The price of a coffee is getting more expensive by the day, but surely even the most hardened of latte lovers would wince at £170k for a cuppa.
But that’s what the good old taxpayer is forking out to keep the flat whites flowing at Perth Museum.
It’s a sum bound to leave a bitter taste in the mouth of many, especially the local cafes, bars and restaurants surrounding it.
How we’ve arrived at a stage where the public is propping up a failing cafe in a £27m museum is beyond comprehension.
Why are we funding a place where tourists buy cakes and scones?
Our libraries are under threat, and our swimming pools too, yet here we are, bailing out a mini-bistro.
Is this what our forewarned 10 per cent council tax hike is going towards – cappuccinos?
It’s ridiculous.
The room is not being used properly
To clear things up, this is not a dig at the new attraction.
The museum itself is fantastic looking – the bit with the artefacts and the Stone of Destiny and that.
It has surpassed expectations, in my opinion, and is a real cultural gem in the heart of the city.
Even the cafe is lovely and grandiose. I was in it on Tuesday and it’s an impressive room.
But it’s being poorly utilised.
The fact it’s in danger of sending Culture Perth and Kinross into the red is a sure sign of that.
And it shouldn’t be on our heads to bail them out over it.
I don’t mind paying for culture.
I do mind paying for a space for folk to buy tea and biscuits when plenty of other venues already exist in the city.
It makes no sense for it to be a public expense. And it was never supposed to be the plan.
Culture Perth and Kinross only took over running of the cafe after two failed bids to find a private operator.
Two failed bids doesn’t mean that no-one applied.
It means that the council and its arms-length organisation decided none of the bids were better than their own loss-making enterprise.
I wonder if they regret that decision now. I assume the public probably does.
Failing during the good times
The £170k bailout earmarked for Culture Perth and Kinross is worrying for another reason.
The museum has attracted more than 200,000 visitors since it opened last March.
That’s a higher footfall figure than most expected.
Yet the cafe still can’t keep itself afloat. That surely indicates something is badly wrong here.
If the museum is performing above expectation but the cafe is still operating at loss then how does the council or Culture Perth and Kinross envisage getting out of this scenario?
It’s failing during the good times. What happens if there’s a slump?
Or when there’s a slump might be more accurate.
The museum is riding on a high of being Perth’s shiny new toy, Scotland’s shiny new toy even.
It’s been well reviewed far and wide and that undoubtedly has had a positive effect on visitor numbers.
But those reviews only tend to come around once, meaning Perth Museum right now is as famous as Perth Museum is ever going to get.
So, how are the council and co going to drive even more footfall towards the cafe to make up this £170k shortfall?
It’s unlikely they can, and, on the face of it, it doesn’t appear to be a footfall issue.
It’s a management one.
People are going to the museum and using the cafe, yet it’s still making a loss,
Something has to change.
The obvious answer is to bring someone else in, someone who knows what they’re doing.
Or make it not a cafe.
There’s already plenty of them in cafe quarter in which the museum sits.
Why don’t we let the tourists spend their money on those local businesses instead?
Cafe can’t be allowed to bring museum down
Those running Perth Museum must tell people it’s there too.
We have a brand new £27m tourist attraction in the heart of the city but, wandering into Perth on a rainy day, you wouldn’t know it was there unless you happened to be walking down that street.
Where are the signs and the adverts telling people to head to this fantastic new tourist hotspot?
The museum needs to be a success and it deserves to be. It’s a great attraction.
But it can’t be allowed to burn through taxpayer cash to clean up the mess of teas and coffees it has created.
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