Pubs in Galway closing at 1am

leeroybrown

MaxSteele wrote: »

What's with the need for a late license anyway ? Maybe I sound naive but what's the purpose of it ?

Normal licensing hours only allow sale of alcohol until 11.30pm Sun-Thu and 12.30am Fri/Sat, with 30 minutes drinking up time afterwards. Alcohol sale after that point requires that a license exemption (or late license) be purchased for that night.

thesandeman

Just to confuse things further:
Unless things have changed in the last few years the Late Licence never made a provision for drinking up time. Basically if you have a licence till one you could serve until one but you also had to have everyone finished up by one. Silly I know but that was the case. I've not checked since the Late Bar thing started but I wouldn't be surprised if it is still technically the law.

squonk

I'll admit I haven't had the chance to go through all of this thread but based on what I hear, punters must be out of some Galway venues now by 1AM. I even saw a noteable Galway venue post on it's facebook page the other day trying to campaign and raise awareness of this.

What bugs me though is this... if I go to my local pub at home in Clare, I get shuffled out at the weekend by 1AM. The bar closed at 12:30 and I've had a half hour to finish my drink so I'm relatively happy. If my local publican wanted to purchase a late licence the odd time, that's fine. What I don't get is why the pubs and people complaining about this don't insist that a late licence be purchased? If a part of your business relies on you being open til 2 on a regular basis then make that official. I know some pubs have the odd lock in now and again and the 1AM law isn't always followed but there's a big difference in the odd lockin and something happening every weekend in full public view and where it's a feature of the business. I'm finding it hard to side with the publicans on this one I must say.

leeroybrown

squonk wrote: »

What I don't get is why the pubs and people complaining about this don't insist that a late licence be purchased? If a part of your business relies on you being open til 2 on a regular basis then make that official.

The point is that they are purchasing the late licenses (bar exemptions) for the nights in question. The service hours normally allowed with the late license have been reduced by the Gardaí. Normal pubs in Galway City still need to stop serving at 11.30pm Sun-Thu and 12.30am on Fri/Sat.

Sponge Bob

Galway Publicans seem to be getting desperate now.

http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/54289/stricter-closing-hours-could-make-city-a-ghost-town-say-publicans

“We have had to put all the staff on notice,” one publican

Obviously that lad did no pub business before 1am, how very odd.

Warning of possible closures and job losses, he went onto say that the enforcement of the 1am closing time from Monday to Thursday will be especially disastrous when students return to the city’s third level colleges next month.
“They won’t leave the house,” he said.

If "they won't leave the house" it will be a VERY small house party. Sorted.

“I think it’ll be the end for Galway,” the publican said. “This will completely ruin the city, just like it ruiend (sic) Salthill and turned it into a ghost town.”

These sound like all the Seaneh arguments from earlier in this thread again so they do.

Sponge Bob

Sponge Bob wrote: »

These sound like all the Seaneh arguments from earlier in this thread again so they do.

It's true though, it will ruin Galway if this keeps up. You appear to have an agenda against publicans and seam happy to see business being lost and possible job losses happening along with ruining the nights out of 1000's of people.

yer man!

I was up in Letterkenny over summer and one thing I noticed was that all the nightclubs and bars were staying open until 3 - 4 AM. I got a drink at 3:30 no problem at all. There were guards all over the town, calm enough atmosphere, people were loud but not violent or anything. It seemed to work very well up there, from half one onwards you had a steady stream of people deciding to leave the nightclub and go get food up until 4 in the morning. By doing this the street wasn't swamped with people but had a manageable crowd for the gardai to handle. It made the guards job much easier and everyone else much happier as it was easier to get food seeing as not everyone was kicked out at the same time. It pisses me off that national laws more or less only apply sometimes when a guard decides to enforce it, either every guard enforce it, cause uproar and change what doesn't work or don't enforce it anywhere. Can't have it both ways.

Sponge Bob

Hugh Echoing Orchid wrote: »

It's true though, it will ruin Galway if this keeps up.

It won't you know. You are being far too melodramatic.

yer man!

Sponge Bob wrote: »

It won't you know. You are being far too melodramatic.

Well I'm a student, if a night club closes at 1AM, i wouldn't bother, have a house party instead, much better and in college someone will always put up their house. It will affect nightclubs, may not close them down but it will affect them.

shampoosuicide

Sponge Bob wrote: »

It won't you know. You are being far too melodramatic.

it probably won't ruin galway for tedious bores with no life. granted

leeroybrown

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Obviously that lad did no pub business before 1am, how very odd.

If you run a nightclub you'll normally be opening around 11pm bulk of your customers arriving around or after midnight on the midweek nights. Of course you're going to be in difficulty if your peak business hours are halved with your fixed costs unchanged. Plus you'll struggle to get a cover charge on the door. It's simple economics.

If the club and late bar owners think they'll have to start closing on mid-week nights in a month's time with staff layoffs they have to issue protective notice to those employees. They're legally required to if they think they may no longer have work for them.

TBH you seem to be enjoying the problems this is causing for a number of businesses around town.

Sponge Bob

leeroybrown wrote: »

If you run a nightclub

The advertiser spoke to publicans not nightclub owners. BTW Yer Man Letterkenny nighclubs were shutting way later than Galway ( Salthill then) ones since about the 1970s from what I understand.

yer man!

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The advertiser spoke to publicans not nightclub owners. BTW Yer Man Letterkenny nighclubs were shutting way later than Galway ( Salthill then) ones since about the 1970s from what I understand.

So is Letterkenny breaking the law everyday of the week so? working well if they are....

leeroybrown

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The advertiser spoke to publicans not nightclub owners.

A number of the pubs in town have a sizeable portion of their business based on late license trade. At least they'll have an early trade to fall back on but if the late license isn't worth it anymore they'll stop paying for them, close early and reduce staffing appropriately.

beeintheknow

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The advertiser spoke to publicans not nightclub owners. BTW Yer Man Letterkenny nighclubs were shutting way later than Galway ( Salthill then) ones since about the 1970s from what I understand.

I'll go fours on that the quotes in the advertiser are from a nightclub manager.

squonk

The ideal thing to do is to et rid of all this licencing in the first place. Let pubs open when and if they want to. That way, bars and clubs will cater to particular demographics.

That being said, I don't see it as a disaster that pubs and clubs have to close at 1 during the week. It's time to be going home by then anyway if you have work or college. During the weekend you can do what you want!

Seaneh

squonk wrote: »

The ideal thing to do is to et rid of all this licencing in the first place. Let pubs open when and if they want to. That way, bars and clubs will cater to particular demographics.

That being said, I don't see it as a disaster that pubs and clubs have to close at 1 during the week. It's time to be going home by then anyway if you have work or college. During the weekend you can do what you want!

What about people who work shifts where monday and tuesday IS tbeir weekend? or service industry staff who work weekend? or taxi drivers? etc etc etc.

Not everybody works a 9-5 mon-fri job...

Sponge Bob

squonk wrote: »

The ideal thing to do is to et rid of all this licencing in the first place. Let pubs open when and if they want to. !

Well I said before in this thread that pubs should be allowed to open 24/7 in 'entertainment zones' in city centres. That is a form of appropriate licencing and planning but done in an integrated manner. But I got no support for that suggestion. :rolleyes:

Mrs OBumble

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Well I said before in this thread that pubs should be allowed to open 24/7 in 'entertainment zones' in city centres. That is a form of appropriate licencing and planning but done in an integrated manner. But I got no support for that suggestion. :rolleyes:

Among other issues, there is nowhere in Galway City that could be like that: every part of the inner city has people living in it (sometimes at ground level, sometimes on the top floor of commercial buildings) and trying to sleep in the mayhem that is caused by drunk people tumbling home at night.

And while I have sympathy for the idea of staggered closing times, I also know that a small group of drunk people can be just as disturbing as a large group at times.

Sponge Bob

JustMary wrote: »

And while I have sympathy for the idea of staggered closing times, I also know that a small group of drunk people can be just as disturbing as a large group at times.

Still worth exploring though Mary. I'd consider shop st / high st / quay st / cross st and dominic st for it.

The second you leave that zone ....the rules change!!!

joeKel73

Lot of residents in apartments in Dominick Street.

And what happens when they leave these zones? Walk quietly home through residential areas? It's unfortunately unlikely.

Sponge Bob

J o e wrote: »

Lot of residents in apartments in Dominick Street.

And what happens when they leave these zones? Walk quietly home through residential areas? It's unfortunately unlikely.

On the spot fines are a very useful solution and Gardai can patrol the perimiters of these zones and issue them the second one leaves or support a community warden in so doing. It is not that complex really. Gardai would not really be needed inzone that much if people are leaving at irregular intervals not thrown out together as they are now.

I would hazard that many residents of those particular streets work in the entertainment zones themselves...and are not sleeping regular hours.

The current situation is stupid but the publicans only defence is that they should be allowed to ignore the law....which they also do when very obviously drunk people ( note I say "people" not "students") come in from their houses at midnight as well.

Step 1 is for the Publicans to recognise the law exists for a reason.

joeKel73

Sponge Bob wrote: »

On the spot fines are a very useful solution and Gardai can patrol the perimiters of these zones and issue them the second one leaves or support a community warden in so doing. It is not that complex really.

Pay for Gardai or wardens to patrol all the roads leading to and from these zones 24/7 (well from night until morning)?

c_man

Seaneh wrote: »

What about people who work shifts where monday and tuesday IS tbeir weekend? or service industry staff who work weekend? or taxi drivers? etc etc etc.

Not everybody works a 9-5 mon-fri job...

Well said. As someone who has worked like that, I find that attitude particularly stupid and selfish.

Rob A. Bank

So it appears that Galway has become the earliest closing city in Ireland.

We can wave goodbye to our status as one of the prime destinations for tourists in Ireland, if this Garda inspired attack on our thriving social scene is allowed to continue.

As the Advertiser article said... “People might say, oh let’s go to Limerick where we can drink til 3am or clubs in Dublin which are open til 4 or 5.”

Time to get a new Superintendent I think.

Ray Burkes Pension

The real problem here is Galway district court. They are the ones saying special exemption orders expire at 1am. The law nationwide is for them to expire at 2.30am. This isn't really about the Gardai but a ridiculous exception for no proper reason being imposed on Galway by some unelected official.

shampoosuicide

squonk wrote: »

The ideal thing to do is to et rid of all this licencing in the first place. Let pubs open when and if they want to. That way, bars and clubs will cater to particular demographics.

That being said, I don't see it as a disaster that pubs and clubs have to close at 1 during the week. It's time to be going home by then anyway if you have work or college. During the weekend you can do what you want!

:DDD

fukcing hell.

i've got nothing.

Little My

Seriously, how many foreign tourists come for the clubs?

Nightlife, the pubs, the craic, yes... but I really don't think they come to go clubbing between 1 and 2am.

I've worked in hospitality a good bit and most of my experience is that the majority of foreign tourists go to be early and are up at the crack of dawn. They would be queueing to check out when I started my shift at 7.30am.

Irish tourists, maybe, but if all they are interested in is clubbing they will probably go somewhere else. Galway clubs really aren't that jaw-droppingly spectacular.

Ray Burkes Pension

This at its most basic level has nothing to do with tourists or jobs or anything else. They are just distractions from the real issue. Why has Galway District Court issued an exception to the Special exemption order times? What is the stated reason for the exception. Why can't Galway be treated the same as the rest of the country? Why should a Judge be able to decide closing times for nightclubs?

yer man!

Ray Burkes Pension wrote: »

This at its most basic level has nothing to do with tourists or jobs or anything else. They are just distractions from the real issue. Why has Galway District Court issued an exception to the Special exemption order times? What is the stated reason for the exception. Why can't Galway be treated the same as the rest of the country? Why should a Judge be able to decide closing times for nightclubs?

Maybe she doesn't drink. Reminds me of Father Fintan Stack in father ted, "I've had my fun and that's all that matters"