Open Letter To Thame From ‘The Social’ (Contributed)

“THE SOCIAL RELAUNCHED & RENAMED”

SOCIAL ROOTS
Steve and Adam Buckland, as some people know are founder members and co owners of the Social Cafe’, lounge bar North Street Thame. They are well known locally for their hairdressing skills and for creating Brothers, an award winning salon in the heart of historic Thame.
Their more recent venure, The Social, in North Street, was created through the love of deep set ideas and vision that went way back to their school years when they imagined and formed Worminghall’s first (un-official youth club) when they were 15 and 13 years old respectively.
Steve Buckland told ThameNews.Net: “We were lucky enough to move to the village where we lived
in a big old farmhouse with loads of out buildings one of which was an old coach house with two rooms above. At that age, with a little bit of imagination, we were in heaven. Growing up in the village talking to friends we soon realized there was nothing to do in the evenings now that we were at an age where we could stay up later especially in the summer. The coach house rooms where ideal.”
The boys asked their parents, who said, “Not a problem; infact they openly encouraged it.when they heard their plans. Steve carried on the story: “So off adam went, after we’d saved up our pocket money for a few weeks, and purchased almost the entire sweet and soft drinks counters of their local shops; no problem; buy a sweet for 1p and sell it for 2p!
“Any way, adam did walk (he could never of carried that lot back on his bike!)
“Another thought was to utilize all the games we loved playing, but now the entreprenurel bug had hit us, we had no time to play them, so we hired them out. Steve went off on his bike with the thought “creating the mood in his mind. He salvaged a few flashing roadwork lamps with a disco in mind – they ended up in our ‘youth club’along with two ancient portable record players and any odd pots of paint lying around. Worminghall had an event every week.
“Harnessed in our childhood was a dream building and growing for the future waiting to be unleashed. ”

SOCIAL THOUGHTS
“After ten years in business with the Brothers, communicating to their clients they soon realised a gap in the market. There were no cafes which were child friendly plus there were no bars, just pubs!! After a few years of seeing the vision, it became a dream and realisiation that if we didn’t, someone else soon will crept in.
“But, with the salons booming, stage shows, seminars etc the thought remained a dream as time and commitment would not allow it to materialise.
The vision grew and grew and refused to go away. Most people we met felt the same; real people with marriages, relationships, children, careers with responsibilities. NOW, there was a cool, lounge cocktail bar with a cosmopolitan, sophisticated atmosphere. A real bar, not a pub! And local! Somewhere real!
“Most of the other establishments seemed to fall in to two separate markets, either pubs that were on the usual weekend pub crawl circuit, with most people ‘on the pull’, regulars that seemed young enough to be our kids, all drinking to fall over; all to the background of annoying ‘middle of the road’ music repeating itself regularly (depending on how big a ‘soft rock’ fan was in at the time). Ok, daytime kitchen music, but please, not at the weekend! If their were any Dj’s about, they were either cheesy, commercial request Dj’s, or so head-banging you couldn’t hear yourself think.
“The other choices were virtual morgues, where every customer seemed to own their own seats, virtually all male, and where, if you walked in the whole atmoshere was of a slight Royston Vaisey feel. Where were all the bars?
“All we wanted, as did others, was a daytime cafe lounge which was comfortable, clean and with a cosmopolitan, sophisticated atmosphere; simple food served by attentive staff and with a child-friendly environment;a nighttime bar where everything to the individual felt right; a cocktail bar where the majority of the clientele were over 25, and couples! The ‘been there-done it crowd’ who now have responsibilities in life but still want a good time and who still feel cool; live music of the jazz type and Dj’s with subterranean record collections. Basically mature people, mature music with a mature attitude.
“The trouble with creative visualisation is that if the belief is strong and true, it tends to be real and when the entire concept comes before money and business things tend to happen sooner than you think.
“So sure enough, through luck and a series of incredible coincidences and pure will power, it did!! Fate had it that when 49b North street, Thame came on the market, we were the first to view and the keys were in our hands.”
When the brothers walked into the premises for the first time it took them back.
“Moments like these are what business is all about,” continued Steve. “It’s about excitement, seeing the potential and belief in what is possible”.
They both had flash-backs to Worminghall Youth Club and the same buzz. They could sense the bar, the staff and the customers and so said, “Yes!”

SO WHAT WENT WRONG?
Thoughtfully, Steve went on: “There are some periods in life that are sent to try us and the last two years (especially the last) have definitely done that, so what happened?
With hairdressing commitments still very full, we left our dreams and concepts (the bar) in the responsible hands of others(!). In hind sight with the salons busy and well established they could have ran themselves and we should have focused full attention on ‘the Social’. Relying on others was like working with one hand behind ones’ back, frustrating and stressful. In fact, we were never truly happy how others portrayed our concept and knew it could always be better, cleaner, and function better than what it was giving.
“During the latter half of last year we had serious problems with our plumbing and drainage causing awful condititons in the ladies toilets on countless occassions. This was not good enough and we can only apologise to everyone affected. It was also ‘sods law’ that this happened around the time three other establishments closed at the same time due to their refurbishments. Suddenly, we were innundated, packed at the weekends. Great you might think, but in reality, no, it was a nightmare!
Too packed! Too busy! Too Rowdy! Too immature… Well, enough is enough.
After 24 enjoyable years Steve has formally made the decision to leave his hairdressing responsibilities at ‘Brothers hair sculpting team’.
FROM TUESDAY, 21ST FEBRUARY ‘THE SOCIAL’ WILL BE CLOSED FOR 4 WEEKS, for much-needed improvements in all aspects of the business.
“We plan to

RE -THINK RE-TRAIN RE-LAUNCH RE-SOCIALISE

Steve, together with wife Leah, who have three children of two years, six and 12 years-old, are dedicating themselves to re-establishing the original soul and concept of ‘the Social’ .
“From the first of spring, MARCH 21ST we will be open 7 DAYS ~ 7 NIGHTS offering new and exciting range of products, services and events. Watch local press for launch parties in March as we evolve into our new name:

‘THE SOCIAL CAFE BAR AND JAZZ CLUB’.