Man your pumps, Wetherspoons are coming

Allinall

Went in yesterday evening. Service was brutal. 15 minutes from ordering food and drink before drinks arrived. Food arrived about another 15 minutes later.

Had to send one dish back, and waited so long for a replacement we just decided to leave.

Spoke with the manager, and he said he was literally thrown in at the deep end, with all untrained staff.

They would need to get their act together fairly quickly, or they will be tarred with a terrible reputation that will be hard to turn around.

L1011

They already have a terrible reputation though, for all that and more

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770459#Comment_117770459

Not really.

Perhaps among beer snobs, but they are a hugely successful business.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770473#Comment_117770473

This is a nation of beer snobs though. And mainly from the 'normal people'

Look at the pile on of you try suggest that Uncle Arthur's precise pouring method made up in the 60s isn't it any advantage.

Try remind a dyed in the wool Heineken drinker that they used to eulogise over bottled Miller or, god forbid, Harp before moving to Heineken

hynesie08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770441#Comment_117770441

You could copy and paste this for every spoons that's ever opened, has never effected the business.

Blut2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770473#Comment_117770473

Wetherspoons have a better selection of cask and craft beers than a lot of 'normal' pubs in Ireland, at half the price - their reputation with beer snobs is pretty good.

Its really only the people with ties to publicans/the VFI who seem to have a big problem with the place.

Theres a reason they've been expanding consistently (corona not withstanding) in Ireland, into large premises - the general public is obviously very happy to go.

Doodah7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117771127#Comment_117771127

100% agree on the cask and craft beers!! Because they are not beholden to the major breweries (cf. Wetherspoons v Heineken), they are free to stock what they want rather than what they are allowed. In the UK they publish monthly (quarterly? can't remember!) craft beer newsletters showcasing different smaller breweries.

Now I have no doubt that they drive a very hard bargain on supply and price otherwise they wouldn't be so cheap, but they put most traditional Irish pubs to shame with the range of beers on sale. From a punters point of view, the more 'Spoons the better if only to get up the noses of the vintners who have had it so good for so long.

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770810#Comment_117770810

Pretty much, was in the Abbey St branch a couple of days after it opened and it was chaos with staff under huge pressure and their inexperience not being able to handle it. I might be wrong but aside from the managers it seemed that they hire a good few people who've never worked in a bar before. There was large queues at the bar so we ordered via the app instead which actually worked out well. That said Id avoid any new Spoons for a few weeks until it has settled down. Also Id say having to check and verify a few hundred vaccine certs will slow things down.

For those who have been what is it like inside? Any estimate of how many people it might hold?

BeerNut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770459#Comment_117770459

True perhaps, but not always deserved. I've been to The Silver Penny a couple of times in the last couple of weeks and the service has been exemplary: almost too attentive. Things will settle at Keavan's Port and the only reputation that matters for its longevity is the prices on the menu. I did warn you @Allinall 😁

Scoundrel

The more spoons the better as far as I am concerned the Vintners have been gouging us for years charging 7 and 8 quid for a pint and the ridiculous mark up on spirits and wine etc. I go to the Silver Penny once a week for a few on my way home always use the app 3 pints for under a 10er cant be beaten.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117772314#Comment_117772314

Aye the more soulless UK chain pubs the better. I'm no fan of the VFI or any other lobby group but harping on for more bottom barrel pub chains from the UK is gas . The pubs in the UK are shite for a reason. Decent ones with decent staff are few and far between

The Buster

I'm not a big fan of Wetherspoons - usually liveless etc Looking at the thread "what is your local charging for a pint......." its no harm to have a few of them in cities/major towns to at least keep price in check. What some pubs are now charging is nuts. ANd its not all down costs of overheads due to location because wetherspoons have the same costs. The difference between price of a pint is mad. I accept that Wetherspoons drive a hard bargin but with the price they are charging their margin on a pint is less then other pubs.

Personally I would prefer to go to another pub even if the price is a €1 or so more expensive but when you see reference here to 3 pints for a tenner and in the other thread there are some pubs where €20 would not buy you 3 pints it means I will end up in Wetherspoons more often than expected

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117785252#Comment_117785252

Yeah and not to forget that during the Celtic Tiger years publicans went mad with frequent price increases and then when the crash came they were one of the very few industries that never dropped their prices. Collectively they had an attitude of what we have we hold, it was cartel like behaviour IMO. All the other sectors of the hospitality industry like hotels, restaurants, tour operators dropped prices to get people in and spending whereas the publicans took the opposite approach. That didnt happen by accident, it had to be by design. So the price of a pint now is already coming off a very high base set during the Celtic Tiger years. For those reasons alone Spoons are welcome to create a bit of price competition.

The Camden Street venue will be a bit of an eye opener for many. No longer can publicans trot out the oft used excuse that prices are so high because of rent, rates, insurance, etc when Spoons has those same costs. I dont think they'll be admitting that they are engaging in collective price gouging anytime soon but thats how it will look to many people who try out Spoons on Camden St.

And as you say its the cumulative effect of how many pints you are drinking. Four pints in Spoons on Camden St could set you back 12 or 13 euro whereas four pints in the Bleeding Horse across the road could run to 25 or 26 euro, thats a huge difference.

Blut2

I've had 5 pints in one of the Spoons in Dublin for under a tenner. While the nearest pubs were/are charging 6.50euro for one pint...

It is to be fair a worse pub experience - slow/inexperienced bar staff, no sports/music, bad food. And if if it was a 1euro difference in the price of a pint I'd go to a normal pub over a Spoons. But when you're talking a third to half the price its just ridiculous, its very hard to justify going to the neighbouring pubs.

Scoundrel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117782429#Comment_117782429

That's grand then you keep paying 6 quid a pint or more for a pub with "soul" and I'll enjoy pints for 2.95.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117786039#Comment_117786039

There was actually an almost LVA-wide price drop during the crash (at the same time as a minor duty cut, worked out as 50c drop in my local), for which they were warned for acting as a cartel setting prices!

Never happens when prices rise together.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117791809#Comment_117791809

But I don't pay 6 quid for a pint. Thanks though .

Black Sheep

Even if the service in a newly-opened Weatherspoons is poor, it doesn't mean it won't shake out within a few weeks. I don't hear these kinds of complains so much about the established Weatherspoons that have been around for a while.

I've been in regular Irish bars and restaurants that were just finding their feet and had issues with food delays, inexperienced wait staff and so on too. And to be honest, the worst customer service I've had in a pub in the past few years was from a white-shirted old school bartender that was probably in the trade 30 years.

Some Weatherspoons in the UK have excellent ranges compared to what may be around them, particularly in smaller towns or villages that don't have a craft beer culture otherwise. I'd always drink in a Weatherspoons, although admittedly I wouldn't eat in them if there's an alternative.

In terms of the setting, although you get crusty carpets and sticky tables at times, you also get some Weatherspoons that are situated in pretty cool buildings (There's a Weatherspoons in Edinburgh that used to be the old Union Bank, it's got a savage interior, really airy).

To be honest if you really want to talk soulless it's not clear to me that they're any worse than the cookie-cutter approach that many Irish pubs take, with so many opting for the same wooden fixtures and fittings, the same boring menus, the same macros on tap, the same tat hung up on the walls... And if you take Irish Weatherspoons staff, and put them in a domestically owned pub or chain, they aren't necessarily somehow chattier and more authentic.

Black Sheep

Damn, I thought I could spell Wetherspoons but apparently I can't...

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117793692#Comment_117793692

In terms of the setting, although you get crusty carpets and sticky tables at times, you also get some Weatherspoons that are situated in pretty cool buildings (There's a Weatherspoons in Edinburgh that used to be the old Union Bank, it's got a savage interior, really airy).

I think the variety in the type of pub they have is a result of their development as a company from just a handful of pubs on suburban high streets to over 900 today, Leeds is where they started out. Early ones were kips but as the company grew their model needed bigger premises in city centres which meant converting properties like old churches and in the case of Kent they converted the opera house. Their early pubs can have that sticky carpet reputation but their more recent ones get nominated for architectural awards for the restorations they do

conor678

I am back in Dublin from England visiting friends and family this weekend and I look forward to trying out the new weatherspoons. Anything to shake up the rip off price of drink in Ireland is a good thing.

Been to many weatherspoons in the UK and always have a great selection of beer at good value. Food is what it is, cheap easy food.

I was over a few weeks ago and was paying 5.70 euro for a Guinness in my local in north Dublin. That's scandalous. Really hope the inevitable success of the weatherspoons puts the cat among the pigeons for the pubs.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117794575#Comment_117794575

They invest in their premises, that's for sure

If they'd invest in their staff (wages, training), facilities (kitchens) and products (fresh rather than frozen/nuked food) to the same extent it'd be marvellous.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117803473#Comment_117803473

They won't ever. The business model doesn't allow it. Cheap food markup and get them on with the low alcohol purchased in bulk. You won't see spoons moving to a fresh Al la carte menu

pleasant Co.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117803473#Comment_117803473

Are their staff paid more poorly than other generic Irish pub staff? I wouldn’t have thought so, but as you’ve brought it up you probably know.

BeerNut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117803551#Comment_117803551

Martin has said they make more on food per pub in Ireland than in the UK. I would say it's very much the food offer, and its potential returns, that's driving their expansion in Ireland. It also helps with planning when they present themselves as primarily a restaurant chain.

DelmarODonnell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117797942#Comment_117797942

Look it would be great if they could drive down prices here, we'd all be happy out. But they are able to charge low prices because they have something like 900 pubs in the UK. There is nothing like that in Ireland that even gets close to the buying power that they have. They are able to operate with miniscule margins because they are such a large group.

Their cheapest offerings are cask beers, which virtually none of the 'native pubs' even stock. I would only go in the odd time, and it would be purely for the novelty of the cask beers. I like drinking local beers primarily, makes me feel like I am contributing a bit more to jobs based in Ireland and Wetherspoons selection of Irish Independent beer has remained shite, despite promises when they set up in Blackrock initially and their Beoir signs at the taps.

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117803473#Comment_117803473

I dont think they ever would go to a fully fresh menu because that would mean higher prices. iirc a burger, chips & soft drink in Spoons is 8.95 so in the market price wise they are really positioned just a level above McDonalds, Burger King, etc Spoons and McDonalds both operate a re-heated food model to keep prices cheap. The main difference being that McDonalds and other fast food outlets are set up purposefully with hard upright seating to make sure people dont linger after eating whereas Spoons has proper chairs with armrests that you can actually be comfortable in and after a meal. McDonalds want you to leave after eating whereas Spoons want people to stay, have a cofffee, dessert or a few pints.

If Spoons were to go to a fresh cooked to order menu prices would rise because more labour would be needed in the kitchen. That would then position them more towards competing against the casual dining sector like Pizza Express (Milanos here), Nandos, Wagamama and a load of chains who only do burgers like GBK. The casual dining space in the UK is pretty saturated, Jamie Olivers chain of Italian restaurants went bust and that was almost a year before the pandemic hit when the economy was good. Oliver blamed high rents and the over saturation of the sector for the business failing.

So Id say Spoons are happy being in that midpoint between fast food outlets like McDonalds and casual diners like Pizza Express. They offer the comfort and decor of the latter but their prices are closer to the former.

donaghs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117804981#Comment_117804981

With a few exceptions, e.g. Galway Bay pubs, it’s hard now to find much Irish independent craft beer in typical Irish pubs. I notice some pubs which did have a selection on tap have replaced them with Diageo and Heineken’s “craft” offerings. Or beers who’ve sold a stake to the big boys and suddenly appear everywhere, like Five Lamps and the Franciscan Well.

im looking forward to trying the new Spoons in Camden st, if I happen to be down that way again.

L1011

Galway Bay, right now, seem to only have their own beer on draught plus the few German/Czechs for people who insist on a brand. I've been in three since pubs reopened and all were like that (edit - no, I can't say that for certain as I didn't see the taps in the Gasworks. Brew Dock and Beer Traders were though). Also no cask.

I don't expect that to last.

Diageo pushing out Rockshore variants to try get even more taps than the one obvious target (Budweiser, which they lost to C&C) plus Heinekens fraft and now Islands Edge often having multiple lines in a pub have really squeezed everyone else, even the other "big boys".

Stag stout in black sheep.