I'm sure we can get back 3/4% return of investment. Better than what most high street lenders are offering and most importantly the perks of having your own club.
"
Business and personal interest rarely make good bedfellows. Take more care of your money than your fantasies. |
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"How do I find out what licensing etc is needed Id love to set one up in my town of leicester because we don't have one x "
I am in the process of finding out the process of acquiring a license for a private members only club and taking it from there. So will let you know in due course. |
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"A lot of the time towns/areas without a club it is because the local council wont allow it in said area"
I think councils will have to start relaxing their rules in regards to these clubs because the demand is only growing. Therefore they can't just ignore the applications. They may ban or stop people opening in areas where there are houses and schools but I am guessing that being a distance away from local areas would make planning or getting a license easier.
Saying that the council don't want to carry out undercover operations to find illegal operations because it's all headache of paperwork, warrants, arrests, public prosecution, Hmrc, Etc etc.
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"How do I find out what licensing etc is needed Id love to set one up in my town of leicester because we don't have one x "
The best place to start is with your own towns planning website / portal - the forms are a bit of a nightmare but I found a quick phone call to one of the planning officers was very helpful.
The licences you need will depend on what your club will offer and what hours it will be open, if it will be open to the public or if it will be a private members club (that's the best option - google private members club rules to understand how you need to comply to keep that status) - I did all of the planning work for Mingles Club in Colchester so will give some of the main points that we experienced.
The first step is to get change of use for the building you want to use - there are no classifications i.e. A1 etc for a swingers club so you need to apply for Sui-Generis. The planning dept do not judge on moral grounds so you will only need to satisfy criteria such as Noise / Parking / Waste disposal etc.
We had to make sure our building was sound-proofed so if you are providing loud music / dancing etc you may have to do this as well. When complete our building had to be certified by a recognised acoustic professional (that cost us over £1500 just for the test!) but was a condition laid down by planning as there are a few houses nearby.
There is a pre-app service for about £100 where you basically tell the planning dept what you want to do and they will give you feedback on if they think your application will be successful or not or hwat conditions may be imposed on you, that was really helpful and you might found out certain issues early on that may or may not be resolvable.
If you are altering the building internally or externally you may also need planning permission - I didn't realise but in some cases even to change doors / windows / signage etc you will need permission. If you make changes internally you will also need building regulations approval, speak to this department before changing anything as they can help a lot. If your club is going to hold over 60 people the fire regs get more complicated as well. We did most of the building work ourselves although we are not builders so we got a few things wrong. We installed some really nice doors but had to change them as they were not fire rated (SP30) and we hadn't installed enough emergency lighting so had to re-channel some cables into walls, so getting the building regs people in early or hiring professional builders would be a good idea and could save money in the long run.
If the planning people are unsure about granting change of use usually because they don't have much experience with unique propositions such as swingers clubs or you think there might be some opposition you could try the same strategy as we did, and ask for temporary change of use, it is a risk and it will depend on if you are prepared to lose a substantial amount of your investment if the longevity of the business is cut short.
I am fairly sure if you ask for temporary change of use its almost impossible for them to refuse you, the risk is you have to spend all of your money building the club and then hope to get full change of use at a later date. Providing you don't have any issues this should just be a paperwork exercise - I can tell you for sure in a few weeks when the decision is made on the future of _ingles!
Of course licensing for alcohol is a consideration, we chose not to get a licence and operate a bring your own alcohol policy, we do make a small amount on soft drink sales. Our premises has never previously had a licence or been used as a club so trying to get an alcohol licence might have added even more complications, this might be different for you if you are taking over an old pub or something.
One thing to consider if you have a alcohol licence is that the police have a right to enter your premises at any time, considering most of their colleagues will probably be your clients that could be awkward, so we opted for unlicensed private members club whereby they can only enter with a warrant (or a membership!)
Speak to the licensing department early on as there are something like 21 different licenses you may or may not need - even bizarre stuff such as you need a licence to sell hot drinks like tea and coffee after 11pm etc, although I believe some of these laws are being relaxed.
Dancing and music licence may be required, or even a sexual entertainments licence. My heart sunk when I read a sexual entertainments licence is a minimum of £5000 but it turns out a swingers club doesn't need one. You are not (I assume) providing any dancers / strippers etc and therefore you are not providing any entertainment anything that takes place within your club between consenting adults (swingers) is classified as "spontaneous nudity" and doesn't need a licence.
You may need a separate PRS music licence in addition to anything the local council require.
The are of course fees for all of these applications I think we have spent around £1000 over the last year on getting all of the relevant permissions we needed.
Well I think that has covered the basics so I wont ramble on any further, but happy to help if you want to know more.
Jason Woolf - Mingles Club - Colchester
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I would love to open a club more than anything as Wales could do with some more entertainment obviously I would be respectful to the present club already and not do it on their doorstep and even liaise with them so as not to upset anyone.
Money is of course the main thing stopping me although I have had a few offers of investment it's still not enough. Damn those lottery numbers not coming up yet. I also need a mastermind to help with all the technical stuff as I'm crap at all that but I have what I would like in my head and a name chosen. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"A lot of the time towns/areas without a club it is because the local council wont allow it in said area
I think councils will have to start relaxing their rules in regards to these clubs because the demand is only growing. Therefore they can't just ignore the applications. They may ban or stop people opening in areas where there are houses and schools but I am guessing that being a distance away from local areas would make planning or getting a license easier.
Saying that the council don't want to carry out undercover operations to find illegal operations because it's all headache of paperwork, warrants, arrests, public prosecution, Hmrc, Etc etc.
"
In London there are more and more demands being placed on vanilla nightlife. I suspect that that is more likely to be the precedent rather than your optimism. There are huge swathes of the country without clubs and I can't see that changing. The people making these decisions are morally conservative and that won't change |
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By *MFC PartiesWoman
over a year ago
Here, There & Everywhere |
I've had so many conversations with BMFC members over the years, who have really wanted to open their own Swingers Club
Several have even discussed funding the build / set up with the agreement that i would manage it
However i've always politely declined their offer, and openly discussed the pit falls with everyone as it really is a long hard slog!
I've worked closely with many club owners and i've watched how they have to keep on 'reinventing' themselves - how they try to duck all of the mud slinging - and how difficult it is to avoid getting involved in all of the club politics!
Running a club may seem like a fantasy come true but as Townhouse Couple said, its an 80+ hour week (plus owners often have to hold-down a 'real job' too to help fund the club)
Good luck to anyone thinking of venturing into it, but trust me being a guest is far more fun!! |
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I would love to open a club I don’t have much money behind me thinking about opening a crowd funder for this! Lol North east needs some quality clubs I know I would put my all into it. Need an investor to help so if any suggestions let me know .... ! I’m seriously looking into this... starting Monday any more advice please message me thanks x |
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"I would love to open a club I don’t have much money behind me thinking about opening a crowd funder for this! Lol North east needs some quality clubs I know I would put my all into it. Need an investor to help so if any suggestions let me know .... ! I’m seriously looking into this... starting Monday any more advice please message me thanks x"
If you can raise around £250k to get you started and then guarantee enough people to pay your huge monthly bills, then I wish you luck! Swingers clubs are money pits, believe me!!! Our licences and insurance runs into several thousand a year alone.
I am not saying this out of bitterness as you are miles away from us for it to be an issue (not that it would be anyway!). I am saying it as someone who runs a very busy club, spending 80 - 100 hours a week working, spent an awful lot of money on the venue and we earn an ok living.
Clubs are a labour of love for very little return. If you want to open a club because the area needs it and are prepared to work your asses off and probably ruin your swinging lifestyle, then go for it. We are 6 years in and we are pooped. We love it, but it's the hardest job I've ever done and I've worked in the frontline NHS which was a challenge.
Townhouse is my passion but may very well be the death of me.
Don't say I didn't warn you!!!!! hahaha |
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By *eordiesCouple
over a year ago
newcastle |
"I would love to open a club I don’t have much money behind me thinking about opening a crowd funder for this! Lol North east needs some quality clubs I know I would put my all into it. Need an investor to help so if any suggestions let me know .... ! I’m seriously looking into this... starting Monday any more advice please message me thanks x"
Don't suppose you ever got to Youtopia near Scarbourgh ?
That in it's day was a good club, but it had the added bonus of being attached to a large field where people could camp / caravan and motorhome.
If I was looking to open a club I'd try and find somewhere along those lines but near a big city. Therefore it would be more discreet, but you'd find that you'd get a core clientele (esp in summer) of people wanting to camp which would provide you with a fairly stable regular membership. |
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"I would love to open a club I don’t have much money behind me thinking about opening a crowd funder for this! Lol North east needs some quality clubs I know I would put my all into it. Need an investor to help so if any suggestions let me know .... ! I’m seriously looking into this... starting Monday any more advice please message me thanks x
Don’t suppose you want to invest xxx
Don't suppose you ever got to Youtopia near Scarbourgh ?
That in it's day was a good club, but it had the added bonus of being attached to a large field where people could camp / caravan and motorhome.
If I was looking to open a club I'd try and find somewhere along those lines but near a big city. Therefore it would be more discreet, but you'd find that you'd get a core clientele (esp in summer) of people wanting to camp which would provide you with a fairly stable regular membership."
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