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.

MadsL

stimpson wrote: »

You can read all about it here:

http://www.beoir.org/

22 Craft breweries listed, one per 208,556 people.

The US has 1,904 Craft breweries, one per 159,793 people.

C'mon Ireland, thought you were a drinking nation..?

Teyla Emmagan

Terrible terrible food!!

reprazant

Sheesh, moan that there are not craft beers, get shown that in fact there is quite a lot and still you moan.

Ghandee

I haven't much to say about wetherspoons.


Just want to wade in with this though.


Coopers sparkling ale, must be the best beer known to man. (Australian beer, fermented in the bottle)

Try it (Tesco sell it) and love it.

Mint Sauce

But if the Vinters Assiocation can influence the price of drinks in your local pub, woundn't Wetherspoon or any other chain have to price accordingly as well?



Anyway, I'm glad as well that there are none of them here as well, the only chain that I like going into in England is O'Neils, although alot of pubs in the UK are in control by a local brewary, and not indepent, and sell the local brewary beers/ales/stouts as well as the national/international brands.

Celly Smunt

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Terrible terrible food!!

You get what you pay for,you don't go expecting a five star meal,its perfectly fine for a burger and chips on the cheap.

EuskalHerria

There's a couple of them near me. Cheap beer and food but they are truly terrible in every sense of the word. I've worked in bars before I could drink legally in one and they are just god awaful in every regard.

Plus the clientèle makes them seem like a green room for the Jeremy Kyle show.

ElvisChrist6

MadsL wrote: »

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

Craft beers such as?

Everything, pretty much, at some point - there are three sister craft beer pubs called Against The Grain, The Black Sheep and the Brew Dock in town with a new one in Blackrock called the Dark Horse. There are also the Porterhouses and the Bull & Castle, not to mention more local pubs like Rea's on Parkgate Street that have craft beers as well as the standards. There are plenty, you just have to look.

Most of these will have beers from Irish breweries like Franciscan Well (Rebel Red most commonly), Metalman (their pale ale), Galway Bay, Galway Hooker, Belfast Brewery, 8 Degrees (Howling Gale Ale), O'Hara's (their red or smoked ales)...

Then outside Irish breweries, you can get Brew Dog, Brew Fist, Sierra Nevada, Fullers, St. Bernardus, Peroni, Grolsch, Sam Adams and Orval on tap and will always find Odells, Brooklyn Brewery, any Trappiste beer, Duvel and whatever you can think of in a bottle. In fact, The Bull & Castle have a house ale made by F.X. Buckley that only they and Rea's on Parkgate Street have! Even The Grand Social has Leffe on tap.

So, yeah, plenty of craft beer here!

Edit: How did I forget Trouble Brewery?! :P

MadsL

stimpson wrote: »

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

Just off the top of me head.

Which Dublin pubs apart from the Porterhouse as it IS a brewery, have those brews on tap?

Boombastic

they put too much sour cream all over the Nachos

stimpson

MadsL wrote: »

Which Dublin pubs apart from the Porterhouse as it IS a brewery, have those brews on tap?

I've had them all on tap somewhere in Dublin. Beoir have a list of what's available where. There are a number if pubs that only serve craft beer.

MadsL

http://www.beoir.org/index.php?option=com_sobi2&sobi2Task=search&Itemid=69

15 pubs with cask ale in Dublin. Hardly 'widely' available. Although Dublin has improved a lot in recent years to be fair.

Amirani

MadsL wrote: »

Which Dublin pubs apart from the Porterhouse as it IS a brewery, have those brews on tap?

The Ginger Man and Anseo are the first two that pop into my head for carrying the first 2. You can get O'Hara's in O'Neills (Pearse St), The Bleeding Horse and a good load of other places.

Then you have the likes of Bull and Castle, Against The Grain, The Black Sheep and The Brew Dock who carry everything.

Things have improved a huge amount in the past 2/3 years.

cardwizzard

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.

:eek::eek: Thought you were serious there for a second:D

Amirani

cardwizzard wrote: »

:eek::eek: Thought you were serious there for a second:D

US is certainly one of the best countries in the world in terms of beers they produce, perhaps the best.

ElvisChrist6

MadsL wrote: »

http://www.beoir.org/index.php?option=com_sobi2&sobi2Task=search&Itemid=69

15 pubs with cask ale in Dublin. Hardly 'widely' available. Although Dublin has improved a lot in recent years to be fair.

Cask isn't the be all and end all of craft beer - the pubs I mentioned above might have one or two cask taps at the bar, but many other taps from kegs for craft beer. Part of the reason though it's so low and improving fast is that Diageo used to buy taps from small pubs so they could have their products in them to stop craft beer becoming a bigger competitor than it was, so the Irish never really got the chance to see it like the Brits did. But I think it'll improve even more over the years!

NiallSparky wrote: »

US is certainly one of the best countries in the world in terms of beers they produce, perhaps the best.

Some of my favourite beers are actually American - Odell's IPA and Brooklyn's East India Pale Ale... although my favourite is Brew Dog's 5am Saint, but I will agree America does make nice beers despite what people say; I think they're jaundiced by the awful macro-lagers that have come out of America. Pure shite altogether. Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams are great session beers as well as pleasant drinks!

LordSutch

Wetherspoons = A choice of real cask ales on Tap = lovely jubbly!

Which is quite a rare experience in Ireland these days, apart from one or two Porterhouse ales served in Porterhouse pubs in Dublins city centre.

cardwizzard

NiallSparky wrote: »

US is certainly one of the best countries in the world in terms of beers they produce, perhaps the best.

Some of there stuff is decent, but compared to Belgian, German or some eastern Europeans it wouldn't hold a candle IMO.

Lyaiera

American beers are grand, some are even great but America has really embraced the IPA craze. I'm not a fan of that and would much prefer to go for a Belgian dark ale or a German wheat beer. But that's the thing about craft beers, you're able to make that choice.

And I can think of six pubs here that have a big enough selection of craft beers without even trying hard.

Amalgam

sock puppet wrote: »

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

Don't some Wetherspoons serve London Pride from cask?

I'd turn into an alky if Dublin pubs served Fuller products on tap.