Cheers to change

At Islington Assembly Hall, we’re no strangers to a great night out. But behind the glittering disco ball, flashing lights and questionable dance moves, we’ve been quietly plotting something a little greener… we’ve recently introduced REUSABLE CUPS!

What started as a sensible step toward Islington Council’s net zero ambitions quickly became part experiment, part learning curve, and, thankfully, part success story.
So, here’s a peek behind the bar at how it all went.

The Big Idea

Last year alone, we used around 150,000 single-use plastic cups. That’s… a lot.
So, we set ourselves a challenge: cut single-use cups by 90% by switching to reusable polypropylene cups that we wash in-house.

And ideally… do all of this without ruining anyone’s night, or our budget.

How it started: The Soft Launch

We kicked things off gently, trialling the system between April and June on smaller shows (under 550 attendees). Think of it as our dress rehearsal, just with more spreadsheets and fewer encores.

This gave us a chance to test how people actually behave with reusable cups, whether our processes worked in real life, and whether the cups… you know… came back.

What Happened?

The Cups Did Their Job (and then some)

What a surprise… The cup loss rate was remarkably low!

We braced ourselves for disappearing cups. Souvenirs, accidental takeaways, the odd misplaced pint in a urinal, who knows?

The actual loss rate was 0.12%. Mostly down to one poor punter who didn’t quite make it to the toilet and was sick in our cup deposit bin. Don’t worry, they are all out of circulation! We wouldn’t be mad, but our general waste bin was right next to it, we would much prefer they used that one!

But that loss rate is far below our original 4% target and proof that, when trusted, our audiences are actually quite lovely. But we already knew this!

We aimed for each cup to be reused at least three times to make it environmentally worthwhile, and we ended up averaging 25 uses per cup. Not bad for a first go.

Costs: (Mostly) Behaving Themselves

We set out to keep everything within budget, and broadly, we did.

Set up costs for a year’s supply of cups, glasswashers and operational costs were £15k, and most importantly: no extra charges passed on to customers. Which is worth its weight in all the reusable cups to us!

Drinks still taste just as good, just with fewer guilty feelings.

Our Bar and Events Delivery team: Absolute Legends

Our bars team didn’t just adapt; they improved the system as we went.

From smarter washing and drying setups to better cup handling logistics, along with quick fixes like storage upgrades and cleaning tweaks, it became a real-time “let’s make this work” operation, and it shows in the results.

The adoption by our Bar and Events Delivery team was key to the launch success of this launch, so a huge cheers to them!

Communication: Let’s Talk About It

Here’s where we got humbled. Despite our best efforts only 45% of customers saw pre-event messaging and just 27% noticed cup care instructions.
And yet… compliance was still brilliant.

So, while our messaging didn’t quite land, the behaviour did, which is both reassuring and a nudge to do better.

The Not-So-Glamorous Bit: Humidity

Turns out, washing hundreds of cups indoors gets… steamy. Kitchen humidity regularly hit 60–70%, which is not ideal for electrical equipment.

Nothing dramatic so far, but it’s firmly on our “fix this before it fixes us” list.

What We Learned

Who would have thought that reuse rates can massively exceed expectations, and that people would actually get on board and return cups?

We also learned that operational tweaks matter as much as big ideas, and that communication needs to work harder (and probably louder).

Crucially, we proved that you can run a greener system without killing the vibe.

What’s Next?

Due to the launch success, reusable cups will now be used across all events at Islington Assembly Hall. Good news for you, us and the environment!

We are now setting bigger, bolder targets by reducing acceptable cup loss from 4% to 1% and aiming for 20+ uses per cup to hit cost neutrality.

To do this, we will implement the following behind-the-scenes upgrades: invest in better ventilation (for everyone’s sake) and further fine-tuning our washing and drying processes.

Plus, we will deliver stronger pre-event comms, more social media storytelling, and potentially print instructions directly on the cups themselves (consider it cup-based propaganda, but in a good way.)

Final Thoughts

The reusable cup initiative has proven something important:

Sustainability doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or a buzzkill. With the right setup, a bit of trial and error, and a lot of teamwork, it can slot right into the night without anyone missing a beat.

So next time you raise a glass with us, just know, it’s probably been to a few great gigs already.

And it’s ready for plenty more.

Cheers to that!

Check out our full gig line up to see what tantalises your gig going taste buds! Be the first in the know on new shows and what’s coming soon by signing up to our Mailing List