New Pub at Barker House [Mrs Robinson]

audreyp

Wine bar sounds lovely. Looking forward to it opening.

dudmis

I think it great that so many people are prepared to take a chance opening up new pubs/shops etc in this climate - theres not many towns in Ireland where new ventures are springing up. That makes it all the more important that we support these ventures as much as possible.

artvandelay48

dudmis wrote: »

I think it great that so many people are prepared to take a chance opening up new pubs/shops etc in this climate - theres not many towns in Ireland where new ventures are springing up. That makes it all the more important that we support these ventures as much as possible.

Exactly, I was just saying to my wife the other day that it was nice to see so few empty premises on the main street. Apart from Barker House, all empty premises have been taken. ebaby is being taken over by the Hungry Monk. The Florist's is being taken over by the italian. Both the shop up from the Three Qs and the office beside the train station have been let out. I don't think you would get that anywhere else. People should be a little happier about all this.

Dr.Silly

I can't wait for this place to open, as personally speaking, as I'm not fond of the other pub on the main street.
Hopefully they'll be in time for christmas but I wish them luck either way and hope it succeeds.
Can't beat the old vino and cheese imo !!

The Bishop Basher

I'm generally positive about most things on here.

However I'll also say how I feel, even if it happens to be negative.

I supppose i'm just really disappointed. We've been waiting a long time for a decent boozer. For those of you who remember the good old days in the Burnaby before it was done up, or the sessions in the La Touche bar, with happy hour on a Friday, everyone knew everyone, people of all ages mixed together and management and punters not only knew eachother but all joined in on the craic. If you were heading to a party after closing and needed booze they'd give you a bottle of vodka or whatever and you could drop a new one back the next day. They were magic days and the pub felt like a proper local...

Maybe i'm dreaming that we'll ever experience that again, but I had hoped that a new place would give us a shot

I'll definately check it out and the name could be misleading....either way I wish them well.

Merrilady

Must say, Im looking forward to a new place to go for a drink thats in the village.

My new lovely local is the Horse and Hound in Delgany - Lovely little pub now with a fab beer garden ( roll on summer hahahaha )

Blandpebbles

The Durutti Column wrote: »

Where exactly is it to be?

Will it have a decent range of beers? Or just the tied Diageo ****e? I've only once ever been in an Irish bar outside Cork which offered all three commercial stouts, for example, and that was in Limerick...

And so the 'they dont have the drink I like' saga begins..

Blandpebbles

mango salsa wrote: »

Obviously not :rolleyes:

Can't believe how negative and moany and cynical this forum is sometimes

Sometimes?

Charlie-Bravo

Constrcutive comments I call them - Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about it opening and have been since I saw the planning notice up. I do have a drink out in Greystones from time to time - there is a real lack of choice though. A bar in the guise of a wine bar is perfect IMO. As long as it is a little different, it will definitely be one for consideration when meeting up with the lads for a few!

Blandpebbles

dudmis wrote: »

I think it great that so many people are prepared to take a chance opening up new pubs/shops etc in this climate - theres not many towns in Ireland where new ventures are springing up. That makes it all the more important that we support these ventures as much as possible.

Come on thats completely unrealistic.. if a business doesn't cater for demographics or provide a service you need would you really use them? Would you buy a pint even if you were tee-total, just to help them?

Attracting customers to a business should be organic and predictable if the right research is done beforehand.

Market saturation has been reached for beer vendors in Greystones.. no amount of marketting will change that.

Plastik

Blandpebbles wrote: »

Market saturation has been reached for beer vendors in Greystones.. no amount of marketting will change that.

Not even close in my opinion.

Dr.Silly

Blandpebbles wrote: »

Attracting customers to a business should be organic and predictable if the right research is done beforehand.

Blandpebbles, do you have a business of your own ?

If only having your own business was so easy, we'd all be millionaires !

dudmis

Blandpebbles wrote: »

Come on thats completely unrealistic.. if a business doesn't cater for demographics or provide a service you need would you really use them? Would you buy a pint even if you were tee-total, just to help them?

Attracting customers to a business should be organic and predictable if the right research is done beforehand.

Market saturation has been reached for beer vendors in Greystones.. no amount of marketting will change that.

Obviously, if a business offered a service that I really didn't want/use, I wouldn't just use it to keep it in business.

But these things are never so black and white.

For my part, most of the things I purchase in Greystones can be purchased cheaper and more conveniently online (eg Amazon, pet stores etc), but I recognise that Greystones is a lovely town to live in and that having a nice selection of local shops contributes to that. So I try to do my bit (as much as my budget will allow).

I would also be interested to go back thru this forum and review all the new shops that were doomed from the start by those on boards (eg the new florist) - some of them seem to have (happily) ignored the predictions.

Blandpebbles

Dr.Silly wrote: »

Blandpebbles, do you have a business of your own ?

If only having your own business was so easy, we'd all be millionaires !

22 Years of Business and Management Consulting across the world I think its enough to pass comment.

I don't claim that all businesses I have provided consulting too are successful in fact its the failures that provide the most valuable learnings.

In this case we have a clear inconsistency between the needs of the population and the service about to be provided.

I am assuming Plastiks comment 'not even close' is sarcastic given that the pubs are nowhere near capacity most nights.

Folks might complain about the negativity but unjustified optimism is just as concerning.

As an example, all the fanfare around Auntie Nellies Sweet Shop and yet on the average rain soaked day there is barely anyone in it. Sure its 'busy' at the weekends but that hardly helps.

Opening a shop that caters mostly for kids when kids are in school 90% of the day is flawed. It's just a simple example highlighting that no footfall survey was taken to determine potential shopper volumes.

Likewise, has anyone been stopped recently in Greystones by a person taking survey on what shops and services they would like to see start up?

Nope.

If only the optimism shown here could magick away such errors.

Dr.Silly

Blandpebbles wrote: »

22 Years of Business and Management Consulting across the world I think its enough to pass comment.

That's alot of experience, and I don't mean any disprespect whatsoever, but there is a big difference in consulting, and actually running and managing your own business.

Plastik

My comment was not sarcasm. Point me in the direction of pubs that are near capacity most nights of the week? Very few and far between outside of major urban centres, and even at that only a few can manage it. The fact that the current pubs in Greystones are less than capacity or fully supported can be attributed to three things, location of the pubs, that the market is at saturation point or than the current pubs are a poor choice and people would rather venture elsewhere.

You quite clearly think it's the middle of those three while I happen to believe its a combination of the other two. I think another pub in a prime location on the main street has an excellent opportunity of doing well.

Annasopra

Blandpebbles wrote: »

Market saturation has been reached for beer vendors in Greystones.. no amount of marketting will change that.

do you have actual market research to back that up?

mirrorball

mango salsa wrote: »

do you have actual market research to back that up?

Yes, I'd be interested to see it too. There are towns that have streets full of pubs. If you have the right venue in a decent location you can do well.

Anyway, who needs real market research? Blandpebbles has an eye for these things, just ask him how many visitors from Dublin the harbour gets........:pac:

pixbyjohn

mango salsa wrote: »

do you have actual market research to back that up?

Its a simple answer..... either yes or no

Blandpebbles

Sure.. When you are ready to pay its all yours... Consultant... Remember?

Perhaps the positive spinners could also back up their upbeat projections with their research... Just to keep the discussion balanced.

Annasopra

Blandpebbles wrote: »

Sure.. When you are ready to pay its all yours... Consultant... Remember?

Perhaps the positive spinners could also back up their upbeat projections with their research... Just to keep the discussion balanced.

Or perhaps you could preface your opinions with 'I think that...market saturation....' instead of stating them as fact.

Blandpebbles

mirrorball wrote: »

Yes, I'd be interested to see it too. There are towns that have streets full of pubs. If you have the right venue in a decent location you can do well.

Anyway, who needs real market research? Blandpebbles has an eye for these things, just ask him how many visitors from Dublin the harbour gets........:pac:

Stating you have a D reg car and live in Greystones does not prove an argument against my comments

Where is your survey to state who visited?

Right venue, decent location... As you say CAN do well.

Blandpebbles

Dr.Silly wrote: »

That's alot of experience, and I don't mean any disprespect whatsoever, but there is a big difference in consulting, and actually running and managing your own business.

No disrespect taken.. You are quite right

Blandpebbles

mango salsa wrote: »

Or perhaps you could preface your opinions with 'I think that...market saturation....' instead of stating them as fact.

I think this is a discussion board where every post is an opinion.

darter

Blandpebbles wrote: »

I think this is a discussion board where every post is an opinion.

Nonsense. Every post of yours may be an opinion, but some of us take logical conclusions from stated facts and prefer not to delve into the realm of the unknown with wild speculation.

Charlie-Bravo

Great posts guys - in stitches here reading it.

Probably worth getting back on topic - sure it'll be open on Saturday - less than a week now.

One last point, Blandpebbles will definitely frequent the new bar as they'll be serving copious amounts of peanuts with a glass of wine. Nothing beats quantity over quality. ***hides***

matt-dublin

i heard blandpebbles loves free nuts alright....

***gets coat and hides****

theres no way that greystones is overly saturated with pubs, it is however saturated with sh1te pubs with no atmosphere...

saying that i was in the burnaby on say with the live music and the difference in the place was unbelievable!!

they need to do that way more!!

zoobizoo

I lived in Greystones for half a year and I found that it was restaurant heavy and that the two pubs lacked any sense of atmosphere. Dann's was alright.

Look at Dalkey. Seems to be a similar set up to Greystones in terms of being restaurant heavy. But, they also have 3 decent pubs, one I wouldn't go into and another has just opened. A wine bar has also opened recently.

I think you'd find that a decent place with atmosphere would attract younger people in and all of those people who don't drink in the pubs that are there, as well as attracting drinkers from the establishments which are open.

The midweek trade isn't great anywhere at the mo but if they have decent food, they'll attract diners from the restaurants.

Back in the day when there was no decent night club in Bray, people would bus it out to Cabanas and then to Lautrecs and taxi back. And think of all of those who DART into Bray for a Saturday night.

If it's decent, people will go there. The population is large enough to sustain another venue.

As an aside, when living in Greystones I went to the pub on the main street twice. The service was shocking and unfriendly, there was no atmosphere and I decided never to go back.

Blandpebbles

Of course I love nuts... I wouldn't tolerate you guys otherwise.. don't hate the messenger, hate the message..

Blandpebbles

darter wrote: »

Nonsense. Every post of yours may be an opinion, but some of us take logical conclusions from stated facts and prefer not to delve into the realm of the unknown with wild speculation.

Thanks bud, glad to have you on my side..