“Pub Rescue” is coming to London.
Nightlife consultant Jon Taffer is hoping to bring his fixer-upper TV program “Bar Rescue” across the pond.
“We are in discussions right now to go to United Kingdom and shoot a few episodes there, so that would be a lot of fun for us,” Taffer told Confidential at the Keep Memory Alive gala in Las Vegas.
Taffer says his program is now on 5,000 channels worldwide so actually filming overseas makes sense.
On Taffer’s Spike TV show, watering holes that are in trouble call the Great Neck native for help, and he springs into action.
That usually starts with an undercover visit to the bar in need, where Taffer immediately finds things that need to be worked on, excoriates everyone working in the joint for their incompetence and angrily announces he’s so disgusted by their sloppy operation that he isn’t sure he wants to help them. After singling out one or two operators to blame for the venue’s failure, Taffer allows the bar’s owners to hire him, then he brings in his team of sponsors and experts to turn the joint into a slick, commercially viable business.
He isn’t worried that his big, brash American persona will offend British pub owners.
“I’m a big guy, but it’s all mental intimidation and mental strength,” Taffer said. “Anyone that thinks I am an American coming in to shout at them is wrong.”
That said, Taffer does expect to offend British pub-goers with his take on their storied pub culture.
“I’m going to get a lot of nasty tweets from this — the problem with pubs in the United Kingdom is a sameness,” he said. “They all feel the same, they look the same, they act the same. We need some points of difference, something to create a bit more excitement.”
British pubs are closing down at a rate of 29 per day according to CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) statistics. Taffer argues that the proof is in the pudding for the U.K. pubs he hopes to help.
“If they made great decisions, I wouldn’t even be there,” he said.
Cheers.
With James Desborough
