Rock Student under fire
Rock Student, the biggest provider of student nights in Oxford, is facing huge losses and potential legal action in a storm of controversy over Wednesdays at Park End.
JCRs and Freshers' Committees had reserved large numbers of tickets and some had even handed over money for nights which may not have taken place had the new contractors, Zoo, the Entz arm of the Student Union, not honoured obligations undertaken by Rock Student.
Rock Student is facing investigation by Oxfordshire County Council's Trading Standards Service over allegations of selling tickets to 'Juice', a student night worth an estimated £125,000 a year, that Rock Student had promoted since October 2003, without having secured the rights to do so.
A number of parties are considering making statements of complaint to Trading Standards over the furore. Balreick Srai, the owner of Rock Student, has admitted to The Oxford Student that he sold tickets for Park End events both tonight and last night and had made verbal agreements for the sale of several hundred more.
Srai maintains, however, that he had done nothing wrong, claiming he had had a contract with Park End Nightclub to promote the Freshers' Week events. The two nights, and every succeeding Wednesday, have been taken over by rival promoter Zoo, the Entz arm of Oxford University Student Union.
Zoltan Branch, manager of Park End Nightclub, told The Oxford Student: "I can categorically deny that we ever had a contract with Rock Student relating to Freshers' Week events. Park End had a good working relationship with Balreick but we decided to negotiate a deal that would directly benefit students. It is a shame that he assumed that he held the rights to the Freshers' Week events, perhaps he should have liased more closely with the club".
Tom Edwards, a City Council Trading Standards Officer, told The Oxford Student that if his department received a formal statement regarding Rock Student then they would undertake an investigation of the company's activities in relation to the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 and potentially the Theft (Amendment) Act 1996 as a result of the possibility that they: "obtained property by deception".
A number of college Freshers' Committees spoke to The Oxford Student regarding their agreements with Rock Student to purchase tickets for the events. One Freshers' Rep commended Rock Student for keeping the college's committee constantly up to date regarding the transfer of obligations for the Fresher's Week club nights to Zoo.
The fact remains however, that business was conducted with 13 colleges for nights that are simply not taking place.
OUSU Business Manager Daniel Finley said: "OUSU do not want students to lose out as a result of the Rock Student fiasco and so we will endeavour to honour the bookings made with them. We are pleased to reduce the entrance fee for the Freshers' events from £4 to £1.50. We are committed to providing the highest quality and best value entertainment for our members and Zoo at Park End on Wednesdays will be an example of first class entz provision by the Oxford University Student Union for its members".
However Srai dismissed the idea that Zoo would be able to compete with Rock Student and other promoters in Oxford. He said in May: "OUSU is not much of a competitor to us and never will be, just look at their track record. They're never going to have the same incentive to make money that makes us work as hard as we do, and anyway they should be trying to make entz cheaper not squeezing more money out of the students they claim to represent."
'Juice' took place at Park End nightclub every Wednesday during term last year and attracted up to 1,200 students every week. Srai denied that the loss of the club night could create financial difficulties for the company despite the loss of their majority share in the entrance revenue from 'Juice' at Park End, estimated at £125,000 over the course of the year.
He cited the fact that 'Juice' was continuing at The Bridge on Tuesdays and that Rock Student would be promoting a new night at Jongleurs and Bar Risa on a Wednesday as evidence that the company would be able to cope with the loss of its flagship event. Srai said that promoting club nights was: "all about having some fun" and he was therefore unconcerned about the loss of revenue from the enforced changes to 'Juice' but he later admitted that he had charged £5 for student nights all around Oxford last year because "market forces" meant that people were willing to pay for it.
6th Oct 2004