Downing Bar will remain student-led after the College scrapped plans to dissolve the Bar Committee following significant backlash.

The decision was reached at a General Purposes Committee meeting on Monday (26/01), after a feedback form regarding the proposal received 332 responses within 48 hours, all of which advocated for a student-led bar.

Downing students became aware of the College’s proposals to dissolve the Bar Committee and hand control to the catering department last Wednesday, following an email sent to all students by the Bar President.

The Bar President shared that he had received the College’s proposal the previous Monday, and that it was set to be discussed and potentially finalised a week later – a timeframe he said left the committee “little time to defend” themselves.

The proposal was allegedly formed “without any consultation with the Bar Committee or JCR,” and “was deliberately kept hidden from us until the last minute,” despite having been in development for some time. The Bar Committee said this lack of communication “clearly damages trust between students and college management”.

The email explained that the College planned to remodel the Butterfield Café and Bar to expand catering space and extend evening catering provision until 8pm in response to rising demand. According to the Bar President, a similar proposal was discussed last term and accepted by the Bar Committee “with reasonable conditions”.

The Committee had agreed to trial a catering-run service in the Butterfield until 7:30pm, provided it was supervised by the Bar Manager and Deputy Bar Manager to ensure the correct usage of equipment and stock. They added that these requirements “saw catering drop the proposal rather than find compromise”.

They also claimed that the proposal to dissolve the Committee was an attempt “to allow catering changes to happen more easily […] without direct input of student voices”.

Last Friday, the Committee revealed they had submitted a counterproposal to the General Purposes Committee, formulated with the support of the JCR and using student and alumni feedback.

226 current students and 106 alumni responded to their feedback form, while others sent their concerns directly to the Junior Bursar and Master. With matriculation years ranging from 1965-2022, many alumni left comments saying the proposal would damage their relationship with the College, while several promised to stop future donations if it went ahead.

The Bar Committee’s counterproposal accepted the extension of the catering service in the Butterfield until 8pm in order to reduce pressure on the evening servery service and allow the regrowth of formal sizes – something they said they had been suggesting “for a long time already”.

However, it also reiterated that the Committee “unreservedly reject the proposal to dissolve the student Bar Committee”.

The Committee argued that when college bars lose their student management, “students no longer feel connected and simply stop using their college bars,” adding that students drinking elsewhere were more likely to engage in “dangerous drinking”.

They claimed that the ease of giving feedback to fellow students ensured the bar’s popularity, as reflected in its accounts, which show that over the last three Michaelmas terms the bar has increased its takings by 40%.

A major concern for students was that the changes could see increased drink prices and restricted opening times. If a catering-led service were to increase prices to the level the College has previously requested, all products would be priced at a 60% margin. This model would allegedly see the price of a pint of Guiness rise from £3.75 to £5.20.

The counterproposal claimed: “Downing Bar’s exceptionally low prices does its part to insulate students of all income backgrounds from the extortionate cost of living in Cambridge.”

The decision to keep the bar student-led was met with enthusiasm, with one Downing student telling Varsity: “It was wonderful to see how the College turned out in support of the student-led committee. Dbar is the heart of Downing, a view that was affirmed by the student’ response.”

Another student commented that the bar “is for the students, and it feels only right that they are directly involved in its day-to-day operation,” as the alternative “made little sense”.

Downing’s Bar President told Varsity: “I was able to meet the Master about this issue last Friday (23/01), with the JCR President, to share our concerns ahead of the General Purposes Committee meeting. I was grateful to receive an invitation to attend GCP from the Junior Bursar which allowed us to present our counterproposal.”

The President explained that, while the Bar Committee will continue, a higher-level committee will be established to intervene on “big decisions” that cannot be easily resolved between the Bar Committee and catering.

He added: “What this will be and what is seen as a ‘big decision’ is yet to be decided, but will come from discussions between the student Bar Committee, Junior Bursar, Senior Bursar, Catering Manager, and Estates Manager in due course.”

The Downing JCR President told Varsity that the JCR supports the Bar Committee “entirely,” and added: “After our concerns were raised, College were very cooperative […] I am optimistic that College will work with us on the issue.”

This latest proposal comes after Varsity reported that Downing plans to convert a first-year accommodation building into a B&B from next Michaelmas.

Downing College was contacted for comment.