Paddys Day

Codofwar

Ok I know its a tad early to be bringing this up but im workin in an Irish bar in Scotland and we have a meeting today with the boss (who is scottish) about ideas to encourage people to drink here rather than other Irish bars around on paddys day.
Im all out of ideas and was hoping that maybe the AH faithful might possibly help me out a little.
On a side note, some degree of sensibility might be needed, not essential though.
Cheers.

_feedback_

Ways to encourage Irish people to drink???! :eek:

Ha !

flyton5

Midget boxing...you could dress them up for the occasion. I'd probably fly over to see it.

mikemac

Topless barmaids?

Pauleta

Hang a bicycle in the window.

gbee

A wet t-shirt competition with real girls. Pay for a couple of Page 3 girls to come up and encourage local competition.

listermint

Green Pints,

And GOOD outdoor trad music!

chin_grin

Cheaper beer than every other place. That's all you'll need. Who cares about the decor\the attractions. People will be too stocious to f*cking pick themselves up. That's what you'll need. Plenty of promotions. Promotions coming out your ears. Promotions in the toilets for the johnny machines. Promotions for when you actually p*ss in to the toilet and not all over the floor. Promotions in the form of a tray full of <insert shot or beverage> balanced on the heads of 'little people' dressed as Leprechauns. Promotions by putting the beer kegs up at the bar, tapping it there and then and letting people come up and drink out of it.

Promotions.


Promotions.

LenaClaire

Cheap beer? Sell tickets that include a meal (corned beef or irish sausage or something) and beer?

Discount if they wear green?

Make games that can be redeemed for drink coupons or some small prize? Pin the hat on the leprechaun? Things as cheesy as possible that drunk people would have fun with.

chin_grin

jujibee wrote: »

Cheap beer? Sell tickets that include a meal (corned beef or irish sausage or something) and beer?

Discount if they wear green?

Make games that can be redeemed for drink coupons or some small prize? Pin the hat on the leprechaun? Things as cheesy as possible that drunk people would have fun with.

That's right OP.............promotions! Give drunk people pointy things and food they can puke up right in front of the bar while they're chucking that keg in to them. Promotions OP.

Promotions for when............when you catch and tickle a leprechaun that's wearing a certain colour flower in his\her lapel. Promotions for downing three green pints of Guinness in one go. Promotions.

Plazaman

Good music and not your diddly-eye sh1te, a good rock band that'd play everything across the board. There's nothing worse on Paddy's Day going into a pub and seeing fellas with accordians, screechy fiddles and the token two young ones in the corner on tin whistles drinking Fanta.

Also ban kids from the pub. Paddys Day is a day for good hard sensible drinking that means plenty of cursing and slobbering and this has to be done in a guilt free environment without snotty nosed little ankle biters running round and prams all over the place.

Finally free sausages for all. HPD in advance.

brummytom

There are some brilliant Comhaltas branches (and players) around Scotland, you could always ask if any of them had any musicians that could play.


People might appreciate a bit more authenticity than a 'High Kings' album on repeat

flyton5

I SAID MIDGET BOXING!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2gOQ8pL6Tk

Hehehe...one of their nicknames is "The Giant".

jester77

Give out the promotional stuff and not have some silly system where you have to drink 5 pints to get the hat. That doesn't work... and don't put a bloody cover charge on the door, that also doesn't work!

chin_grin

A promotion for the best lilter in the venue. Lilting. Lilting all night OP. Lilting till the lights come back on. And then do you know what? Yeah, that's right. More lilting. Lilting through tears. Lilting leprechauns. Lilting like it was 1999. You lilt me up. Every liltle thing she does is leprechauns. Top Of The Lilts. LILTING!

flyton5 wrote: »

Hehehe...one of their nicknames is "The Giant".

That's gas. It's almost as if he knew he was smaller than everyone and played on that fact by thinking up the opposite nickname. Like Little John in that story......about.....that sheriff. And the bad men........think it was in a JK Rowling book. Sounds like something the anti-christ would rattle up in her demonic head.

LILT! <instead of SHAFT!>

Yakult

First pint is free.

chin_grin

Yakult wrote: »

First pint is free.

OP, this is a form of promotion. You can add more to that to form what would be called a multipromo. But then later on in the night you could then have a cccccccccccombo breaker promotion.

Teangalad

What are the other pubs in your area doing??? are they Irish Pubs ???or just Irish for the day????.......Have you got music booked?? what type ???, need more info on the pub and area, is it a students pub ?? food Led ?Liqour led??

That_Guy

Happy hour..... or 3.

chin_grin

Teangalad wrote: »

What are the other pubs in your area doing??? are they Irish Pubs ???or just Irish for the day????.......Have you got music booked?? what type ???, need more info on the pub and area, is it a students pub ?? food Led ?Liqour led??

Undercut the oppositions' promotions OP. Do it in such an obvious callous way as to even put signs up saying "We're better than having a few cheap beers at home with mates and music you actually like. Come here and drink our warm promotions!" or "See that pub down the road? Hygiene nightmare. Found a sh!t in a pint once.Came right out of the tap......true story."

UNDERCUT! LIE!

PROMOTIONS!

CCCCCCCOMBO BREAKER!

AnonoBoy

Cheap pints and a promise not to play any Snow Patrol music at all throughout the whole day.

jackiebaron

Pint of Guinness and bowl of Irish stew for a fiver.

Free pizza with bacon and cabbage topping. Employ slutty barmaids for the day and dress them in short-skirted, low-cut green dresses.

Also have whiskey specials. Getting them into the place shouldn't be a problem. Keeping them there is the tricky part. I know that if I go to a pub and there's a good buzz, the booze is good value and the women are easy on the eye and plentiful......I'm staying!!

Dionysus

Codofwar wrote: »

Ok I know its a tad early to be bringing this up but im workin in an Irish bar in Scotland and we have a meeting today with the boss (who is scottish) about ideas to encourage people to drink here rather than other Irish bars around on paddys day.
Im all out of ideas and was hoping that maybe the AH faithful might possibly help me out a little.
On a side note, some degree of sensibility might be needed, not essential though.
Cheers.

Get rid of the television and focus on the comhrá/conversation. Get a great seisiún going, maybe even poach the 15 musicians who were playing in The Cobblestone on New Year's Eve last. If you distinguished yourself on that point, you could even start producing cds and the like establishing yourself as a niche pub in wherever you are. Plenty of Irish pubs have gone down that road successfully.

Codofwar

Good ideas so far, the only problem is the scottish licensing laws are rubbish, its all about being responsible and that crap, cant give away free booze or be shown to encourage binge drinking! Thats kinda what paddys is all about.

There are 2 other irish bars within a few hundred meters of here and they are keeping their promos quiet until they hear of ours, one of them is going to undercut us regardless anyway, its just what they do.

We are hoping to get live music in during the day, not diddly i stuff but irish rock type stuff mixed with good old classics. Guy on a guitar with a drummer I think.
People are gonna come in but as someone pointed out its keeping them here is what im trying to acomplish!
The green pints is easy, just a bit of food dye in the glass!

chin_grin

Codofwar wrote: »

There are 2 other irish bars within a few hundred meters of here and they are keeping their promos quiet until they hear of ours, one of them is going to undercut us regardless anyway, its just what they do.

Time for some covert ops. Get a few mates over to the other bars. Drink at the bar and spark up a conversation about what bars they're going to go to on Paddys Day. See if the barman takes the bait. G'wan.

Codofwar wrote: »

We are hoping to get live music in during the day, not diddly i stuff but irish rock type stuff mixed with good old classics. Guy on a guitar with a drummer I think.

Oh yay! A wedding band! <groan>

"DYA TAKE REQUESTS?"

"STAIRWAY"

"STAIRWAY"


"PLAY F*CKING STAIRWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!".

Codofwar

chin_grin wrote: »

Oh yay! A wedding band! <groan>

"DYA TAKE REQUESTS?"

"STAIRWAY"

"STAIRWAY"


"PLAY F*CKING STAIRWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!".

Not a wedding band type dont worry, they play here regularly and play good anti-wedding band music!

I like the topless barmaid and midgets ideas,
what about topless midgets fighting on an upturned guinness keg?

chin_grin

Codofwar wrote: »

what about topless midgets fighting on an upturned guinness keg?

GTFO, that's going too far.

WoollyRedHat

An Irish Themed table quiz, a good band that covers classic Irish rock songs ( no traditional Irish music of the hiddly hiddly ho kind as someone else mentioned), an all Irish food menu.. make it interesting.

Other possible ideas,an irish storyteller?A Guiness fountain... now that would be cool.

Codofwar

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

An Irish Themed table quiz, a good band that covers classic Irish rock songs ( no traditional Irish music of the hiddly hiddly ho kind as someone else mentioned), an all Irish food menu.. make it interesting. An irish storyteller? Guiness fountain.

Thats the type of band we are tryin to get in alright, A quiz or sory teller wouldn't work as it would be too noisy for it, Irish food menu could be a good one, we have stew and frys and that but a bit of bacon and cabbage or something along those lines might not be a bad idea.
Guinness fountain would be odd and messy!

WoollyRedHat

Codofwar wrote: »

Thats the type of band we are tryin to get in alright, A quiz or sory teller wouldn't work as it would be too noisy for it, Irish food menu could be a good one, we have stew and frys and that but a bit of bacon and cabbage or something along those lines might not be a bad idea.
Guinness fountain would be odd and messy!

But it would be different! As for a table quiz/storyteller being too noisy, it doesn't have to be the main event, why not target a family based crowd to begin with and then once that's finished bring in the band and what not. You mentioned cabbage, colcannon is a simple but traditional dish that can be quite tasty and simple to serve.

xoxyx

Do you have an outdoors area you can do a bbq? Call it a good old fashioned Irish bbq and give away free "Ireland burgers" and "Paddy hotdogs".

Plus, the soakage will let them drink for longer meaning more profits for your pub!

Promotion.

Teangalad

Codofwar wrote: »

Good ideas so far, the only problem is the scottish licensing laws are rubbish, its all about being responsible and that crap, cant give away free booze or be shown to encourage binge drinking! Thats kinda what paddys is all about.

There are 2 other irish bars within a few hundred meters of here and they are keeping their promos quiet until they hear of ours, one of them is going to undercut us regardless anyway, its just what they do.

We are hoping to get live music in during the day, not diddly i stuff but irish rock type stuff mixed with good old classics. Guy on a guitar with a drummer I think.
People are gonna come in but as someone pointed out its keeping them here is what im trying to acomplish!
The green pints is easy, just a bit of food dye in the glass!

It's the same in England re ; alcohol promotions ,Get a special events notice and extended hours, you need to apply for it now I think, it's only about a tenner and you get as many hours as you want( depending on your council)pack the bar by telling every one that if you are not in by 11 say then you don't get in, not sure how you would fare with a cover charge.

Little Acorn

Codofwar wrote: »

Good ideas so far, the only problem is the scottish licensing laws are rubbish, its all about being responsible and that crap, cant give away free booze or be shown to encourage binge drinking! Thats kinda what paddys is all about.

There are 2 other irish bars within a few hundred meters of here and they are keeping their promos quiet until they hear of ours, one of them is going to undercut us regardless anyway, its just what they do.

We are hoping to get live music in during the day, not diddly i stuff but irish rock type stuff mixed with good old classics. Guy on a guitar with a drummer I think.
People are gonna come in but as someone pointed out its keeping them here is what im trying to acomplish!
The green pints is easy, just a bit of food dye in the glass!

Try and get a Flogging Molly tribute band, they have very lively energetic songs, sort of traditional with a rock twist. Or else blare their music out the doors, maybe with some Thin Lizzy too, this would make me want try out a pub [on Paddy's Day].

Abit gimmiky maybe, but ye could give out free shamrocks/leprechaun hats etc., and have some games if it is a studenty place -
If it is not a studenty place, you could advertise the free hats and things for children. Have green icecream and treats. Never underestimate children's pester power: "Mammy, I want to go into that place!"
It depends who your main clientele are though -
Are they students or locals?

Food:
If it is more of a family pub, then a special Paddy's Day menu for the adults, and cheap snacks or free goodies for children could be good.
If it is more studenty, baskets of cocktail sausages, chips, chicken goujons, pizza maybe?

Again, depending on the type of place, the barman could invent a new cocktail for the day. Green, and very strong on the alcohol.

Karaoke for later in the evening, focusing on Irish songs with prizes for winner might be an option?

prinz

Turn yourself into a non-Irish pub.

Best St. Patrick's Day I've had in a bar had none of that paddywhackery crap and actually got more Irish punters in than the "Irish bar" on the same street.

Codofwar

Thanks for the ideas guys,
After the meeting we are giving away t-shirts and having select drinks cheap, live music during the day and more music at night, an irish based menu and prob decorate a little but not over the top,
We are more a studenty pub in the sense that it wouldn't be advisable to encourage kids in on paddys and a cover charge just seems a bit mean. It would work but for paddys day we dont want to be charging folk to come into an Irish bar on paddys.

Cheer for the ideas though.

admiralofthefleet

serious reply: mix it with cheltenham and offer discounts on drink if/when there are irish winners. for example, when an irish horse wins sell all drink with a pound off til the next race

Codofwar

Great idea that I might rob but slightly different as selling drink at a reduced price depending on winners and for only a short period of time is illegal here as it is deemed to encourage binge drinking.
Good idea though.

KeithAFC

Didn't St Patrick convert pagans to Christianity?

flyton5

KeithAFC wrote: »

Didn't St Patrick convert pagans to Christianity?

No he ruined the reptile section in Dublin Zoo...:rolleyes:

Alter-Ego

What about some sort of

Promotion?

wurzlitzer

Real grass on ground (friends of mine in belgium were in the pub had grass on the floor on paddys day).

tayto crisps

sean nos karaoke or irish rock ballad karaoke

pint of guinness pulling competition

Bingo

Nothingbetter2d

setup a boxing ring and a chicken coup in the back room. have the pikeys box each other and cock's ripping each other apart while some red headed girl does a jig to a bunch of toothless old men playing fiddles and tapping their foot repeatedly.

Also have a poteen still all fired up from some epic alcohol to spur the pikeys on.

oh and complain about the weather alot for that truely irish authentic pub effect.

Dionysus

Dionysus wrote: »

Get rid of the television....

With Cheltenham on! The op is not looking for very easy ways to keep people out of the pub.

I'd definitely go along with doing some things to tie in with the racing. Also if you show the club all-ireland finals you might draw in some extra Irish people, you would need to advertise it though and have it on a separate tv to the racing.

cashback

Free Midnight Mass...
Get the red lemonade in for the mixers...

Griffen262

How has no one mentioned the "shamrock on the head of the Guinness"?

Its practically a tradition!*


*The Fúcking foreigners love it!

wurzlitzer

a snake charmer:)