They have a cheaper bar probably makes it more attractive to stay for a drink 
I think youâll find the SNECâs Mess is the more exclusive of the two
But only in the sense which has already been explainedâŠ
Contrary to the OPs opening comments VR(T) and now RAFAC officers are not intended to use the WOsâ and SNCOsâ Mess nor were they ever.
The reference above is intended to cover the case where a person whose civilian employment admits them to use of the WOsâ & SNCOsâ Mess (such as an equivalent grade Civil Servant working on the station) is also a CFAV as a RAFAC Commissioned Officer.
It states that they canât use the Officersâ Mess except when there specifically on RAFAC duty.
The same, but messes reversed, if someone was a RAFAC SNCO but held a higher grade civil service post which would otherwise mean they use the Officersâ Messâ during their working day.
i.e. Oneâs working grade enters them to one mess; their RAFAC volunteering rank to another. One mess for work; the other mess for RAFAC, and no cross-over.
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Which begs the question of why havenât they adapted to the âmodernâ ways and remained stuck in their bubble? When you are on a camp and get to the mess, you have to marvel at how much someone must be throwing at it to keep it going. I would say subsidise, but that infers a top up or ex gratia payment to keep prices lower.
We had a works social club and due to drink/drive and its location, nigh on 30 years ago, rather than being an exclusive club and closing, it opened membership to others and started to become a venue. We are still members paying a fiver a year (full membership is ÂŁ25) and get a preferential rate if we wanted to have a do there. This is not the only former company social club, to have done this locally. They are thriving businesses. Just a pity that people in the forces responsible for these buildings are blind to the opportunities out there.
Every WO, SNCO & Commissioned Officer on camp is a member of their respective mess and pays a monthly subscription, as they always have done whether they use the mess or not. Therefore, the funding has not reduced - just the amount of people using it.
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But a sub canât be enough, unless it increases to make up the non usage shortfall.
Drinks are cheap as Messes are Duty Exempt
Subs do increase, as voted on every year at the AGM. Subs have got to be enough as the messes are supposed to be non-profit making.
My point was that less use doesnât equate to less membership.
This is where a trick is being missed in my book, if they opened to others for say functions, you could have more money to invest. Doesnât mean service personnel donât get to use it, they would still have a preferential rate and âmembers onlyâ rooms so they donât have to mix with the hoy paloy. But it could mean more people using them. Is it better to have a bar and kitchen getting used or have it sitting idle with staff getting paid for doing nothing? Judging by the times in recent years when Iâve been at camp, apart from a flurry at meal times, they are largely unused.
If they did that they would have to start paying duty on the alcohol. Once that happens the attractiveness goes out the window both for the members and for anyone who wants to hire it for a function.
That wouldnât be a problem long term, initially yes, but it would become the norm and for anyone coming from outside they wouldnât be bothered in the slightest. The only people who might moan are senior officers, who have been around for years, but are getting paid more than enough to not notice.
It wouldnât (or shouldnât) be a problem for the likes of us given we pay normal prices all the time.
Yes but messes arenât in convenient places why would you bother to hire one for a function if it wasnât heavily discounted?
Iâm struggling to work out what you are trying to achieve?
The messes I know run just nicely - the larger ones (like Coningsby) have enough members on station to run a large mess (and subsidise functions for those who want them) and the smaller ones also run nicely with reduced opening hours and less functions if necessary.
They donât need to attract more people as they donât need to make a profit - just think of it as a club which operates at a level commensurate with its membership.
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heâs just whining.
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To be fair, there is already a precedent for this kind of thing:
On the other hand, there is a world of difference between hiring a training camp with no permanent personnel based there, and allowing people to hire one building on a camp that bases thousands, and has easy access to millions of pounds of military kit.
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Iâm pretty sure thatâs not correct.
Messes are cheap because virtually everything except for the drinks are subsidised - therefore you end up paying a price similar to retail rather than on-licence.
My bold, I thought that due to the lack of license there was no duty to be paid, I may have got that wrong thoughâŠ
No, I think that just refers to the specific licensing requirements to sell alcohol - the duty would still need to be paid upon leaving the bond.
ALL mess membership has different prices per mess depending what the members want to do - ie vote in new chairs, wallpaper, snooker tables, fruit machines etc, etc mess functions are subsided via membership with member and 1st guest paying one rate and subsequent guests paying more⊠some mess have applied and got monies from Libor to do mass refurbishment. My membership cost has been as little as ÂŁ9 pcm in the Sgts Mess and now ÂŁ27 pcm in the officers messâŠ
Yes, I know all that - Iâve lived in enough of them!
Itâs another way of saying what I wrote in reply to Teflon here
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