Who will win? A rampaging ram, a 160-year-old brand, or a cunning fox?

Well this year, the Isle of Man is answering that exact question, sort of.

As everyone probably knows by now, the Hooded Ram Festival took over the Bottleneck car park on the prom this TT on a five-year deal.

The former occupant of that site of 20 years, Bushy’s, therefore had to find a new den, and it did just that in the Villa Marina gardens where Bushy’s Village has opened.

And Heron and Brearley has created the Trackside bar in Noble’s Park.

The Manx Independent spoke to Martin Brunnschweiler of Bushy’s, Jim Brookman from the Hooded Ram and Lauren Christian from H&B about how they are finding the early days of TT 2018.

Martin said of Bushy’s new home: ’I’m really, really happy, we’ve had great feedback from people.

’Since we opened on Saturday night, we’ve been rammed,’ he added quite cheekily.

Martin explained he didn’t miss the Bottleneck site, saying: ’We’ve upgraded from a beer tent in a car park to a bona fide festival event. It’s a breath of fresh air.’

But despite what Martin calls ’the upgrade’, he insists: ’We’ve stuck to our principles, 100% local suppliers, contractors, caterers and we’ve kept prices as low as we can possible can, I’m not interested in fleecing people because it’s TT.’

He concluded: ’I’d just like to thank the Villa Marina, the management and the staff, they’ve all been very welcoming.’

Jim, from the Hooded Ram Festival, in its first year, said: ’It’s better than we imagined, our aim was to create a large single space venue, which has worked fantastically well.

’We have a very cool urban venue feel with a great bar, and steam punk feel to the stage.’

He added that the opening night when the Hooded Ram showed the Champions League final had about 2,000 in enjoying the football, following which Jester’s Dead were the first band to play Hooded Ram Festival.

Jim added: ’We’ve had great feedback. The variety of drinks on offer has gone down really well.’

Hooded Ram installed a state-of-the-art beer pouring facility for the tent which Jim says is ’working great’. He said: ’It allows us to serve a fresh cold pint just as the customer’s order one.’

Of the bands Hooded Ram has hosted, Jim said: ’They have been all great. Opening night was great as it felt like all our teams hard work had now crystallised. The Fun Lovin’ Criminals were real gentleman and a pleasure to look after and they smashed the set coming on for a great encore.’

The Hooded Ram also hosted Scouting for Girls last night (Wednesday).

Lauren from Heron and Bearley said the brewery was delighted with the Trackside and its new location.

’We have got off to a great start and the site has proven popular with both locals and visitors,’ she said.

She added that the feedback from customers had been very positive with visitors saying they love the new design and location right next to the course at the heart of the action by the Grandstand.

The site has proved popular with riders and fans alike, TT legend John McGuinness was seen mixing with fans as he and clerk of the course Gary Thompson opened the venue.

Lauren added: ’We look forward to welcoming everyone to the Trackside. We are very proud of our new venue and are confident you will have a great experience when you visit.’

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