The Grapes - Bilston, Wolverhampton.
We are delighted to announce the winner of our customer review competition in January’s newsletter as Adam Fletcher from The Grapes pub in Bilston, Wolverhampton. Adam has won an amazing £250 for his pub, and is thrilled with his prize. Here is Adam’s review, and some brilliant pictures of his customers having a great time at The Grapes.
About 8 years ago, I noticed an advert in the Publican magazine regarding a new state of the art touch screen entertainment system. After doing a bit of research & finding out there was nothing quite like it on the market I decided to give them a call. The salesman brought The Entertainer system down to my pub, and showed me how everything worked. There was so much on the system I could barely take it all in!
After working out how much money we’d save on discos, karaoke, quizzes, themed events, and bingo machines we placed the order and were very excited to have it installed shortly afterwards. Nearly 8 years later the machine is still in perfect use. We’ve hosted hundreds and hundreds of nights since owning The Entertainer, and never paid for any. It really is such a great system; the stuff you can do on here just gets better. Even after 8 years and constant updating I still find things I have not yet used or made use of, and we even make money out of the machine by charging local businesses to advertise with us. We also advertise all our own events, foods, menus, items for sale, birthdays, the list is endless. We can display all our party pictures on there after themed nights etc, and the monthly updates this covers most things on your machine including new karaoke books, quiz questions, and music so you’re never out of date.
The staff at Mediatheme are always on hand to help over the phone, send out spare equipment, or an engineer if necessary. This machine has helped us out in so many ways and I am so glad that we decided to take the leap & make that original purchase.
Here is what we use the machine for during the week:
Mon: Afternoon Swan’s Bingo Club, and themed ballad music in the evening for diners.
Tue: Afternoon Easy Listening for dining pensioner’s specials.
Wed: Afternoon Sing-a-long music for the older crowd.
Thur: Afternoon Fossy’s Bingo, then Open Mic Night.
Fri: Smart Play music all day till 9pm, very busy on food. Later on in the evening, Flex’s Quiz starts, then we play games like Hi/Lo Cards, Open the Box, Lucky Keys and Skint or Mint after that.
Sat: Smart Play music all day as we’re so busy
Sat: Karaoke and Disco with Flex. We’re hosting our own competition at the moment, The Grapes Factor, with £500 prize money.
Sun: Afternoons are very busy with lunches, so we keep background music on for diners.
Whilst all these events are being run there is plenty of advertising going on throughout the whole pub on one of our 8 screens, all adverts are on a random sequence so you’re sure to keep looking for that next one. At any time during the day or night customers can drop a request in for some music or music video, and over the next few months we have great events lined up with Race Nights, Mr and Mrs games, Casino Night and talent shows.
Many thanks to all the staff at media theme for you continuous help, service & contributions for making this system what it is.
Brand new menu screen Mediatheme™ is delighted to announce a fantastic new look for each and every Entertainer™ system. To further our program of continuous improvement, we will be updating every system with a sleek new menu screen. This brand new screen is designed with both style and simplicity in mind, and we’re sure you’ll love the new look as much as we do!
We’ve refreshed our website alongside our new menu screen design, in order to make the site more informative and easier to navigate, as well as giving greater visual appeal.
We offer a warm welcome to Tony Eyre, who joins Mediatheme in the role of Commercial Director. We very much look forward to working with Tony, who brings a wide range of experience to the company.
This month sees the launch of some great improvements to the Entertainer™ Quiz and Bingo features. There is now an option for multi-choice answers in the Quiz, enabling you to give even more choice to your customers. Bingo also now features an Autoplay mode, allowing you to set up your game, and leave it to run while you’re busy elsewhere.
Come and see us at Leisure Industry Week trade show. It’s at the Birmingham NEC, and we’d be delighted to meet up with you there!
This month sees us relocating our Durham staff to rather nice new offices!
Meet the Winner! Natalie Whalin, pictured above and with reigning champion, Stephen Barr (top right).
The Pub Stars National Karaoke Competition 2008 came to a spectacular finale last week at Camelot Theme Park in Preston.
After 8 months of tough competitions across the county, the 14 Grand Finalists came together to compete for the crown of Pub Stars Champion 2008.
The atmosphere was electric with the crowd raising the roof after each performance.
Although nerves were present they did nothing but drive the adrenaline as all the finalists rose to the occasion and gave their best performance ever.
After careful deliberation the 4 judges announced their top stars of the evening in reverse order: In third place from The Malt Shovel in Hungerford was Alistair Ward. Second place was awarded to Claire Yaxley from The Regal in Norwich
Winner of Pub Stars™ 2008 is Natalie Whalin representing the Bullion Wine Bar in St Helens, Merseyside. Natalie wowed the judges with her rendition of ‘Pink’s Who Knew’. The contestants were joined on stage to receive their prize cheques from judges Richard Horne, (MD of Mediatheme™, Pascal Magdinier, (MD of Easy Karaoke, Andrew Campbell of Pub Stars™ and reigning champion of 2007 Pub Stars™ winner, Stephen Barr.
Huge congratulations to Natalie who was presented with a cheque for £3000 and a chance to record her own gold disc courtesy of Easy Karaoke. All contestants deserve our applause as all performances were of such high quality – everyone singing at this stage of the competition is already a star!Entertainer™ Quiz database has been updated and revamped, and now offers access to music and picture rounds as part of your regular quiz! With the ultimate quiz management system at your fingertips, you can choose pre-set rounds, create your own questions, or edit a round to tailor the questions to your own customers.
Spring means show time! From 27 February through to the 21 May, Mediatheme™ will be exhibiting at trade shows around the country. So now is the best time to come and see for yourself how the Entertainer™ can increase your trade and make your profits rise.
SLTN Show. Edinburgh, 27th to 28th February, stand number A30.
The Publican Live, London Olympia, 1st to 3rd April, stand number 335.
Northern Restaurant & Bar, Manchester GMEX, 7th to 8th April, stand 442.
Pub Business, Birmingham NEC, 20th-21st May, stand 551.Enter Pub Stars™ and generate extra revenue for the next 3 months!
Pub Stars™ is now in full swing, with venues across the country hosting their own opening rounds for the competition. Regional finals will take place in June and July with the Grand Final being held at a top venue in September. The national winner gets £3000, a day in a recording studio, and a gold disc of their winning performance.
Register today and receive your FREE merchandise pack. Start your heats and be on your way to finding that star!Pub Stars™ the UK's biggest and best independent karaoke competition is back with a bang! Now in its fourth year Pub Stars™ is back with fantastic prize money up for grabs for both the winning singer and the winning pub.
Pub Stars™ National Karaoke Competition 2008 is brought to you by Mediatheme™ the UK's leader in touch screen entertainment. The aim of the competition is to find a star, that person who gets up and entertains the drinkers in your venue week after week. If you think you have a hidden talent in your venue - Pub Stars™ is for you.
Pub Stars™ is designed to maximise your profits over the winter months. The first stage of the competition is managed by you. Run heats each week during January-May with your own in-house final. The more nights you run the more publicity you gain resulting in more customers through the door.
Your star then goes on to represent your venue at the regional heats in June-July, with the Grand Final being held in September.1st July 2007 marks the end of a process of change in British Pub culture, as England becomes the last of our nations to introduce a smoking ban in public places. Many publicans and venue owners have been expressing a real concern that the ban will adversely affect business, and cause a spiral of decline in the trade. In many ways, however, the ban can actually be seen as an opportunity, as the chance to take a good look at your business and use the tools available to revitalise it. You can welcome customers who have long avoided a smoky atmosphere back through the door; expand your venue outside if possible, developing the area with awnings and patio heaters, and look at your entertainment and food offerings to attract and retain customers. A full entertainment schedule in advance is vital. Advertise your events in good time, allow word of mouth to travel around the community, and encourage new customers with a varied entertainment calendar.
We’re delighted to release Skint or Mint, a game of chance, mystery and tension, as players take part in a battle or nerves, courage and risk against a mysterious banker. The game works using between 1-22 boxes, each containing various amounts of money. No-one knows how much is in each box. The player chooses their own box at the beginning of the game, which they will keep until the end. The player then begins opening boxes on the board, aiming to eliminate the lower amounts. During the game, the banker will offer the player amounts to buy them out. The player can take the banker’s offer when it is made, or choose to risk going al the way to the end of the game, and take what’s in the box!
Stephen being presented with his winnings by Lisa Scott-Lee.
After five months of nail biting tension and exhausting performances, The Pub Stars™ National Karaoke Competition came to a spectacular finale with a weekend packed with entertainment.
The setting was Park Hall Hotel, Camelot near Preston, and the night featured 10 of the best singers from all around the UK.
Supporting acts included the legendry Drifters featuring Mr Ray Lewis; the gorgeous and equally talented Sisters of Soul all the way from South Africa, and the Cheeky Girls and Lisa Scott-Lee who not only entertained the crowds but joined the judging panel to decide who would be crowned Pub Stars™ Champion 2007.
Once everyone had taken their seats including the judges panel made up of Richard Horne - Managing Director of Mediatheme Ltd, Will Robinson from W R Talent, Danyl Johnson last years Pub Stars champ, the fabulous Lisa Scott-Lee and finally the Music Director of Easy Karaoke Pascal Magdinier .
First act up was last year’s winner Danyl Johnson, who rocked the stage, and offered some gratefully received words of support for this year’s entrants.
Pub Stars™ isn’t judged on singing ability alone, it is all about star quality. The finalists need to look the part, present the song well, perform on stage and have that glint in their eye that shouts ‘star’!
The 10 finalists were superb, and performed tracks from Elton John, Whitney Houston, and Usher. Whilst the judges deliberated, the audience was treated to a performance from Lisa Scott-Lee. The moment of truth arrived; the winners were announced in reverse order.
• Third place went to Lindzie Martin who was presented with the cheque for £500 by the Music Director of Easy Karaoke Mr Pascal Magdinier.
• Second place went to Liam Williams who received a cheque for £1000 by Danyl Johnson, last year’s winner.
• Finally, Stephen Barr was announced as Pub Stars™ Champion 2007. He was representing Pepe’s Bar, Londonderry.
Stephen won against 14 other singers from all over the North West to get through to the Grand Final weekend at Camelot, and once again performed his heart out on stage with his best pal and Mum in the audience, along with a bus load of support from the Progress Club in Blackpool where Stephen won the North-West regional heats.
Stephen has an amazing voice, and although it was very neck and neck, his last song ‘Breath Easy – Blue’ was just outstanding.
Pub Stars continues to go from strength to strength, finding talent like Danyl Johnson and Stephen Barr, by just going down the pub.
To find out if you have the next big star drinking in your pub, call us now to register your interest for Pub Stars™ 2008.
For further information on Pub Stars or Mediatheme, contact the team on 01780 480100 or visit www.pubstars.info.Pubs all over the country have spent the last three months searching for their STAR! With only 10 regional finals around the UK, the pressure is on to make it to the Grand Weekend Finale at Camelot Theme Park, for the chance to win the £3000 top prize money for the singer and £1000 for their pub.
The key to providing a successful product is listening to our customers. On a quarterly basis Entertainer™, owners are given the opportunity to input into THEIR product. ‘Future games and enhancements are all prioritised around our customers need’ says Richard Horne, MD. No-one knows their customers better than the Licensee, how they interact and what entertainment would work in the communal venue environment.
Mediatheme™ increases strength as sector leader
Our aim at Mediatheme™ is to provide our customers with everything they need to run on the spot entertainment, at the touch of a screen. With a customer base of over 600 licensed premises we are striving ahead of the competition, giving our customers the freedom and choice they demand, with a quality product that saves them time and money.
...with the new look Hi/Lo Cards. This simple, popular game is a huge hit with customers, and so easy to use. You can choose the number of cards you want to play with, from 3 to 19!!
Pubs Stars™ winner Danyl Johnson with his Gold Disc.
After months of regional heats, Danyl Johnson wowed judges at the Pub Stars™ final and was crowned Pub Stars Winner 2006!
Bring the Vegas Vibe into your venue with Create your very own Las Vegas Strip with the brand new Spin to Win game from Mediatheme™. Using the fun money and tickets provided with the Entertainer™ starter pack, players can bet on individual numbers or play safe with a simple black or red. Decide your chip price, the bank take, and Entertainer™ calculates the rest. See the risk takers place their money on a single number for the biggest payouts or choose red or black for a smaller return. Whatever they choose, the atmosphere will be electric as the wheel spins and the ball finally drops.
