For those who missed the AGM or who want to read up on the details, here are the notes provided by committee members on the progress made in their own areas in 2023/4

The Annual Accounts for 2023, approved at the AGM, will be posted online once they have been formally signed off by the Club officers and our accountants.

House Report

(Andrea Jung)

The refurbishment of the Club has been progressing at a tremendous pace over the past year. The attachmed presentation gives an idea of the scale of the project and what has been achieved so far.  

Entertainment Report

(Andrea Davis and Lucian Evans)

 Over the last year we have provided the following entertainment for our Members:

• Regular events in the Main Hall include the monthly Vinyl Secretary DJ nights, our quarterly Out on the Floor Northern Soul nights, our regular DJ Catfight themed discos, live bands, music quizzes and music themed bingo, comedy nights and cabaret. Renowned DJ Steve Davis and Keb Darge have also performed at the club over the last year.
• Regular live monthly performances in the Small Hall and Members’ Bar from Club favourites including Silver & Gold, Franz Black, Cats’ Eyes, Just for Fun, Tom McQ, Retro Flyers, Gary Driscoll and Trix.
• Free live music in the Members’ Bar every Friday night.
• We aim to increase the number and variety of events that we offer our Members and have recently created an Entertainment Sub Committee made up of club members to advise and organise more events for our membership.

Stock & Finance

(Pete Brown)

The Role of the Bars

Bars are a very important part of what the Mildmay Club offers. But it’s always important to remember that we are different from a pub. Bars play several different roles for us:

• Stock the drinks our members want to drink, at prices they like. There’s an expectation that these prices will be cheaper than local pubs. This is seen as a key benefit of club membership and is traditional in the history of clubs.
• Maximise contribution to Mildmay finances. Bars contribute around half of the club’s total turnover. This is particularly important with the current need to pay for essential renovations and repairs to the club.
• Build the reputation of the club – so that people want to join to enjoy a superior drinks selection, and also people want to hire the venue for events. (NB prices for members are substantially cheaper than for hire bookings.)

These priorities must clearly balance off against each other – how do you keep prices low for members while maximising profit to the club? It’s the job of Stock and Finance to perfect this balance.

What’s been achieved in 2023/4:

• Kept prices unchanged
• Rationalised the packaged beer list
• Brought in new draught lines from local brewers, without losing traditional favourites
• Introduced a new, simpler wine list that reflects what’s popular in local pubs but at lower prices
• Introduced canned, high quality, ready-to-drink cocktails, which are especially popular (and profitable) with functions

What we plan to do:

• Continue to evolve our drinks selection – if there’s anything we don’t have that you want to see, please ask! We’ll be improving our cider selection for the summer
• Improve signage so that everyone can see what we have, and what it tastes like
• Modest price increases. We haven’t increased prices since 2022. Meanwhile, inflation in the hospitality industry (pubs, bars, brewing etc.) is higher than in any other sector of the economy, and double the average inflation rate. The cost of a pint of lager increased 10.8% in the year to January 2024, and the average price of a pint in the UK is now £4.80 – and £5.69 across London. Rising costs mean we will have to increase bar prices, but we will still aim to keep our prices well below these average figures. (We will also be introducing a new third tier of pricing for corporate higher events, which will help subsidise lower members’ prices.)

Membership Report

(Tom Campbell)

• Membership has risen steadily over the last year and we now have over 2,000 members, the most there has been for many years
• Members are still overwhelmingly from the local area, and are of all ages – we are pleased that increasingly younger members (often the children of long-term members) are joining
• It is great to have the Club being so well used and bringing in much-needed money, but it also raises capacity issues, especially on a Friday night, and so we are considering ways in which we ease the pressure on the Club

Sports and Games Report

(John Woods and Andy Mcadie)

Sports and Games have always been a big part of the club. In the last year we have:

• Built up our board game collection in the TV room and this has proved to be very popular
• Seen our darts team win the league last season (their cup can be seen displayed near the dart board in the Members’ Bar)
• Managed the amazing growth of snooker. Four years ago we could expect to take around £500 a month from the tables Now we consistently take over £600 a week and our annual total for 2023 was over £23,000 making snooker one of the biggest money generators in the club, bettered only by membership subscription, bar takings and filming/hall hire
• Our new season of in-house sports events are starting soon and we will end the year with our annual presentation night.