Should an English pub be opened in Dublin?

dmc17

LordSutch

Crooked Jack wrote: »

Belfast, Coleraine, Enniskillen, two in Derry. There might be a few others that I havent been in, but these are all great. Yes they're samey and you could argue in some sense soulless, but great beer, great prices and (varying between establishments) great food. Nice and big so there is usually no bother getting a seat and no blaring music or TVs. Big bar and lots of staff so no long queues. It may not have the charm of a little independent place but in all honesty it's hard to fault it.

Oh I know JD Wetherspoon pubs very well indeed, I have been in the Belfast one several times, and several in England too (The Regent in Walton on Thames comes to mind), but I thought from your post #127 that they had actually arrived here, sadly not

ScumLord

Just about every pub I've ever gone into in England is a chain pub by wetherspoons or some other chain. Those chains have no incentive to operate in Ireland as they wouldn't be allowed free enterprise to sell drink cheaply. I can see the Vintners association and the rest of the Irish alcohol pushers cartel keeping them out to protect their monopoly too. Overall though English pubs are horrible places.

onlyrocknroll

We have all the worst aspects of English pubs in Ireland anyway...

poor selection of booze,
bad lagers,
Premership soccer on constantly

etc

I'd love a proper English pub (I don't mean Weatherspoons) to open and bring the better aspects of their pub culture here...

Good quality pub grub
Fish thats fresh,
chips that aren't feckin' frozen,
Real ales on cask,
No TV

Crooked Jack

LordSutch wrote: »

Oh I know JD Wetherspoon pubs very well indeed, I have been in the Belfast one several times, and several in England too (The Regent in Walton on Thames comes to mind), but I thought from your post #127 that they had actually arrived here, sadly not

What do you mean by here? Dublin? Please tell me you mean Dublin and you're not actually going to try and make this thread into a "the north isnt really Ireland," type thing.

Chriscl1

Crooked Jack wrote: »

What do you mean by here? Dublin? Please tell me you mean Dublin and you're not actually going to try and make this thread into a "the north isnt really Ireland," type thing.

Well when it comes I getting a pint of bitter/smooth/ale or cheap drink a'la weatherspoons it would appear that it isn't.

LordSutch

Crooked Jack wrote: »

What do you mean by here? Dublin? Please tell me you mean Dublin and you're not actually going to try and make this thread into a "the north isnt really Ireland," type thing.

Indeed Crooked Jack, lets clarify.

This thread is about Dublin, greater Dublin at a push, but Northern Ireland has chains that we dont have 'here' take JD Wetherspoons, or Sainsbury for example. I would love a good quality English pub in, or close to Dublin, reason: (Real Cask Ale on tap) at a sensible price with good food too!

Chains apart, you can't beat a country English pub in summer with a pint of Real Ale or several on the go

Sergeant

LordSutch wrote: »

This thread is about Dublin, greater Dublin at a push, but Northern Ireland has chains that we dont have 'here' take JD Wetherspoons, or Sainsbury for example. I would love a good quality English pub in, or close to Dublin, reason: (Real Cask Ale on tap) at a sensible price with good food too!

In Dublin, there are 4 pubs off the top of my head that serve cask ale on tap; while L Mulligan's serves delicious food alongside that cask ale. No TV either.

LordSutch

Sergeant wrote: »

In Dublin, there are 4 pubs off the top of my head that serve cask ale on tap; while L Mulligan's serves delicious food alongside that cask ale. No TV either.

4 pubs with Cask Ale on Tap! pray tell.

I can only think of Porterhouse who brew their own dark/red ale (City Centre only), and they serve food, but for those of us who have enjoyed a good English/British pub there is a difference, some of them are of course totally ***te, and many others really nice, with a nice variety of cask ales on tap with good food (at a good price). PS By the way, nothing wrong with Irish pubs, but there is a difference.

Old Hooky, ahh yes http://www.wallaseyans.com/storage/hooky%20gold.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1332936745989

reprazant

Off the top of my head,

- Bull & Castle
- Mulligans
- Against the Grain
- The Black Sheep
- Kavanaghs on Dorset Street

all, at least usually anyway, have cask ale on tap.

Edit: The Black Sheep and Kavanaghs I presume they have as I actually didn't notice. They are sister pubs to Against the Grain and Mulligans so I presume they would. Against the Grain another one in what was Kates Cottage opposite from Busáras and Connelly Station.

Madam

Why not open up a British style pub in Dublin(or the the surrounding area)? It doesn't have to be a Witherspoons style(although I quite like them). We have some great pubs in Scotland, for example these two pubs are excellent and a great place to take visitors(Irish, Brits or European friends), really they're often so surprised just how good they are, in fact its difficult to get them to leave:)
http://www.westbeer.com/
http://www.clockworkbeercompany.co.uk/clockwork-beer-co/home/the-clockwork-beer-co.html

ScumLord

LordSutch wrote: »

with a nice variety of cask ales on tap with good food (at a good price). PS By the way, nothing wrong with Irish pubs, but there is a difference.

How much is Ale in Ireland? I was paying around £2.10 (€2.60) in England.

LordSutch

Yep, about £2:10-£2:89 in the UK, I guess reprazant or another contributor will have the answer to how much a pint is here.

reprazant

From a bar, it would generally be between €4-€6, depending on the ale.

From off license, it would be anywhere between €1 - €4 or so.

Really, the craft bars do tend to be more expensive than the average pub, possibly due to craft beers being more expensive to produce than the mass produced fare and also due to it being a much smaller market.

More and more pubs are starting to introduce craft taps though to hopefully the price will come down along with a greater diversity of drinks. That said, there is a large market for the likes of guinness, heineken, etc and that is still bloody well expensive so I wait with bated breath.

SHOVELLER

LordSutch wrote: »

I suspect you are refering to Northern Ireland, which of course already has them, and there was me thinking that JD had arrived here in the Republic

Bugger.

He said Ireland.

LordSutch

Suggest you read post#159.

ScumLord

reprazant wrote: »

From a bar, it would generally be between €4-€6, depending on the ale.

From off license, it would be anywhere between €1 - €4 or so.

Really, the craft bars do tend to be more expensive than the average pub, possibly due to craft beers being more expensive to produce than the mass produced fare and also due to it being a much smaller market.

It's not like that in the UK, craft beers are the same price or cheaper from what I could see.

Ouchette

So those who wouldn't want an English pub are saying no to pubs like my local, where you can get about 6 different ales for about £3 each, you can get a good fresh fish and chips or sausage and mash (but there's almost nothing else on the menu) for a reasonable price, no bouncers or paying in - even on New Year's, no tv except for the occasional big event, no music unless it's live but it's never too quiet either, and where there's still a proper pub atmosphere and people chat to people they don't already know?

You might need to skip the Morris dancing we all ended up trying to join in with last Friday night though.

reprazant

ScumLord wrote: »

It's not like that in the UK, craft beers are the same price or cheaper from what I could see.

Possibly more of a market but then also, beer tends to be cheaper in the UK, though it does depend on which part of the UK it is.

Pints in central London can be bloody expensive.

Also, the main competitor the craft brewers are up against think nothing of doing this sort of malarky

http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article/diageo-v-brewdog

ScumLord

Ouchette wrote: »

So those who wouldn't want an English pub are saying no to pubs like my local, where you can get about 6 different ales for about £3 each, you can get a good fresh fish and chips or sausage and mash (but there's almost nothing else on the menu) for a reasonable price,

To be fair it's not always possible for publicans to start serving food in their pubs. They simply wouldn't have the space. It's a lot easier for wetherspoons to open places like this because they don't have the restraints that an independent publican would have. The can pretty much unbox their pub and move it into a suitable building. If the pub isn't doing well they don't have to fight for it either they can just shut down shop.

reprazant wrote: »

Possibly more of a market but then also, beer tends to be cheaper in the UK, though it does depend on which part of the UK it is.

Pints in central London can be bloody expensive.

Yeah they're at Irish prices. I'm from a small town in the west of Ireland and I thought London was fairly reasonably priced all things considered, it was more expensive but not by a huge amount, I'd say Dublin is worse which goes to show how over priced Ireland is.

old hippy

I'm lucky to have several decent locals and a wider range of decent pubs in the London area to chose from. I can be picky but I've had 13 years or so to indulge.

I find these sites can be helpful for the discerning drinker

http://www.fancyapint.com/

http://www.beerintheevening.com/

Beefy78

ScumLord wrote: »

Yeah they're at Irish prices. I'm from a small town in the west of Ireland and I thought London was fairly reasonably priced all things considered, it was more expensive but not by a huge amount, I'd say Dublin is worse which goes to show how over priced Ireland is.

There are very expensive parts of London where pints are up to £5 (Canary Wharf, Leicester Square). The average price of a pint in Dublin will be higher though.

Beefy78

old hippy wrote: »

I'm lucky to have several decent locals and a wider range of decent pubs in the London area to chose from. I can be picky but I've had 13 years or so to indulge.

I find these sites can be helpful for the discerning drinker

http://www.fancyapint.com/

http://www.beerintheevening.com/

beerintheevening.com is an invaluable resource for anyone planning any sort of night out/piss-up in London.

old hippy

Beefy78 wrote: »

There are very expensive parts of London where pints are up to £5 (Canary Wharf, Leicester Square). The average price of a pint in Dublin will be higher though.

CW tends to draw the suited crowd to the likes of All Bar One, where they can charge outrageous prices for badly served beer and indifferent staff. Leicester Square prices are admittedly touristy but dive down a side street or wander about and you can find plenty of decent watering holes.

I do miss the King's Head in Soho's Chinatown, which shut its doors some 5 or 6 years ago. A great little place with cracking atmosphere.

old hippy

Beefy78 wrote: »

beerintheevening.com is an invaluable resource for anyone planning any sort of night out/piss-up in London.

Or even a quiet night but as with all comments, it's really down to the individual and the night/day you visit the ale houses in question...

Paparazzo

MMAIRELANDFAN wrote: »

English Pubs are like Irish pubs with no character and gank drink.

Pubs in england have a way better selection of drink. I'm talking in general here, but 99% of pubs in ireland have the exact same products. In england you have way better variation. I got a bottle of Duvel in a pub in the centre of newcastle for £2.50, and we left that bar because it was too expensive. You only get that in specialised pubs in ireland and it's about 3 times that price.

ScumLord wrote: »

Just about every pub I've ever gone into in England is a chain pub by wetherspoons or some other chain. Those chains have no incentive to operate in Ireland as they wouldn't be allowed free enterprise to sell drink cheaply. I can see the Vintners association and the rest of the Irish alcohol pushers cartel keeping them out to protect their monopoly too. Overall though English pubs are horrible places.

Ah come on, that's like saying you hate meat because you had a mcdonalds burger a few times and it was manky.
English country pubs are pretty much the same as Irish country pubs, but generally better kept, nicer beers and better food.

old hippy

Paparazzo wrote: »

Pubs in england have a way better selection of drink. I'm talking in general here, but 99% of pubs in ireland have the exact same products. In england you have way better variation. I got a bottle of Duvel in a pub in the centre of newcastle for £2.50, and we left that bar because it was too expensive. You only get that in specialised pubs in ireland and it's about 3 times that price.



Ah come on, that's like saying you hate meat because you had a mcdonalds burger a few times and it was manky.
English country pubs are pretty much the same as Irish country pubs, but generally better kept, nicer beers and better food.

Indeed. Some of our pubs could do well to learn a lesson from some of the English pubs.

onlyrocknroll

Paparazzo wrote: »

Pubs in england have a way better selection of drink. I'm talking in general here, but 99% of pubs in ireland have the exact same products. In england you have way better variation. I got a bottle of Duvel in a pub in the centre of newcastle for £2.50, and we left that bar because it was too expensive. You only get that in specialised pubs in ireland and it's about 3 times that price.

I'm all in favour of English style pubs in Ireland, especially the kind of rural pubs that have great food and cask ale, but I think you're being unfair on Irish pubs a little here.

Tbf the more commercial end the wedge of craft(ish) beers are fairly widely available in Ireland, at least in Cork and Dublin. It would be unusual for an urban bar to not have a something to choose from from Duvel or Chimay, some German Hefes or Czech pilseners etc, and Irish micros are getting into non specialist bars too. And they might be more expensive than the UK but 3x £2.50 is about 8-9 Euros! It's not that bad.

I'd say the UK is much better than Ireland solely because of the availability of good quality ales on cask.

When it comes craft beer from Belgium/Germany/the US etc I think Ireland is comfortably as good.

Grimebox

Today I learnt boards.ie is more racist than I thought

Logical Fallacy

Ouchette wrote: »

So those who wouldn't want an English pub are saying no to pubs like my local, where you can get about 6 different ales for about £3 each, you can get a good fresh fish and chips or sausage and mash (but there's almost nothing else on the menu) for a reasonable price, no bouncers or paying in - even on New Year's, no tv except for the occasional big event, no music unless it's live but it's never too quiet either, and where there's still a proper pub atmosphere and people chat to people they don't already know?

You might need to skip the Morris dancing we all ended up trying to join in with last Friday night though.

Price wise the pub will end up operating the same as any Irish pub, as it is in the same market and being affected by the same problems though.

Also, where is your local?

Loads of Irish pubs have no bouncers, no cover charge, no tv etc...it's all locality dependant though.