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So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby Gubbins on Thu May 28, 2009 7:50 pm

This is a true, true loss to St. Andrews - the town, the University, the atmosphere. It was never my favourite pub, but it did reflect something of the uniqueness of St. Andrews. Plus, they had pie. Which is just what you need to soak up a pint or eight at 12:30 in the morning. A sad day indeed...
...then again, that is only my opinion.
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby Ewan Husami on Fri May 29, 2009 1:03 am

Fawksie wrote:And if so, the justification for the Union retaining its late licence is further eroded. Why give it to the Union when you're not giving it to Aikman's? And what happens to the bar takings then? :/


Actually, this gives more gravitas to the Union's late licence.

The Union has been operating since 1973, and knows the students better than anywhere else in town. The Union offers much more than Aikmans/The Cellar Bar, both in terms of entertainment, facilities and, more importantly, welfare.
While I'm sure the management of Aikman's cared for their customers, I'm not covinced that the same care would extend to taking those customers home who'd had a bit too much to drink and had been abandoned by their friends.

I'm extremely sad to see such a long standing business such as Aikman's collapse, especially as I know that the proprietors were St Andrews alumni themselves, and maintained such strong links with the student community.
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby Fawksie on Fri May 29, 2009 9:52 am

Good points actually. It didn't occur to me that the idea of responsibility and reputation could be applied positively to the Union too.
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby Hennessy on Fri May 29, 2009 11:28 am

I think next semester would be an opportune moment to start a late-night booze distribution service to students afflicted by the now-derelict impromptu party sector created by the closure of off-sales. Someone could make a good return by outwitting this puritan prohibition on fun by granite-faced politicians and their law fudging.

Oh and Aikmans was a terrible shame. Still can't afford that £1000 pp though, unless you want it in baked beans.
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby fluffy on Fri May 29, 2009 11:51 am

offsales is closing down????
dev ksereis, alla eimai trella erotebmevei mazi sou..
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby blondejenius on Fri May 29, 2009 12:49 pm

Yes, Offsales is closing. Tonight is the last night that it will be open. :(
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby Guest on Fri May 29, 2009 1:30 pm

The only bad thing I can say about Aikmans - I was never a big fan of Erdinger (except the glasses) and a pint of Guinness in the Cellar cost me the better part of £4 once.

But you can't beat the atmosphere when a live blues/rock band is in.
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby I Shall Have My Vengence on Fri May 29, 2009 1:32 pm

blondejenius wrote:Yes, Offsales is closing. Tonight is the last night that it will be open. :(


WHHHHHHHHHHHHHATTT?!?!

TOO FAR, ST ANDREWS! TOO FAR!
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby lizzie_liz on Fri May 29, 2009 1:46 pm

Off sales is closing due to new liscencing laws which means that alcohol can not be sold after 10pm
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby Hennessy on Fri May 29, 2009 4:19 pm

To straighten things out in my mind:

From next semester there will be:

No Aikmans
No Off-sales
Tesco's will still stop selling booze for home consumption
There is nowhere else in town to purchase booze for home consumption after 10pm
The union will be the only place open until at least 1am every night.


If I was a conspiracy theorist I would say that this is a pincer move by the Union and Tesco's to corner the partygoer and pisshead markets in this little town.
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby Cain on Fri May 29, 2009 11:14 pm

Hennessy wrote:Tesco's will still stop selling booze for home consumption


So, Tesco will make you drink everything that you buy before you leave the store?
I hold an element of surprise
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby LonelyPilgrim on Sat May 30, 2009 5:34 am

I never thought I would see the day that it would be easier to buy alcohol here, at home, than in St Andrews, but I think that day, or at least a day of parity, has arrived. That makes me sad. Your government seems to be all for an incremental temperance movement.

At least I can still walk into a store at midnight here and buy wine or anything else I want (provided it's not Saturday night, since no liquor sales are allowed on Sunday...). Granted, the excise tax on anything but beer (and some wines) is a bummer. My favourite wine which would have cost the equivalent of $15-16 in St Andrews is $26 here.

Still, I wasn't an Aikmans fan, more of a Central guy. Still, it's sad to see an institution fail.
Man is free; yet we must not suppose that he is at liberty to do everything he pleases, for he becomes a slave the moment he allows his actions to be ruled by passion. --Giacomo Casanova
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby schmod on Sun May 31, 2009 6:46 am

LonelyPilgrim wrote:I never thought I would see the day that it would be easier to buy alcohol here, at home, than in St Andrews, but I think that day, or at least a day of parity, has arrived. That makes me sad. Your government seems to be all for an incremental temperance movement.


Oh, come now. The US is hardly better, with the drinking age set so high, and taxes to match. In Virginia, you're forced to buy booze (anything harder than beer, wine, or cider) directly from the government before 9PM (6 on Sundays, but only if you're lucky enough to be in a town where the shop is open on Sunday)

The laws (amongst other things) seem to have the effect of driving every student out of the state after graduation.
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby LonelyPilgrim on Sun May 31, 2009 8:35 am

schmod wrote:
LonelyPilgrim wrote:I never thought I would see the day that it would be easier to buy alcohol here, at home, than in St Andrews, but I think that day, or at least a day of parity, has arrived. That makes me sad. Your government seems to be all for an incremental temperance movement.


Oh, come now. The US is hardly better, with the drinking age set so high, and taxes to match. In Virginia, you're forced to buy booze (anything harder than beer, wine, or cider) directly from the government before 9PM (6 on Sundays, but only if you're lucky enough to be in a town where the shop is open on Sunday)

The laws (amongst other things) seem to have the effect of driving every student out of the state after graduation.


Is it not the case that you have to be 21 to buy alcohol for consumption at home now in Scotland? The only difference then is the age for drinking out. And I can buy alcohol any hour of the day here (except 12am-11.59pm on Sunday and that's only for take home consumption, the bars are still open).

As far as taxes go... I agree to a point here in Indiana. Beer is cheap and so is the Indiana-produced wine (yes, there are a few producers), but everything else is taxed to the hilt, especially wine from out of state and imported. It's actually illegal to have wine shipped to oneself in Indiana if it comes from an out-of-state winery (well, technically, that's not true... you can have up to four cases a year iirc sent, but ONLY if you buy them in person from the winery in question, and the winery pays the state an annual fee for the right to ship into the state... which means it's practically impossible). All that may be changing soon, though. There is a bill before our general assembly to increase the excise tax on beer, lower it on 'finer' alcohols, and eliminate the out-of-state wine shipping restrictions.
Man is free; yet we must not suppose that he is at liberty to do everything he pleases, for he becomes a slave the moment he allows his actions to be ruled by passion. --Giacomo Casanova
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby Fawksie on Sun May 31, 2009 11:17 am

LonelyPilgrim wrote:Is it not the case that you have to be 21 to buy alcohol for consumption at home now in Scotland?

For the time being, no, the retailers would simply like you to believe that's the case. The British Beer and Pub Association introduced a voluntary scheme called Challenge 21, whereby people who looked under 21 would be asked to prove they were over 18 before being allowed to purchase alcohol. Then ASDA raised it to Challenge 25 and most of the rest of the country followed suit. Some Tesco stores are doing Challenge 30.

However, the SNP tried to raise the off-sales purchase age to 21 and failed, so they're now overstepping Parliament and allowing and encouraging individual local authorities to raise it on a piecemeal basis. No movement on that yet as far as I'm aware.
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby Dempsey on Sun May 31, 2009 9:34 pm

I Shall Have My Vengence wrote:
blondejenius wrote:Yes, Offsales is closing. Tonight is the last night that it will be open. :(


WHHHHHHHHHHHHHATTT?!?!

TOO FAR, ST ANDREWS! TOO FAR!




Aghhhh! This is awful news! Half of the parties I've been to have been sponsored by off-sales! I guess we'll have to mob tescos during the day and stock up...
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby schmod on Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:57 am

Fawksie wrote:
LonelyPilgrim wrote:Is it not the case that you have to be 21 to buy alcohol for consumption at home now in Scotland?

For the time being, no, the retailers would simply like you to believe that's the case. The British Beer and Pub Association introduced a voluntary scheme called Challenge 21, whereby people who looked under 21 would be asked to prove they were over 18 before being allowed to purchase alcohol. Then ASDA raised it to Challenge 25 and most of the rest of the country followed suit. Some Tesco stores are doing Challenge 30.

However, the SNP tried to raise the off-sales purchase age to 21 and failed, so they're now overstepping Parliament and allowing and encouraging individual local authorities to raise it on a piecemeal basis. No movement on that yet as far as I'm aware.


The US actually has no national drinking age limit. The current standard got snuck in as an attachment to a motorway spending bill, but leaves most of the power up to the individual states. The actual legal status varies enormously from state to state.

Most states also require ID checks for anybody who looks younger than 30, although this is rarely enforced. Some states eschew enforcement of the age limit altogether (Louisiana was at one time notorious for this, as well as a certain nonchalance toward drink-driving) States continue to receive funding for road improvements, despite loopholes or non-enforcement of the drinking age, as these exceptions were never considered in the original piece of legislation.

Obviously, this remains a contentious piece of legislation that the government's afraid to even discuss, given that any sort of amendment to the existing standard would undoubtedly be extremely controversial, despite the fact that the current status quo is illogical and unintuitive.
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby Stu le taxi on Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:42 pm

Fawksie wrote:However, the SNP tried to raise the off-sales purchase age to 21 and failed, so they're now overstepping Parliament and allowing and encouraging individual local authorities to raise it on a piecemeal basis. No movement on that yet as far as I'm aware.


I don't think the legislation has actually been brought forward yet - the SNP were going to try to get the measure through via secondary legislation, which would have been less hassle for them, but now it seems that they'll need primary legislation, which will take longer.

But I think the word was that they won't be trying to push the under-21s measure through and instead will leave it to the disretion of local licensing boards.

But I don't think the Bill will come forward until the autumn, so a lot could change between now and then.
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby Delts on Tue Jun 02, 2009 7:34 pm

Screw our alcohol laws, I'm going to move to Australia! (hopefully...)
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Re: So I hear Aikmans has gone Bankrupt?

Postby orudge on Tue Jun 02, 2009 7:54 pm

Have fun trying to buy a pint there, it seems there is quite a variation in what a pint is depending on where you go. Luckily though, a jug seems to be universal! ;)

I on the other hand should be moving to the US, Minnesota to be precise, and it seems their alcohol laws are pretty reasonable (except the whole over-21 thing, but that won't be an issue for me anyway) - quite comparable to the UK if nothing else. Although the US doesn't know what size a proper pint should be.
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