Steve Browning

Band of Friends features my chum Brendan O'Neill and Rory's old bass player Gerry McAvoy. Unlikely to pop up in the UK but please keep an eye out nevertheless.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/02/brighton-pier-owner-to-delist-from-london-stock-market-and-go-private Get out your little violins.

That was the gist of it, and going on about the customer becoming his friend. Sounded really rather weird and slightly uncomfortable.

Just returned from a very pleasant couple of hours in Michael's company. He and I first met about 35 years ago. Today, I took along one of the basses he had a go on back then, and came away with a really lovely Fender Japan Precision fretless. A lovely guy and an excellwent chat. Super easy from start to finish and great to catch up after half a lifetime (based on 3 score years and ten).

Just looked and they're distributed in the UK by Rotosound. Happy days!! I sent my newly delivered 1983 '62 Precision reissue back to Fender because the scratchplate looked so awful. I was put off Spitfire by an extraordinary tale of woe on BC a few years ago.

But it's a perfectly valid argument and one most people can understand.

That must be a real freak occurrence. Having visited the factory, I can tell you that each person makes one string each day and the strings are packed by hand (which is something to watch I can assure you!). Getting the wrong sizes in a pack would be close to impossible. That's not suggesting that hasn't happened, but the chances are infinitesimally small. I'd be buying a lottery ticket.

Blimey Simon. There's bound to be one where you are (and I don't say that as someone coming from Pompey - we have our own variety).

Surely you just put the price of tap water up to £5 a pint (I think it's only free when served with food), free to band members (as some drink water 'onstage'). Possibly under-investing in bar staff gives the seagull his reward.

Yes. I like it for the tune being played. Nice groove.

I was slightly generalising. Food sold above ambient temperature becomes a service of catering and standard rated. Everything else is food and sold according to the Law That's why chocolate Nesquik is standard rated and strawberry isn't. 😂

I should add that a supermarket cafe charges VAT on catering in exactly the same way as a pub/restaurant.

Tim is wrong. The reason is in my answer. A pub provides a service of catering. That is why it is standard rated. It doesn't sell food. A supermarket doesn't prepare it, cook it and serve it. It doesn't pay staff to do those jobs either.

False on both counts. I can see a pub with a brewery attached getting charged Duty directly. Otherwise, it's factored into the price paid by the pub (or by us at the supermarket). I can see the difference if you are talking about certain foodstuffs, but that's pretty niche. A pub doesn't sell any food, it provides a service of catering (as does a restaurant). That is why all such polaces charge VAT on meals etc. That's nothing to do with beverages though. I( recall the furore when VAT was put on takeaway food (as a service of catering).

It's an interesting question, and possibly one of those where the answer is what you are happy with. In general, I would work on the principle that your level of pay is directl;y related to how seriously the payer takes you (taking into account market forces). Here in Pompey, the level of pay for pub gigs is pretty much what it was 40 years ago. There's something inherently wrong there. In certain circumstances I am more than happy to pay for nothing, and do regularly. A commercial enterprise should not expect me to entertain their customers for nothing.

Very true.

Of course Brian May has been using a single 30 watt amp on the biggest stages for about 50 years now.

32% would last me days if it wasn't for Basschat!

The guy who has the highest stake in the business (majority shareholder in the topco) is listed as having the occupation of investor).

Known as 'phoenix syndrome'.

A look at the topco filed consolidated accounts shows losses for the last two years. Store told the local paper they were closed 'for maintenance'. £30m t/o in GAK.co.uk Ltd. £6m operating profit after cost of sales.

Yes. I found you have to slightly turn off your bass player head to play arranged bass parts.

Then work up to some Sammy Nestico big band bass parts!! 😄

No. I've used them for years without issue. I was fortunate to have a trip round the factory and watched them being made. The level of care was very impressive. I should note that I'm a Rotosound artist.