Salcombe yacht club

SimbaDog

SimbaDog

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 May 2004
Messages
8,008
Location
Devon
Visit site
Over the years I have probably visited 50 plus different yacht clubs around the UK & have mostly been welcomed :) In Salcombe at the weekend & went to the yacht club for lunch & drinks, somewhat amazed to find that we were charged standard high street prices because I am not a member :confused: It's the only club I have so far visited that doesn't offer reduced price drinks etc. Not a lot of point in going there, might as well have gone to one of the many pubs where at least the Doombar probably wouldn't have been flat either! :(
 
I know many clubs, not all sailing clubs, who have a member and non-member price. Needless to say the ones that have differential pricing only get visited once; unless a member buys the drinks at the bar.
 
My club has two prices, but one for normal club use including visitors, and the other for when the club is hired out for functions.
 
Not sure why you think you should pay the same price as members whose subscriptions subsidise their prices, nor why you think the club should care if you don't return if the only reason you are there is to take advantage of cheaper prices.
 
Our club has a membership card which you can pre-load with money to be spent in the club.

The fact that the club has the money in advance plus the £400 annual membership gives members a 10% reduction on bar bills when paid by club membership card.

As these payments cover the running costs of the bar its understandable why the drinks could be less. If you want to take advantage of the members contributions then perhaps you are the sort that would not be welcome.

Likewise there are many that don't want to join any sailing club often to save money yet happy to advantage of facilities that others have paid for. No one objects to visiting yachtsmen from other sailing clubs.
 
Is the OP a member of any club though? Surely the point of reciprocal membership and pricing is that it's swings and roundabouts. For every visiting yachtsperson in your club drinking beer at a price that you have subsidised, one of your members is in another club drinking the beer subsidised by that club's members?
 
ohmaggie said:
Not sure why you think you should pay the same price as members whose subscriptions subsidise their prices, nor why you think the club should care if you don't return if the only reason you are there is to take advantage of cheaper prices.
Click to expand...

I think a cheaper rate for members is fine but that clubs need to pitch the price for visiting yachtsmen competitively if they want to make money from visiting yachtsmen. Many clubs are fairly quiet midweek evenings and don't have the atmosphere of pubs. As the bar is open and incurring costs for staff, insurance, heating etc getting a few extra people in who will spend a few extra quid can't be a bad thing!
 
Not a member but want to complain about how a club is run? My club has a similar system and I think it's a good way of benefitting members and preventing non members taking advantage of those benefits - sounds like it has worked in your case...
 
skyflyer said:
Is the OP a member of any club though? Surely the point of reciprocal membership and pricing is that it's swings and roundabouts. For every visiting yachtsperson in your club drinking beer at a price that you have subsidised, one of your members is in another club drinking the beer subsidised by that club's members?
Click to expand...

I suppose so, though I guess somewhere like Salcombe is going to receive many more visitors than it exports. Quite a few pubs do similar - locals rates. Again, don't think anyone can complain as in many cases if the locals don't go, the place wouldn't be there.
 
ohmaggie said:
Not sure why you think you should pay the same price as members whose subscriptions subsidise their prices, nor why you think the club should care if you don't return if the only reason you are there is to take advantage of cheaper prices.
Click to expand...

Seconded, unless of course one is a member of a club with reciprocal rights. I'm pleasantly surprised how welcoming to visiting non-members yacht/sailing clubs are, I don't think you get the same sort of treatment at many golf clubs (not that I have any interest in finding out) and know that you would not in London.
 
Last edited:
I usually visit other clubs - if ' arriving by water ' so as to use the showers and maybe meal facilities, even I with my half Scottish ancestry hadn't thought about cut-price beer !

I've always found Salcombe YC very friendly.
 
Perhaps they don't want the additional turnover?

Many years ago I attended a dinner dance at a non sailing club, a total of 150 people with about 50 members of the club, where we found that the members got "bar discount". The following year they lost the event and several thousand pounds in turnover.

Their business, their choice.
 
SimbaDog said:
Over the years I have probably visited 50 plus different yacht clubs around the UK & have mostly been welcomed :) In Salcombe at the weekend & went to the yacht club for lunch & drinks, somewhat amazed to find that we were charged standard high street prices because I am not a member :confused: It's the only club I have so far visited that doesn't offer reduced price drinks etc. Not a lot of point in going there, might as well have gone to one of the many pubs where at least the Doombar probably wouldn't have been flat either! :(
Click to expand...

Many clubs have a discount scheme for members only - both mine operate like that. And Doombar, like any other decent british beer, isnt meant to be fizzy like lager.
 
Our club has a card scheme which members can load with cash to pay for bar drinks and food. This helps the bar staff enormously as it is far quicker than handling cash and change or normal card trasactions with PINs, it also serves to identify members so visitors can be asked - if the staff remember - "have you signed the visitors book?".

Using the card also gives members a small discount off the standard bar prices, if members don't bother to use the card they pay the full price, the discount is chiefly to encourage use of the cards.

From the club finances perspective the cards help as there is a balance in the club account from all the cash on members' cards and as you have to top up either with actual cash or using a debit card there is a big reduction in credit card fees.
 
drakes drum said:
Many clubs have a discount scheme for members only - both mine operate like that. And Doombar, like any other decent british beer, isnt meant to be fizzy like lager.
Click to expand...

I am quite aware what Doombar is & don't need your condescending comments thank you!
 
Bluenote2 said:
Last time we were in Salcombe yacht club, a couple of months ago, we were made very welcome.
Click to expand...

I'm here now and it's an utterly new experience. Cornish lager!

Who was it that wrote, " like a dog walking on its hind legs, it's not done well but it's fascinating to see it done at all." ?

I have taken the precaution of a shot of Jameson's to flush it down, just in case.*

The building is grand, the ship model over the bar intriguing, and the staff most jolly.**

* Definitely needed just don't go there.

**incurring a round of ironic applause when tripping over and smashing some bottles etc.

This, in my very limited experience, is what a yacht club is meant to be like.
 
Last edited:
jerrytug said:
This, in my very limited experience, is what a yacht club is meant to be like.
Click to expand...

I'm not a member of a yacht club and rarely enter the hallow'd portals of such institutions. But if anyone is looking for a really merry and enjoyable yacht club, then the Royal Cork would be my choice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top