why are there no J D Wetherspoon pubs in ROI?

dd972

You'd think with the boozing culture we have they'd have colonised our town and cities some time ago, plus costwise they'd annihilate the opposition paying through the nose for their Guinness and Heineken.

Only heard bit and bobs of rumour as to why there's no Spoon pubs here ranging from the fact that it's in the Eurozone and it doesn't fit in with their business plan and the Victuallers Association here are keeping them out by some means or other, anybody heard anything more substantial?

hidinginthebush

Does it really matter? I mean you can't turn a corner in this country without finding a pub, they probably see that the pub market is saturated, so aren't arsed in trying to get in.

WesternZulu

Thank god there isn't!

They've the same identical soulless pubs serving crap beer and food all over the UK.

IamtheWalrus

Wetherspoon's, used to work there - cheap food, cheap drink, cheap clientele.

danslevent

Because everyone would die.

TPD

WesternZulu wrote: »

Thank god there isn't!

They've the same identical soulless pubs serving crap beer and food all over the UK.

I'd wager that the majority of pubs here are pretty soulless, and I can say for sure that most of them serve the same crap beer. At least wetherspoons might bring the price down a bit. Also they do bring in 'guest ales' every so often, which are pretty tasty.

Where To

dd972 wrote: »

You'd think with the boozing culture we have they'd have colonised our town and cities some time ago, plus costwise they'd annihilate the opposition paying through the nose for their Guinness and Heineken.

Only heard bit and bobs of rumour as to why there's no Spoon pubs here ranging from the fact that it's in the Eurozone and it doesn't fit in with their business plan and the Victuallers Association here are keeping them out by some means or other, anybody heard anything more substantial?

Think you might mean Vintners there.:)

stimpson

They were planning to open in 2003 but pulled out for some reason. They had bought a property on Capel St too

http://www.dublinpubscene.com/thepubs/pubnews_sep2003.html

Zaph

My limited experience of them suggests that they are simply large soulless rooms for drinking in, a opposed to proper pubs. If I wanted a large soulless room to drink in I could just bring a six pack to the staff canteen instead.

MadsL

Someone needs to sort out the utter pish that passes for beer in Ireland.

Ireland has been left way, way behind, when the best beer in the world is being brewed by Americans.

stimpson

MadsL wrote: »

Someone needs to sort out the utter pish that passes for beer in Ireland.

Ireland has been left way, way behind, when the best beer in the world is being brewed by Americans.

They have. Many many pubs in Dublin have craft beer on tap or in bottles at the very least.

Laneyh

dd972 wrote: »

You'd think with the boozing culture we have they'd have colonised our town and cities some time ago, plus costwise they'd annihilate the opposition paying through the nose for their Guinness and Heineken.

Only heard bit and bobs of rumour as to why there's no Spoon pubs here ranging from the fact that it's in the Eurozone and it doesn't fit in with their business plan and the Victuallers Association here are keeping them out by some means or other, anybody heard anything more substantial?

I had heard rumours of one potentially opening on Capel St years ago and then heard that it was quashed by the vintners association.


Possibly our licensing laws are different but I'd presume they're mostly being kept out because they'd take serious custom away from the other pubs

Defiler Of The Coffin

There's a decent one in Manchester city centre done up like a plush house. I know a few people who go there because of the lack of loud music. They can be quite hit and miss but you can't argue with the price. Wouldn't go near the Belfast one though, look what happened when Poland were playing NI a few years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf9_myDxzM0

Laneyh

WesternZulu wrote: »

Thank god there isn't!

They've the same identical soulless pubs serving crap beer and food all over the UK.

They are somewhat generic.. but that's true of a lot of pubs in the UK
The pub scene is a bit different to here with a lot of chain bars
Even the pub, pubs have those godawful fruit machines and not a massive amount of atmosphere

Some Wetherspoons can be alright if they've taken over a building that was something else previously.
The food is muck and they keep the costs down by not playing any music
so the ones that are more like big halls can be a bit weird.
You just have lots of people standing and speaking loudly in a beer hall

Defiler Of The Coffin

Laneyh wrote: »

The food is muck and they keep the costs down by not playing any music
so the ones that are more like big halls can be a bit weird.
You just have lots of people standing and speaking loudly in a beer hall

That's what a lot of the older crowd are looking for. They certainly have their market

Crazyivan 1979

Why would butchers care?

Dr Turk Turkelton

Where To wrote: »

Think you might mean Vintners there.:)

Damnit I was just about to give them pesky butchers what for there!

Links234

No thanks.

This crowd thankfully are doing really well:

http://www.winefoodbeer.com/

4 pubs in Galway and 3 in Dublin so far and they seem to be going from strength to strength. They do good food, a great selection of beer, sometimes even cask ale. I've had ales on cask in The Salt House in Galway and in the Black Sheep in Dublin, and they've been really good. They also don't serve crap like Heineken and Carlsberg.

Way better than any Wetherspoons I've been to.

dirtyden

stimpson wrote: »

They have. Many many pubs in Dublin have craft beer on tap or in bottles at the very least.

What makes a beer a craft beer?

Is it how its brewed or the ingredients?

DrumSteve

Wetherspoons is ****.

MadsL

stimpson wrote: »

They have. Many many pubs in Dublin have craft beer on tap or in bottles at the very least.

Many, Many? What 'craft beers' are widely available on tap in Dublin?

Craft beers such as?

ElvisChrist6

TPD wrote: »

I'd wager that the majority of pubs here are pretty soulless, and I can say for sure that most of them serve the same crap beer. At least wetherspoons might bring the price down a bit. Also they do bring in 'guest ales' every so often, which are pretty tasty.

Pubs in the city centre generally are pretty soulless - the only one I'll go into frequently enough is The Brew Dock, because I love craft beer, but any pubs I've been in outside the city centre of Dublin have been lovely, nice places with great patrons. Would never step foot in somewhere like The Temple Bar, not just because of the prices, but they might as well be anywhere - they're tourist pubs, not Dublin pubs

stimpson

dirtyden wrote: »

What makes a beer a craft beer?

Is it how its brewed or the ingredients?

You can read all about it here:

http://www.beoir.org/

Pride Fighter

It's less than 2.50 for a Guinness in Wetherspoons. Spoons would kill the opposition here, which is good. Pub owners have been making a killing here for too long.

sock puppet

Screw Wetherspoons, lets petition Fullers to open up an Irish establishment.

Witchie

I love Spoons. They cater well for veggies and celiacs which suits my family well so we often eat there in Enniskillen. Been in lovely ones in Liverpool, Brighton and London and wish they would open here. Good food at reasonable prices and a great selection of drink.

Celly Smunt

Because it would destroy the extorionate monopolising pub trade.

anncoates

I'd easily deal with a little less 'soul' if they or anybody could come into the market and break up the cosy overpriced monopoly of Irish pubs.

Richard Hillman

I would like to see a large chain brand move into to Ireland. The vintners and publicans are cowboys from the cowboy era. A brand like Wetherspoons would put manners on them.

stimpson

MadsL wrote: »

Many, Many? What 'craft beers' are widely available on tap in Dublin?

Craft beers such as?

Galway hooker, the Franciscan well brews, trouble Brewing, 8 degrees, dungarvan brewing co., the Porterhouse. O'Haras

Just off the top of me head.

sock puppet

WesternZulu wrote: »

Thank god there isn't!

They've the same identical soulless pubs serving crap beer and food all over the UK.

Wetherspoons in Victoria isn't bad for a pint on the way home from work. Beer and a burger is around £5 I think.