Houston, we have a problem...

It turns out that The Horse and Trap pub is no longer willing to allow us the use of their downstairs venue free of charge. They have to staff it and cover the costs of the place and it turns out that we're not big drinkers - averaging only about $250 at the bar over the past couple of months.

Therefore, they want to charge us $500 for the use of the venue - out of the question, I think. A per-head charge would be at least $10 and that would put people off.

Can we have some discussion on this. I see the options as follows:

1. Find another venue prepared to give us a room for free (but in the long term, they're likely to balk at providing it for free)

2. Change to a drinks-only type meetup in a shared venue (i.e with other patrons). This would mean no quiz or speaker.

3. Find a Skeptic who owns a pub and is prepared to subsidize for the "greater good"

4. Find a sponsor or somebody to subsidize us

Other options?

Whatever we decide in the long term, we need to figure out something for May, including having a place that's quiet so we can hear our speaker.

Ideas?

Well that really sucks =( and $500 is ridiculous. What do some of the other Skeptics in the pub's around the world do?

Well, everybody could just bite the bullet and bloody well drink more... (I believe this is the method employed by British and American skeptics) :)

Maybe Galbraiths has a room we could use? It's not far from the Horse & Trap, and nice beer.

Otherwise, try The Cavalier up College Hill. I am pretty sure that has a bookable room.
EDIT: Yes it does, but I suspect it is not free. http://www.thecavalie...

How about a licensed cafe? Not sure which though... as I'm not local.

Yeah, an after-hours cafe would be a good idea. Perhaps someone knows someone willing to leave the electricity running for a few hours once a month. Who knows, perhaps people would buy coffee in more quantity than beer?

If "push comes to shove" as they say we could always use Rationalist House, just might have to get inventive with the drink and food side of things.

John

I can also get hold of a projector being that I'm in the AV automation industry

I vote we change the name of the meetup to "Skeptics in the {any available venue that serves alchohol}"

I vote we change the name of the meetup to "Skeptics in the {any available venue that serves alchohol}"

somewhere in CBD or Krd would be great