The ownership of Stirling’s Students’ Union catering services and bar, known as Robbins, is set to be transferred to the university on June 1, 2024.
Robbins will be taken over by Stirling Hotel Services Ltd. They currently run all of the catering services on campus.
The transfer has caused a lot of uncertainty. Both workers and students wonder what the next semester will look like under new management.
The Students’ Union is “non-profit and a registered charity”. It aims to prioritize students’ needs. In a statement, the Union mentioned that one of the main reasons for the transfer was a downward trend in finances.
A £110,000 payment was received from the University, however, the Union deficit still sat at £180,000 as of April 2024.
Luna Larkin, Chairperson of the Stirling Solidarity Space said: “[The] university senior management have been looking at the Union space at least since September 2023, and obviously want to use the space for their own commercial interests. The loss of the Union bar isn’t just a tale of Union mismanagement, but of the university’s focus on profit, and not on students.”
Brig reached out to the Union for a comment. They explained that the historical income model of the Students’ Union was one part given by the university as a grant. The other part is funded by the Union’s own commercial activities.
“Hugely disappointing”
“For over a decade now, many students’ unions across the UK are discovering that because of changes to student funding, the rising costs of living and attitudinal changes to alcohol, these traditional trading methods lose money rather than generate additional income,” the Union said.
However, while both the bar and catering saw a decrease in sales figures (in 2023 the bar reached £104,000 and catering £310,000, both totals continuing a downward trend in sales), the bar seemed to be the bigger issue.
Regarding events, the Union said: “To put this into context, when the Union ran the Taylor Swift night in November 2022, bar takings were £3,354. When taking the tax out of that, [the total] is just £2,900. This was a prominent, promoted event supported by a highly active student society.
“This trend was also seen in 2023 Welcome Week with the Welcome Party, Ski Party, and ABBA nights seeing the largest attendances but only the ABBA night taking more than £2,000 on the bar.”
Events were costing more to run than what the bar was bringing in after staffing and product costs.
The Union admits that trading has been an issue for years and that it should have been addressed long ago. They state that they can no longer justify the deficit they have.
“It is hugely disappointing for everyone that the Union bar does not command the same level of importance as it once did. But as our members change, as student finances change, and as students change their attitudes to going out, we are no longer able to rightly justify the deficit,” they said.
Featured Image Credit: Brig Newspaper
Fourth year student journalist studying Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Journalism Studies.
Words at Brig, The Daily Evergreen, Alloa Advertiser, Discovery Music Scotland, and The Mourning Paper.
