why are there no J D Wetherspoon pubs in ROI?

Gummy Panda

I drank Blue Moon recently and enjoyed it. Don't know if it's a good beer or not but I liked it

Allyall

I have just recently found out that I very much like Smithwicks Pale Ale.

LordSutch

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Possibly. There are no doubt people who have latched onto the craft beer banter because its trendy without necessarily liking the beers.

In fact, the backlash against Wetherspoons is evidence of the dislike of large companies.

Surely we sould welcome the likes of JDs with open arms precisely because they will be breaking the stranglehold of another large company, namely Diageo. I look forward to a selection of local Irish & English Cask Ales on tap (along side the usual selection of lagers) & bottled beers . . .

The Irish pub industry (stale) needs a long overdue kick up the backside for the good of the consumers pocket & palate, and JDs are the very chain to do it. Expect sunday roast+ a pint of Ale for a tenner!

Allyall

Seaneh wrote: »

Carlsburg, Heiniken are like the mcdonalds of beer. They are low production cost, high profit, low quality, mass marketed ****e that people only buy because they recognise he brand name.

In 1989 you could only get Harp. In the 90's Carlsberg was a massive seller, Irish Vintners had a squabble with them for a month, refused to stock/sell it.

Loads of people were force to switch to another brand. That is when Heineken kicked in.
For the next 15 years there has been little or no choice. Apart from in the City Centres where you could get a larger (but still relatively small) variety.

Only relatively recently has it been possible to get many of the other beers/ales that are now so readily available, and still in some of the smaller towns, they way overprice them.

So people still expect those overpriced prices in larger towns, and consider Carlsberg/Heineken etc.. as 'Cheap'. - That is why people drink them.

In many small towns in Ireland, the pubs have serious price fixing going on.

Seaneh

Allyall wrote: »

In many small towns in Ireland, the pubs have serious price fixing going on.

I'm aware of this, the VFI is nothing short of a cartel and should be ran out of the place.

I was sitting in a bar in Athlone town owned by a Pharmacist, he had a pharmacy next door which was his main business and just kinda ran the bar because it was there.

He was charging €3 a pint for guinness and Smithwicks and €3.50 for heiniken, carlsberg and buslmers and €3.50 for all bottles.

The head of the VFI in athlone and two other prominent publicans walk into the bar and ask to speak to the owner, the barman says "hold on, I'll call him in, he's just next door".

The 3 lads go down to the back of the pub and wait for the owner to arrive.

He walks in, sits down beside the lads and you could tell they were having a bit of an arguement about it and after about 5 minutes the owner walks away from the table and mid away from them to the door turns to them and says, "Lads, if you ever come in here again trying to tell me what price I can and can't charge for a product in my own business again, the VFI will be hearing from my solicitor, and you won't be getting a renewal form me when my membership runs out this year, I want no part of your little price fixing circle".

I wouldn't have believed it only I was there.

L1011

Dwindling number of pubs are actually in the VFI these days. 33 listed in all of Donegal on their website for instance. Don't think it provides them with any advantages at all anymore.

Seaneh

MYOB wrote: »

Dwindling number of pubs are actually in the VFI these days. 33 listed in all of Donegal on their website for instance. Don't think it provides them with any advantages at all anymore.

Jeepers, only 3 in Athlone.

Hadn't realised they'd dropped so much, 5-6 years ago pretty much every bar in town was a member.

johnnyskeleton

LordSutch wrote: »

Surely we sould welcome the likes of JDs with open arms precisely because they will be breaking the stranglehold of another large company, namely Diageo. I look forward to a selection of local Irish & English Cask Ales on tap (along side the usual selection of lagers) & bottled beers . . .

The Irish pub industry (stale) needs a long overdue kick up the backside for the good of the consumers pocket & palate, and JDs are the very chain to do it. Expect sunday roast+ a pint of Ale for a tenner!

I do welcome them, I was simply pointing out that others do not in the (mistaken, IMO) belief that a chain pub is worse than an independent pub

L1011

Seaneh wrote: »

Jeepers, only 3 in Athlone.

Hadn't realised they'd dropped so much, 5-6 years ago pretty much every bar in town was a member.

I've a feeling the "pub closing every day" figure is taken from how many are not renewing their membership. Which, while there is a serious number of rural pubs closing, not the same as the number that actually are.

Not a one of the pubs (6) back where I'm from is a member anymore, but not one has closed.

Cienciano

ScumLord wrote: »

I've never seen a £2 breakfast, unless it's basically just a sausage samwidge.

I've had the breakfast in witherspoons and it's certainly not the worst. I had a read of their own magazine at the time. They claim they buy direct from farms, with the size of them I'd believe it. Witherspoons have buying power and that would allow them to offer meals quite cheaply. I'm not saying it's great food but for the price of a mcdonalds meal you can get something pretty decent and fairly healthy in witherspoons.

Not quite €2, but not far off it in some pubs!
http://goo.gl/maps/4kI4c
Some people are moaning about the food being bad. But so what? Don't eat it! Plenty of pubs in dublin don't do any food. The option of cheap food in a dublin pub is great. And we all know, plenty of irish pubs have food that's lower in quality to wetherspoons, but are charging a fortune for it. Saw a pub with pizzas on the menu for a tenner and they were actually putting cheap frozen pizzas into the oven!

dd972 wrote: »

Imagine what a Wetherspoons on Eden Quay or Talbot St would be like! I'm sure such a company does their homework on catchment areas and clientele though.

Well, the first one is going into blackrock!

fryup

i see no reason why wetherspoons can't open in ireland??

there's plenty of paddy pubs in the UK so can we not return the favour/gesture??

Mr Simpson

fryup wrote: »

i see no reason why wetherspoons can't open in ireland??

there's plenty of paddy pubs in the UK so can we not return the favour/gesture??

They're planning on opening 30 of them

Allyall

Mr Simpson wrote: »

They're planning on opening 30 of them

If you like Irish pubs, there'll still be plenty of them, but unfortunately this may close a fair few of them down. On the other hand many of them deserve to be closed down, with their €5.65 pints of píss.

30 seems a bit much, but time will tell. I like my trad pubs, especially in the winter, heading down the Country, and on a cold wet night, going to the local, in the bar, near the fire, and a trad band are playing. Can't beat it.

I heard these lot don't even play music? :eek: Is that true?

L1011

Allyall wrote: »

If you like Irish pubs, there'll still be plenty of them, but unfortunately this may close a fair few of them down. On the other hand many of them deserve to be closed down, with their €5.65 pints of píss.

30 seems a bit much, but time will tell. I like my trad pubs, especially in the winter, heading down the Country, and on a cold wet night, going to the local, in the bar, near the fire, and a trad band are playing. Can't beat it.

I heard these lot don't even play music? :eek: Is that true?

It'll be 5-6 in Dublin, 2-3 in the other cities and maybe one or two in big towns (Sligo, Drogheda etc). That's 30 easily. They aren't coming after small town pubs because they need somewhere with massive turnover for the profit margin to make any sense.

They generally don't have any sound output at all - music or TV.

Allyall

MYOB wrote: »

They generally don't have any sound output at all - music or TV.

Is that because of licensing fee's? They have to pay the Record companies? Is that law over here also?

I don't mind having no TV as it's a bit annoying when people are watching it, but no music would/will be very weird.

I'll have to look at my friends on their iPhones in silence?

Mr Simpson

I actually wouldnt mind a lack of music. Nothing worse than going to the local and not being able to have a conversation

LordSutch

Actually the 'din' is quite amazing in a JDs full of people speaking and interacting. My local was in a converted Cinema in Walton on Thames/Surrey which was cheap as chips - nice. Summertime and all the guest Ales lined up on the pumps, Wow )

harney

Allyall wrote: »

Is that because of licensing fee's? They have to pay the Record companies? Is that law over here also?

I don't mind having no TV as it's a bit annoying when people are watching it, but no music would/will be very weird.

I'll have to look at my friends on their iPhones in silence?

I think there are two chains within the brand, Weatherspoons and Lloyds. The Lloyds bars have music, the Weatherspoons do not. They do have TV's in the Weatherspoons chains though, but they are normally turned down unless there is a match or something "big" on.

Allyall

Mr Simpson wrote: »

I actually wouldnt mind a lack of music. Nothing worse than going to the local and not being able to have a conversation

Yeah, i agree, with 'loud' music in the pub (Not nightclub obviously ), but i mean background music.

I suppose, no different than 'knacker drinking' when we were kids. Just plenty of lively conversation.

Except them damn phones..:(

L1011

Allyall wrote: »

Is that because of licensing fee's? They have to pay the Record companies? Is that law over here also?

No (and yes its the same law here). Owner dislikes loud pubs.

harney

LordSutch wrote: »

Actually the 'din' is quite amazing in a JDs full of people speaking and interacting. My local was in a converted Cinema in Walton on Thames/Surrey which was cheap as chips - nice. Summertime and all the guest Ales lined up on the pumps, Wow )

My current local

Allyall

So what exactly is Weatherspoons?
It may have been said, but it's an awful lot to read back over.

From my understanding, it's a cheap pub with cheap pub grub.
But do they also support local (micro)breweries, and change it around a lot?

Or do they just sell their own brand ale/beer, with a few of the 'regular' ones?

fryup

MYOB wrote: »

It'll be 5-6 in Dublin, 2-3 in the other cities and maybe one or two in big towns (Sligo, Drogheda etc). That's 30 easily. They aren't coming after small town pubs because they need somewhere with massive turnover for the profit margin to make any sense.

They generally don't have any sound output at all - music or TV.

how about poker machines with their flashy neon lights?? essex wideboys and their hairdresser girlfriends called sharon & wendy?? and casual football hooliganism??

can't be a genuine Wetherspoons without those:cool:

LordSutch

harney wrote: »

My current local

St Mark's hill, nearly opposite Stanton House - nice.

You should try the 'Bishop out of Residence' down the road in Kingston, (by Kingston bridge).

L1011

fryup wrote: »

how about poker machines with their flashy neon lights?? essex wideboys and their hairdresser girlfriends called sharon & wendy?? and casual football hooliganism??

can't be a genuine Wetherspoons without those:cool:

They seem to actively encourage those.

Allyall wrote: »

So what exactly is Weatherspoons?
It may have been said, but it's an awful lot to read back over.

From my understanding, it's a cheap pub with cheap pub grub.
But do they also support local (micro)breweries, and change it around a lot?

Or do they just sell their own brand ale/beer, with a few of the 'regular' ones?

Massive chain pub known for being very cheap. They do not have any own-brand beer. They are active in promoting local ales in the UK to the point that the organisation best known for despising chain pubs, CAMRA, support them hugely: http://www.camra.org.uk/JDWVOUCHERS

Their pubs are generally in very nice buildings, and full of very non-nice people.

harney

Allyall wrote: »

So what exactly is Weatherspoons?
It may have been said, but it's an awful lot to read back over.

From my understanding, it's a cheap pub with cheap pub grub.
But do they also support local (micro)breweries, and change it around a lot?

Or do they just sell their own brand ale/beer, with a few of the 'regular' ones?

They appear to like their ales, I know they change them fairly often. Dave in the link looks like an interesting character

http://www.jdwrealale.co.uk/

Allyall

Advertising Christmas Day lunch on their website..

I don't know, i understand many people will be away from, and many more don't celebrate Christmas. Just seems weird.

They use old Supermarkets/Warehouses/Cinemas/Post Offices/Banks etc. to setup.

Madness i say.:rolleyes:
There are a few places in mind that i wouldn't mind seeing feeling the punch from these, although i have to admit i wouldn't be mad about another massive company opening up over here and taking control of another sector.

MYOB wrote: »

Their pubs are generally in very nice buildings, and full of very non-nice people.

Sounds like Wrights.

L1011

Allyall wrote: »

although i have to admit i wouldn't be mad about another massive company opening up over here and taking control of another sector.

30 pubs couldn't be considered controlling. Louis Fitzgerald must have 20 at this stage (my local included) and its barely noticed.

keeponhurling

They do stuff like beer of the month, where is some local craft beer.

I'm a bit torn on the idea.
On one hand they would clean up, undercut all the ripoff pubs here, and we could go for a few beers without being screwed.

On the other hand, I like the way that in Ireland all the pubs are different, have their own owners, and have their own niche or dynamic.
Wetherspoons would give us cheaper beer, but maybe less variety.

In the UK almost everything is a chain

Allyall

MYOB wrote: »

30 pubs couldn't be considered controlling. Louis Fitzgerald must have 20 at this stage (my local included) and its barely noticed.

Yeah, but 30 to start with. Their website says "opening new pubs every day".

keeponhurling wrote: »

They do stuff like beer of the month, where is some local craft beer.

I'm a bit torn on the idea.
On one hand they would clean up, undercut all the ripoff pubs here, and we could go for a few beers without being screwed.

On the other hand, I like the way that in Ireland all the pubs are different, have their own owners, and have their own niche or dynamic.
Wetherspoons would give us cheaper beer, but maybe less variety.

In the UK almost everything is a chain

I feel the same way.