IT'S far from upscale. In fact, they're sometimes known to serve patrons' drinks out of plastic cups.

Yet The Beach, affectionately referred to as the Shame of Front Street, has managed to find a loyal following since it first opened its doors. Despite its location - at the end of the main drag, just below the Police Station, it was the only bar at that end of Front Street when it opened five years ago - it draws a disparate, yet lively crowd week after week.

The lure? No one really knows. Some say the music, many say the staff, others speak highly of the wonderful room of gambling machines in the back. This week, photographer DAVID SKINNER and reporter HEATHER WOOD sat down with the popular facility's American-born owner/operator, Rick Olson, to discuss its success.

Q: Have you always worked in the hospitality industry?

A: Not at all. I worked in the local banks for ten years and then moved on to (own) Robin Hood Pub & Restaurant and M.R. Onions before moving to where I presently am now as owner/operator of The Beach (in parternship with my Bermudian wife, Gillian) and involved with Tuscany Restaurant, Blue Juice and Club 40 also, although I'm not extremely active with (the others) just because I'm so busy at The Beach.

Q: What kind of people frequent The Beach?

A: When the ships are in, which is basically Monday through Thursday now, 95 per cent of our customers during the afternoon are cruise ship passengers. And when the Carnival cruise ship is in on the weekends, we're full of Carnival people on Saturdays and Sundays.

But in the night-time, it's all locals and cruise ship staff. That's our busiest period basically midnight till 3 a.m. So, in essence, we operate two completely different businesses - one's a daytime, touristy thing and one's a night-time drinking establishment. There's eating during the day and drinking at night.

Q: People eat there?

A: We actually just recently hired the head chef from La Coquille Restaurant and he's improved things dramatically. His name is Gerry Adams and no, he's not the (Sinn Fein leader), the guy from Northern Ireland. The chef's Scottish and he's done a fantastic job. We actually sell food now and we have a full menu - pastas, steak, seafood, the whole gamut.

Q: Why do you think it's so popular? It is, after all, only one of many bars on Front Street and a crappy one at that.

A: Our motto is "The Shame of Front Street" and we try to live up to that as best we can. But I think The Beach is popular for a lot of little reasons.

I think the price is attractive - it's geared towards younger people and tourists, not towards the high-end professionals like accountants, lawyers and bankers. We do get our fair share of those, but the business isn't geared towards them.

I think you'll find your accountants, lawyers and bankers will join the party once they've already had a few at the nicer establishments. They join us when they finally decide to let their hair down. From a technical point, I'm sure it helps that we're open until 3 a.m.

Most bars close at 1 a.m. We give people an extra couple of hours to party with us where they might otherwise have gone to a nightclub. It gives them another option.

That's really how I think our business started to snowball, to be more successful. It was something that was especially helpful to us in the off-season.

The other key thing I think is just having good staff which is why I think we were so successful at Robin Hood. Having good music is also a key element to the success of any bar.

We have three disc jockeys - Paul Sofianos, Denton Gibbons and Lee Hawk - and we use a different one every night until we close at 3 a.m. I think that's been a big asset to improving business. I think they've been a huge asset.

Q: Why do you describe the bar as being "The Shame of Front Street"?

A: I believe that was a direct quote from (Corporation of Hamilton Secretary) Roger Sherratt. We had some issues with the Corporation of Hamilton many years ago when we opened up during the spring/summer of 1997 and it was a direct quote from him. He wasn't very happy with us at the time and I just thought it was a great motto to tack on to everything.

Q: What do most people drink at The Beach? Is there any particular one you've made famous?

A: Our signature cocktail, I think, is the frozen Dark 'n Stormy. It's been our signature cocktail since we opened up, for tourists anyway.

Q: How would you describe yourself? Shy, outgoing?

A: I'm defintely entrepreneurial. Besides that, I don't know what to say. It's kind of hard to classify yourself. I'm not even comfortable talking about myself to be honest with ya.

Q: How much time do you spend at The Beach?

A: Ninety per cent of my time is focused on The Beach because I can fit in (the doorway). You can't fit a round peg into a square hole and I'm definitely a little round. I basically work there seven days a week. It's a question of how many hours I put in there on a daily basis. I spend most of my time between, I think, Blue Juice and The Beach.

I also frequent The Beach several nights a week, but I'm there more often as a customer than as a worker when I'm there at night.

Q: And when you're away from "the office"?

A: I try to travel as much as I can. I think we were off the island something like 19 weeks last year. We spent six weeks in Europe on two different trips. That interests me the most now just because it's opened up so much. It's a place I would consider maybe to work in the future or to retire. But in general, we just spent time visiting family and friends in Florida, travelling in the States.

Q: So the events of September 11 didn't put you off travelling at all? Did it affect business?

A: September 11 definitely not scare me. It didn't keep me from flying. The funny thing is, I think business at The Beach has probably increased 30 per cent since September 11 which is quite weird. The way I look at things, I see the numbers of a lot of places on Front Street and I think everyone's either the same, or up, compared to the last couple of years as far as restaurants and bars are concerned although there's a few exceptions both ways.

I think (The Beach) is one of the fortunate ones as we're up a lot, but I think business has been extremely good for everyone on Front Street. I think hoteliers have a different outlook but we're not geared toward hotels.

They're not where we get our business from. We're geared to cruise ships - which are always full - the business community and locals. I don't think Front Street's been affected at all. If anything, the ships have never been fuller.

Q: Do the other bar owners - through their association with the Chamber of Commerce's Bar & Restaurant Association - consider you to be the ugly stepchild, the little brat?

A: I don't think they think that of us. I don't think they look at us as an ugly stepchild, not at all. But we're not a member of the Chamber of Commerce. A lot of the younger (restaurant and bar owners) - my friends in the business - don't have time for a lot of bureaucratic meetings.

Typically, all it is, is just one meeting based around a lot of sub-committees where everything gets talked about but nothing gets done.

Q: How old are you?

A: I'm 40. I'm in the 40-40 club - 40-inch waist, 40 years old.

Q: Do you exercise at all?

A: The only exercise I do is 12-ounce curls (when lifting my beer). I've gained about ten pounds a year (for a number of years)and I weigh somewhere around 250. I'm waiting for my doctor's orders before I start any real exercise and I haven't got those yet.

Q: Are you strict with your kids?

A: I have three boys - Stefan, nine, Jeffrey, ten, and Douglas, 13 - and I think when it comes to the important things, I'm very strict. You know, things like drinking and drugs. I think I'll be very strict about things like that. I think it will be very difficult for my boys to drink anywhere in town as long as I'm still in the bar/restaurant environment because I'll know where they are.

They'll be kind of disadvantaged when it comes to trying to sneak into clubs. But I'm looking forward to having them come to work for me.

Q: What's the best part of your job?

A: I like interacting with tourists. I look forward to the summer here just because of that. I get a different viewpoint on just about everything. This is the most fun job I've ever had without a doubt. I still look forward to coming to work every day.

Even though it's not really necessary, sometimes I just have to be there but I think it's important to keep your finger on the pulse - to know who your customers are and what they want and in addition, to know what the competition is doing. I think it's important to be out and about.

Q: Where were you born?

A: Connecticut.

Q: You arrived in Bermuda in 1984, what's the worst change you've seen take place in Bermuda since then?

A: The worst change is the decline in the hotel industry which is due to exorbitant costs and the ineffective running of the Department of Tourism. The best change is a difficult question. I have so many positive things to say about Bermuda.

This is going to be my home until I'm told to leave, basically. I think Bermuda's a fantastic place. There are so many positive things I wouldn't know where to start. One of the negative things (I've noticed since I opened The Beach) is just the amount of security that's needed in order for us to operate. Three years ago I didn't have any security officers, now I have two or three on a nightly basis. No exceptions. Popularity is definitely part of the reason, but even more so, I think it's due to the increase in violence in Bermuda.

Q: Do you think you could fix tourism? Would you be interested in politics?

A: I think in the near future I would love to be involved in some sort of politics. I'd love to be active in the political arena - either behind the scenes or up front. Tourism would be certainly an interesting area.

I think I probably could get more done behind the scenes but I wouldn't even consider it until I phased myself out of my present business interests. I think (that would be a) conflict of interest and I think that's one of the biggest problems in politics - there are so many politicians who have conflicts of interest.

Q: Do you have any pets?

A: Actually we do. (Gillian) and I just took our little puppy - I'm calling it a puppy but it's five years old - to Boston for a back operation. He was paralysed and had to have a couple of discs removed. That shows what a nice guy I am, doesn't it? Taking a puppy away for an operation in Boston?

He was a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals special. We call him Buckwheat. He's about 80 per cent recovered now but he still kind of walks like me at about midnight. Occasionally, he falls down for no reason.

Q: What's your beverage of choice?

A: Definitely a fine red wine. I would say, Camus, a cabernet sauvignon from Napa Valley in California. But at The Beach, all I drink is Jaegermeister. They don't carry Camus.