Wetherspoons In Cork

If a Wetherspoons opens in Cork and serves some good ale/wheat beer on tap and a couple of casks, then it'll be one of the better ones in the city, in my opinion. The majority of pubs here serve the same old rubbish. There are a few good pubs offering a bit of variety, like the Bierhaus, Franciscan Well, Abbot's Ale House etc., but these pubs are a very small minority. Even if pubs had a couple of taps offering something different, alongside the bigger brands, it wouldn't be too bad, but there aren't many that do this.

If Wetherspoons can bring a bit of variety, great. If they can do it for under €4 a pint, as some people suggest they might, then all the better.

corkonion wrote: »

Some are suggesting that under €4 a pint would be good value!!! I'd be hopeful they would do better than that. At the moment in cork there are pubs doing pints for €3.50 and the new Birde Bar in Reardens does pints of Heineken every night at an amazing €2.69 until 11pm.

Good value depends entirely on what you're looking for. For Heineken, that can be produced in huge quantities and very cheaply, then, no, it wouldn't be very good value. (Although, many people are happy to go to the likes of the Bróg and pay upwards of a fiver for a pint of it.) But for beer produced locally by micro breweries or for craft beer imported from America, then about €3.50 is very good value, seeing as they make smaller quantities, use a larger variety of ingredients and, generally, make better quality beer, which would make it more expensive to produce.

On the thread in After Hours, someone said that a pint of Bengali Tiger costs £1.90 (about €2.30) in the Wetherspoons in Derry. This is an American IPA with an abv of 6.4% brewed in a microbrewery in New York. It's of higher quality than the usual stuff in Irish pubs, its higher percentage attracts a higher excise duty, it's brewed in smaller batches and has other costs associated with importation, but it's still being sold at an amazingly low price. I'd consider it fantastic value if that were sold for €3.50 here. If it were €2.30, I'd be delighted altogether.

toomevara wrote: »

Terrible places, just giant, cheap drinking barns, full of chavs getting wrecked looking for rucks. They're a plague over here, they drive proper pubs out of business and wreck city centres.Cork, please, say no now before it's too late!

people can say no with their feet by not giving their custom to a new Witherspoons. How else do you suggest they could be prevented from opening here? Personally, I'd say good riddance to about half the existing pubs in Cork!

toomevara wrote: »

Terrible places, just giant, cheap drinking barns, full of chavs getting wrecked looking for rucks. They're a plague over here, they drive proper pubs out of business and wreck city centres.Cork, please, say no now before it's too late!

Cool, cheap is what we need.

Interesting.. probably not a bad call, could serve both the Turners Cross and Musgrave Park crowds. On match days, people wouldn't be too fussed, either drinks/food/decor wise.

Ronan cork wrote: »

Looks like Newport/ mangans site on Paul street

interesting might be a Lloyds rather than a wetherspoons

Lia_lia wrote: »

Brog? :P

In shock with the news here!

WhiteRoses wrote: »

I heard whispers from someone working there that its not completely closing down. It (along with its staff) is being moved to a new premises near the Woolshed, and the Bróg is going to be renovated into a modern bar. The owners want the renovation to appeal to the Voodoo Rooms crowd, in the Riordans / Havanas kind of way.

I wonder if it's going in the old Bondi Beach premises, there's a lot of work going on there recently.

Edit: Just looked up the planning and it looks like student apartments going in there. It's a mystery!

So there'd be no music, and an actual decent choice of beers?

I'm not much of a pub person these days, I dislike the loud and noisy music and generic choices of drinks, so they do sound like a bit of a godsend to me.

kooga wrote: »

any work update on the conversion of the newport to wetherspoons....................

Sunday Times Business section confirmed today that Wetherspoons have bought the Newport bar and Mangans niteclub on Paul St Plaza.

Hopefully they will shake up the city centre drink market.

CHealy wrote: »

Looking forward to it, something to shake up that area. Does that include the Mangans area aswell?

Was in Weatherspoons in Belfast few weeks ago, place was absolutely jointed, got a fry and a pint for 5.50 or something ridiculous like that.

I don't think Weatherspoons shake up the pub scene, if anything it's a race to the bottom. I've been in a few in the UK and they are...well, soulless and without character. However I'm willing to give them a chance, let's see how things go.

I wonder will they follow their UK model or will they adapt to the irish style? Hope they do the former.

Nothing wrong with the lack of music imo.

There is a thread in AH about music in pubs being too loud for a chat..
Im looking forward to going to weatherspoons in Cork. Been in them in England loads of times and they are great.

fairchild wrote: »

(talking about "SoHo" Cork- pints over 5€ now?????)

Barrys in Douglas was €5.05 for a pint of Budweiser the last time I was in there a few weeks ago.

For your information, here is a selection of prices from Wetherspoon Enniskillen, based on a visit during April 2014.

All prices in stg.

Draught beer

Guinness 265

Carlsberg 3.8% 205
Stella 299
Heineken 5.0% 269

Ruddles ale 175
Abbot ale 5.0% 215
Adnam's Broadside 210
Sharp's Doom Bar 225


Spirits

Gin = 2.20 with free tonic, 4 choices - this seems very good value

Bells = 250
Malts = 305 - 3 choices
Jameson = 325

Double spirit, 70ml according to menu, for 1.00 extra

So for 3.20 you get a double gin and tonic, that's under 4 euro - unreal value

A double Jameson is 4.25, that's under 5.50 euro

.red. wrote: »

You dont just convert ££ to €€ to find out what prices they will be. Shorts in the uk are a different size to us. Ours are bigger, somewhere between a single and a double in the uk i think. I presume wetherspoons will have to pour them to our usual units.
Also vat and all other sorts of charges are different
Most importantly, most retailers have a "because we can" tax on products when selling in the republic.

I was clear that these are GBP prices.

Shots in NI are the same as RoI, 35ml. The menu specifically states this.

Yes, VAT here is 23% versus 20% in the UK.

VAT on food is lower here at 9% than in the UK, at 20%.

Beer excise duty is fairly similar.

But, yes, wages and overheads are higher here, of course.

If I get time, I will try to adjust for these costs and estimate possible selling prices in RoI.

Or maybe somebody else might have a go at that exercise?

kcb wrote: »

There is still no sign of this new pub appearing?

Planning permission notice is up on the door at least.

rob316 wrote: »

Passed the Newport site earlier looked like work started. Construction boarding gone up around it.

About time really; I was sure it'd be open by now.

kingtut wrote: »

I've been to the one that opened recently in Blackrock (Dublin) twice and I must say it's not too bad.

You get what you pay for and also for someone like me who goes to the pub to chat without having to shout over the television / loud music it's perfect.

Ya I was in Dublin yesterday and was passing so popped in, I just had a coke (driving) while I read some emails but it was a nice pub, much nicer than other wetherspoons I had been in England. Will be a good addition to the pub scene in Cork, offers something a bit different. Few people were eating around me and the food looked decent enough.

A family were sitting near me who obviously came into eat, they saw the menu on the table but spent about 10 mins waiting for someone to take there order, I told them you need to go up and order your food and pay, there isn't any waitress/waiter to take your order. They couldn't understand it the concept was a bit alien to them. For anyone who hasn't been in one of these pubs before that really needs to be pointed out better.