We took onboard feedback from our last visit to The Renfrew Ferry which was around the drink being too dear and long bar queues. That is the reason we decided to try out the Barrowlands. Litchfield your post mirrors a lot of the conversations with other members so the general opinion is "done that tried that now".
Queues at the bar, problems with kids getting into the first floor bar where the Kirin Cup was, heavy handed stewarding and the general dinginess of the venue sums up what I heard. The event was run by WESTA and as far as I know it was left to one guy to organise the whole thing. It's hard finding a venue to accomodate so many people and he had a bash. The good feedback I got was the low early bar queues, the Kirin Cup opportunity, the tunes played were all favourite TA sing a longs and there was a chance to mingle with other TA troops.
We are always open to suggestions for other ideas for pre-match schwallies. When all is said and done we are not planning a pre-match schwally for the France game but instead will plough our hard earned cash into TSTA HQs coffers instead as it is a 5 p.m. kick off there will be plenty of opportunity to get drunk and make our own entertainment.
Incidentally, I believe the Ferry was good this time around but again the bar queues and prices were a problem.