Welcome aboard the Ark
Live music has become more and more scarce as pubs have struggled with the
recession, noise complaints and unfair supply ties and rents so we have come up
with a new solution for you to see your favourite band while enjoying a good
pint of real ale, some pleasant cocktails or a decent fine wine. Our prices are rock
bottom because we have no ties or huge overheads as pubs do.
There
are some phenomenally talented musicians and bands in the UK who are finding it
increasingly difficult to find anywhere to perform their art and there is an
enormous
amount of like minded people who love to see them play and that is why the 'Ark'
is being planned...to save live music from the flood of gastro pubs everywhere!
Our
entertainment is mainly aimed at the over 30 age group and we will strictly restrict boarding to
over 25's only.
LATEST NEWS
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Your Captain, the restaurateur and your hostess all have a great deal of
experienced working with boats, bars, pubs, fine cuisine, gigs & live bands and
the three of them look forward to welcoming you aboard very soon...
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4
March
View more vessels. Appointments
Tuesday 8 March in Hoo, Rochester Kent.
Spoke with moorings owner in Brentford permanent commercial mooring: Reserved
for us in September. Awaiting planning permission for a bridge to be built from
Lots Ait to the mainland.
1
March
Research legislation for commercial passengers boats on the Thames and Boat
Masters Licence. Now have all documentation from MCA. Spoke with the Environment
Agency. They offered a purpose built Landing Stage in Walton on Thames to
collect our customers from and stated that we could get permission from other
land/mooring owners and then let them know.
26 Feb 2010
Found the perfect vessel which is laying on the Thames in London's East End and
selling for half it's real value as boats are at an all time low price right
now. Unfortunately another cash offer of £68,000 was made on this vessel and
accepted.
24 Feb 2010
We battled through bitter icy wind
and driving rain on the Medway river and the River Thames to clamber on board
some huge vessels today but it was worth it because we feel we may have found
the ideal boat for our venture! The brewery are in full support and offering a
fantastic deal to get us started. Next step is to meet
with the MCA & Environment Agency to find out exactly what they require to
certificate the boat for our purposes so we can work out the costs. We are on
our way...keep watching this space!
Meanwhile, to show your support
for our exciting new venture, join our Facebook group which now has 384 members:
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=315259955089&ref=mf
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INVESTORS NOTICE
Having done a
huge amount of market research we have discovered that there is a large
percentage of the night life market who would
like see live
bands performing on a fully licensed boat with a capacity for 200 passengers on
the River Thames west of London. Sound interesting? Well I am currently,
together with a boat skipper, a retired Michelin star level restaurant
consultant and a creative marketing whizz kid, in the process of setting this
up.
We have
decided to take this approach because we have given up on the greedy and
ruthless pub companies who are currently destroying pubs and the live music
scene. Also we could not find decent sized premises locally where there would be
no noise complaints which is yet another nail in the coffin of the UK's live
music & pub culture. On a fully licensed boat on the river we eliminate this
problem and, because we will be free of tie and high rents & rates, we can offer
fantastic entertainment & value for a huge market, currently not supplied, for
far less than your average pub or music venue. The closure of so many pubs
providing live music in this area means a huge gap in the market has opened up
where the over 35 age group with disposable incomes have few places to go and
see live music anymore. We intend to fill this gap with out the pub companies
being involved and with far lower overheads than running the business from a
licensed land based property.
We have been
trying for a long time to establish a successful live music venue but have hit
brick walls every time mainly due to the greed of the pub companies or the
mismanagement of potential venues as well as a lack of funding available.
However, this new solution has been received with huge enthusiasm by everyone we
have been in touch with so far and this includes the authorities and councils
who want to encourage more river use and even the breweries as they see the
potential marketing value for themselves of advertising along the river! We have
already been offered all the fixtures and fittings we may require for next to
nothing by one major brewery which will drastically reduced our set up costs.
Therefore, as we will now have total control on how we run the
whole business, we are 100% positive we will be successful with this venture.
The
professional and well travelled skipper on our team, who will live aboard, means
we have the expertise to utilise the river and look after the boat. He also,
coincidently, just happens to be an excellent barman and was formerly
a professional sound engineer!
Our hostess has
20 years experience of booking live bands and 9 years experience in web design
and internet marketing which is another set up cost eliminated.
Formerly a publican she holds
a personal licence with 9 years remaining and will live aboard as the designated
premises supervisor.
Our retired
Michelin star level restaurant consultant (who is also adept at many other
aspects of running and marketing a business in the entertainment &
leisure industry) means the cuisine will be outstanding and the wines top class.
We intend to provide very high quality but low cost easy to eat and delicious
snacks for the passengers to enjoy whilst watching the bands or sitting on the
top deck watching the riverside world go by as apposed to a sit down meal in a
boring unsociable restaurant setting! London's premier bands are offering us the
first gig aboard the Ark for greatly reduced rates to assist us with the launch
of this venture.
We also have a
marketing whizz on board. She has many years experience in the entertainment
industry as a manager and promoter of artists, music, racing and all kinds of
other high end leisure activities.
We have
already found a mooring and reserved it and are currently looking at others
along the river Thames. We are considering many vessels which could suit our
purposes. If you are aware of any do let us know about them. The vessel’s
current location is immaterial (within reason) as our skipper will arrange to
collect. We do wish to be environmentally friendly however, so vessels with
electric engines, solar panelling and hydro power etc would be preferable.
Once this
project is successful we intend to set up additional vessels along the Thames
and on other waterways in the UK and beyond. The mobility is a distinct
advantage because the location can be moved until the perfect one is found in
each case.
If you can
provide any assistance or expertise in any respect, have ideas and suggestions
or simply want to support this exciting new venture then please do let us know.
We are looking
for a minimum of £20,000 investment for 8% of the business. We will require this
for a minimum of 12 months trading and then be able to pay back the investment. We will forward our business plan to you if you are interested.
Best wishes from Nat of the Ark Crew
Email:
ask@propono.org
Tel: 0208 979 1587 - Mobile: 07966 519844
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