Could this be the last year of Bushy’s Tent at the Bottleneck car park?

Frustrated Bushy’s boss Martin Brunnschweiler says he has been forced to consider looking at alternative sites for the TT tent, now in its 20th year.

He said he had been asking Douglas Council for 18 months for a decision on whether the current contract will be extended or whether it will go out to competitive tender.

’It’s ironic that this has probably been our biggest operation we’ve done to date and it could be our last,’ he said.

’We were promised this would be resolved long before the TT. We don’t know what the hold up has been.’

Douglas Council yesterday (Monday) announced it would be seeking tenders for the use of the Bottleneck car park for TT entertainment for the years 2018 to 2022.

Bids have to be submitted by June 30.

The tender notice states: ’The area has previously been used to provide a beer tent and associated entertainment and facilities.

’Douglas Borough Council will, however, consider all reasonable proposals for any form of entertainment and refreshment facilities to be operated on the site.’

Mr Brunnschweiler said Bushy’s would bid for the contract but vowed that its beer tent would continue, albeit at a different location, even if it lost out in the tender process.

He said: ’It’s our intention to be there in one form or another.

’Obviously, the Bottleneck would be our first choice. It’s where we evolved from and where our heart and soul is.

’But we have been looking around other sites just in case. It would be naive of us not to.

’We know there are people out there with deeper pockets, hopefully it doesn’t just come down to the financial aspect.’

He added: ’We never thought we would be in this situation half way through TT.

’Our gripe has been that we’ve been asking them for 18 months now to make a decision. If it’s going to tender, so be it.

’We had three sponsors last year who were very interested in doing something. But they wanted a minimum of three years so we lost them.

Mr Brunnschweiler said the new attraction this year, the zip wire, had been very well received as had the Lightning Seeds who launched the Bushy’s Tent. Their appearance marked the first year the tent has opened on a Saturday.

For the first 15 years, Bushy’s did not have to tender for the Bottleneck attraction.

’We instigated the tent, it was our creation,’ said Mr Brunnschweiler.

Then in 2012 Douglas Council announced it would go out to competitive tender. Bushy’s won the bid for the contract, which was initially for three years but then extended for a further two at the brewery firm’s request.

The Bushy’s boss explained that the rent paid for the site is based on, but significantly more than, the daily rate of the car parking spaces at the Bottleneck.

He insisted that the attraction is not a licence to print money. There are a lot of additional costs, and the tent doesn’t turn a profit until well into race week, he explained.

Poor weather this year has not helped, in contrast to near perfect conditions for last year’s TT, he added.