By Chupa Mwingi

A good number of revellers swear against clubbing on an odd weekday, for instance Tuesday. But it’s not just any Tuesday night, but a chilly and rainy one, say in the month of July.

This serves to highlight how difficult it is for entertainment spots to attract patrons on weekdays unlike weekends when gossip, football, search for quick sex and cheating dates effortlessly drives thousands to their favourite watering holes.

But since running a pub is serious business akin to operating a bank, or an airline, the management must constantly craft smart marketing strategies and run exciting offers to attract drunkards beyond Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Not to be left behind is Swallows, renowned for cunning ideas, not mentioning the ‘Buy One Get One’ on Mondays, Happy Hour that runs between 5-6pm daily and the recently introduced day rooms at half price. We also have a five per cent discount for patrons spending Sh5,000 and above in two hours.

Unfortunately, the above offers have not worked miracles as expected, neither have they brought in any big number of fun seekers since we are not the only bar around running them. Like a hairstyle in fashion, all clubs and brothers are copy-pasting these ideas without any creative imagination.

If your memory serves you right, remember we invested heavily on DJ equipment? The high tech gadgets have been lying idle on weekdays and the boss has decided to put them into good use. He has launched the Flamin Karaoke Tuesday. Not only are we giving a complimentary welcome drink – a cocktail (comprising a mountain of ice cubes, low budget spirits and aromatic herbs), but also rounds of mshikaki platters – few pieces of beef embedded with lots of hoho pieces.

We have engaged Karaoke MC services, a former fired radio presenter, who we pay Sh3,000 after the show plus free dinner. Since the night premiered three weeks ago, we are impressed with the turnout. It is also a hilarious show as drunkards fight for the mic, when it is obvious some of their voices were made for scaring monkeys from banana plantations.