Man your pumps, Wetherspoons are coming

Tabnabs

Cheap and cheerful or souless and bland. You'll get to decide at a location near you soon enough.

The company, which is listed on the stock market in London, is set to acquire Tonic Public House in Blackrock, Co Dublin, The Irish Times has learned.

Contracts are set to be signed next week, with the British group expected to remodel Tonic under its own brand.

According to sources, Wetherspoon could spend up to €1 million on buying the freehold to the pub and in fit-out costs.

The property is currently being advertised for sale by estate agents Morrissey’s and Bannon, whose website says terms have been agreed on the premises.

Wetherspoon already has nine pubs in Northern Ireland, and is believed to scouting other sites in Dublin. One source said it could open up to six premises here.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/retail-and-services/british-pub-chain-wetherspoon-set-to-acquire-dublin-bar-1.1511162

Losty Dublin

I predict the debut of Dutch Gold on draught if this happens.

irish_goat

Losty Dublin wrote: »

I predict the debut of Dutch Gold on draught if this happens.

They'll probably just have Heineken instead.

I would be in the "cheap and cheerful" category. It's the only place in Derry where you can get a nice range or beers and the only place you can find cask. Plus, with CAMRA vouchers I can get a pint for £1.40. The beer would cost more to buy in the offy!

Zaph

I was in a couple in Derry, and whatever about the range of beers there, the lack of atmosphere made them some of the grimmest places I've ever drunk in.

Louche Lad

In an airport or main rail station, a 'spoons is usually very welcoming - they do improve such places. But in town centres they can be either bland or a bit rough (attracting all day drinkers).

lord lucan

Yay, fruit machines!!

Heroditas

The place used to be a dump when it was the Missing Swan.
Looks like it'll be going back to its roots if Wetherspoons take over!

Slaphead07

I suspect they've got the wrong location for a long term investment but I'm not inclined to tell them.

teotihuacan

will they be serving food like the Wetherspoons in the UK? I spent the summer in Coventry and often went there for dinner and a pint. While the bars were a bit bland, the food was amazing and ridiculously good value

KTRIC

I've been in a couple in England, great value. Nice for lunch and mid-day pints.

dharma200

Yeah, if you like eating fish finger sandwiches..... I have been in many wither spoons, each as soulless and depressing as the next....

teotihuacan

dharma200 wrote: »

Yeah, if you like eating fish finger sandwiches..... I have been in many wither spoons, each as soulless and depressing as the next....

Contradicting yourself there. to say you've been in many wetherspoons and then surmise the food as merely 'fish finger sandwiches', you clearly didnt eat there. More of a drinker i take it?

Geuze

The arrival of JD W into the Irish market will be interesting.

How may the RoI suppliers react?

Will JDW use their own UK supply chain?

Or will they buy off local RoI suppliers?

What will their pricing strategy be like?

In their pubs, they have offers like burger + pint for 6-7 stg, that should mean 10 euro approx......

Steak night, curry night - curry + pint for 10 euro???

Will they sell cask ale?

They have a double offer on spirits, I think it's an extra 1 stg to get a double...........

Tazz T

The Vintners Association won't be happy about this. Hopefully, this will be the start of the Wetherspoon invasion.

Cheap pints and meals all the way.

teotihuacan

Tazz T wrote: »

The Vintners Association won't be happy about this. Hopefully, this will be the start of the Wetherspoon invasion.

Cheap pints and meals all the way.

Had this conversation at the table in a Wetherspoons with four other irish people. We all agreed the Irish market has a gaping hole for a Wetherspoons style establishment. Cheap good food and pints. its a winner.

Geuze

I've been in the two in Derry.

The one on the Diamond, ok, it is a bit soulless.

And, yes, at night, it may fill up with "price-sensitive" people drinking a lot.

The food is ok, a cynic might say it's designed or made in a factory, and heated up in a microwave by a "cook" on the min wage.

dd972

Sacrilege, nothing against Wetherspoon coming here per se, but wouldn't Tallaght or Finglas be more up their street?, even to keep some riff raff out of town.

jetsonx

At long last, after nearly 500 years the Irish pub industry is going get some decent competition.

Lets see how well the arrogant Irish sleeveen publicans who have taken their customers for granted for so long deal with this one.

It will also a kick in the @rse for Guinness and Heineken who have had it way too cosy in the Irish market for too long.

I can see them being a massive success in Ireland. In fact, ironically I can see them giving a huge stimulus to pubs in the surrounding areas where they locate. People are getting a fresh new concept. They will have reason get off their sofas. And yes there will be the naysayers that talk about the decline of the traditional pub - there is no reason whey they cannot co-exist in the same way that you can have a McDonalds across the road from a traditional slow-food restaurant.

jetsonx

dd972 wrote: »

Sacrilege, nothing against Wetherspoon coming here per se, but wouldn't Tallaght or Finglas be more up their street?, even to keep some riff raff out of town.

They are probably using Blackrock as a pilot store for their Rep. of Ireland operation. Will they be in Tallaght and Finglas in 4-5 years time...probably.

djfattony2000

Blackrock is like a ghost town to go drinking in now a days.

blueshed

good to see them over here, being in a few in the UK and suit me and my mates perfect. I like to drink ales and cask even better plus my mates like there lagers.
food is cheap and cheerful, burgers, curries etc or all day fry up.

Geuze

When I order spirits + mixers, which is very rare, and always for somebody else, what kills me is the price of the tonic or cola.

Example: rum + cola = 4.20 + 2.60 ?? = nearly 7 euro.............CRAZY.

JDW give free mixers with spirits.


Next is coffee. I have seen it for 69p in Enniskillen during the last few years, although I think I've seen 99p more recently.

Sensible prices, say euro 1.30 - 1.50 for coffee.

Cola - they use the syrup gun, not bottles - price is around 1.60stg for a fairly large glass, say 2 euro, not like 2.60 euro here for 180ml or 200ml

Losty Dublin

Geuze wrote: »

The food is ok, a cynic might say it's designed or made in a factory, and heated up in a microwave by a "cook" on the min wage.

Thats because it is just as you described; made in a factory and heated up.

Caonima

It's just a pissheads paradise

hfallada

Has anyone considered that maybe they arent going to follow the British Business model. They obviously have undertaking market research and know Irish people dont want a ****ty beer in a pub even if its cheap. Also that Irish people have greater expectations of food.

Caonima

hfallada wrote: »

Has anyone considered that maybe they arent going to follow the British Business model. They obviously have undertaking market research and know Irish people dont want a ****ty beer in a pub even if its cheap. Also that Irish people have greater expectations of food.

And that Irish people, presently, are piss poor and have been drinking manky Budweiser and Heineken from time immemorial

drumswan

hfallada wrote: »

Has anyone considered that maybe they arent going to follow the British Business model. They obviously have undertaking market research and know Irish people dont want a ****ty beer in a pub even if its cheap. Also that Irish people have greater expectations of food.

Irish people have shown for decades they don't care about beer quality. The beer in wetherspoons is better than the beer in your average crappy Irish pub,

Krusty_Clown

blueshed wrote: »

I like to drink ales and cask even better plus my mates like there lagers. food is cheap and cheerful, burgers, curries etc or all day fry up.

You should try The Dark Horse in Blackrock (around 300m from the future location of this Witherspoons). Plenty of ales on draught, cask beer, and cheap and cheerful food. No slot machines, but they do have a pool table.

ButtersSuki

djfattony2000 wrote: »

Blackrock is like a ghost town to go drinking in now a days.

True, but I'd imagine a JDW will pack in UCD students 4/5 nights a week when college term starts.

Until I twigged that I was seriously questioning the choice of location. Proximity to UCD should give then footfall.

I'd imagine despite the protests of the LVA, VFI and local suppliers they will use their UK supply chain. I'd expect a lot of anti-JDW (mis)information to also come from these quarters in the coming months depending on the success of the model here. Or if they use local, I can really only see one winner (Molson Coors) in this.

They won't really be seen as a threat with one outlet, what all the stakeholders will fear though is critical mass through further expansion and the erosion of their cosy cartel through competition in a nationwide basis.

To listen to Padraic Cribbin again and again spout the agenda-driven nonsense he comes out with in the face of all available evidence is beyond laughable at this stage. That he continues to get airtime on national airwaves is almost as comical.

dd972

Caonima wrote: »

It's just a pissheads paradise

Wonder why they're coming here then ? :pac:

Wonder what they're pricing policy could be ? If they knock out pints for €3 odd then a couple of the pubs in Blackrock like The Breffni could struggle.

Caonima

dd972 wrote: »

Wonder why they're coming here then ? :pac:

Wonder what they're pricing policy could be ? If they knock out pints for €3 odd then a couple of the pubs in Blackrock like The Breffni could struggle.

Guess as long as they abide by the laws they'll be okay. Haven't been to a JPW in a while (~2008) - how much does a scoop go for?