Using the World Cup to kick start your business

3rd June 2010, 4:57pm

The Fever Pitch in Fulham Broadway is offering guests the chance to watch the World Cup in London's only pop-up bar. Maria Bracken attended the launch party last night to find out what all the fuss is about.

Restaurateur Brenham Magee saw this as his "next big venture" four weeks ago when he took over the establishment, formerly known as The King's Head pub.

Magee, who has been in the restaurant and pub industry for 20 years, has operated some top names in his time including the Breakfast Group, Pop in Soho Square which is now known as Punk, Opium and Club and Bar Dining, to name a few.

And he has big plans for this place, he says. The venture comprises three floors plus a basement area, holding a total of 400 guests. "There is so much to do with this space," he says. "I plan to turn this place into a brasserie style venue and have a charcoal grill restaurant on the first floor and if planning depicts we will decide what we want to do on the top floors. This all depends on licensing, councils and finance."

But for now he will take advantage of the forthcoming World Cup, he says. And he has done just that. "We have flags from every nation on the ceiling and when a team gets kicked out of the competition, their flag will be pulled down. At the end we will have just two flags left, battling it out."

There are also "pop art" pictures dotted around the room, each depicting "iconic times in different world cups". These include Paul Gascoigne crying in 1990, Roger Miller Italia dancing around the corner flag in 1990, and Zinedine Zidane's head butt in the final of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Footie lovers will have the choice of nine screens covering every wall of the 15,000 sq ft venue. The garden area will also be used for barbecues during England games.

So where did this pop-up idea stem from, I asked. "It came into my mind two, maybe three months ago," he explains. "We did the deal on this place very quickly and I just thought to myself, how can we have the maximum amount of fun out of the World Cup without being too commercial and too corporate. I thought we would do something very quickly and pop-up World Cup seemed the most fun way to do this."

"I also decided to do this purely because it was the perfect opportunity to make something of the World Cup," he adds. "I could have made this as integral as I wanted, but I just wanted to have some fun with it. I could've spent thousands of pounds working on this place before the World Cup starts, but the reality is we will be wrapping it up afterwards. It's what pop-up is all about."

Magee says the concept can't boost sales figures, but what it can do is pull the punters in. He says: "It can't boost my sales because I have only been here for weeks but hopefully when people remember where they saw England play USA or England getting through to the semi-finals for example, they will say they saw it at Fever Pitch. I could've left this place as the King's Head pub, which has been here since 1680, but I wanted to get as much out of this as possible."

Unfortunately for Magee he hasn't had the time and facilities to create a menu for the event but instead will be serving up snacks that people would get at any football ground. This includes hotdogs, which Magee believes will be the best sellers, pies, burgers and toasties filled with beans and cheese, parma ham and buffalo mozzarella, mature cheddar and fried onion and smoked salmon and cucumber. Hotdogs will be priced at £3.00 for a 'furter in a finger' and £5.00 for a premium jumbo, meanwhile toasties will be priced between £4.50 to £6.50.

As well as the standard wines, beers and ales will be a mojito bar which will be available on all of the key games.

On a more serious note, Magee has covered every angle he thinks will make the World Cup event run smoothly. "We will have certain security on given nights. For instance, if it's a Friday night and there could be 300 people in there, we will have security on the doors. But the measures we take all depend on the game and the atmosphere at the time."

"This venture is a 20 year plan for me but this first stage is very much about grabbing the essence of the World Cup and having fun with it."

Related Articles:

• 11 Jun 2010 - Footy fans team up with pubs to tackle beer tax plans
• 18 May 2010 - London's only World Cup pop up bar launches

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