Man your pumps, Wetherspoons are coming

BaZmO*

Have I missed it or are the Vintners Association being very slow in mounting their attack?

Their usual line is that it's safer to be served a drink (at a higher price) in a bar, by a qualified bar person that has your best interests at heart, rather than swigging cheap beer at home. Be interested to see what they'll have to say about this.

Speak Now

Looks like their attack came through Heineken, back fired spectacularly id say.

n97 mini

I don't think it's backfired at all. Heineken is the biggest selling beer in Ireland, followed by Guinness. Wetherspoons have neither.

BaZmO*

n97 mini wrote: »

I don't think it's backfired at all. Heineken is the biggest selling beer in Ireland, followed by Guinness. Wetherspoons have neither.

Losing a £60m contract in negotiations is not considered a spectacular backfire? Ha!

n97 mini

BaZmO* wrote: »

Losing a £60m contract in negotiations is not considered a spectacular backfire? Ha!

Looks like their attack came through Heineken, back fired spectacularly id say.

It hasn't backfired on the vintners at all. It went their way: no cheap Heineken in Ireland.

Lovely Bloke

only a matter of time.

Heineken will re-group and come crawling back with their tail between their legs - they won't do without their beer(s) in 920+ pubs in the UK - whatever about Ireland.

oblivious

n97 mini wrote: »

It hasn't backfired on the vintners at all. It went their way: no cheap Heineken in Ireland.

I suspect the vintners where not just concerned with the price of Heineken, but he whole JDW operation of cheaper drink that the Irish standard. If you take out Heineken you would cripple most Irish (standard) pubs, but JDW look to be expanding and diversifying.

Lovely Bloke

it's good to see a second chain expanding without involvement from the two major players at the tap line-up.

I'll be in the DL branch on Saturday night for a family shindig, gleefully sampling all and sundry.

BaZmO*

Yeah it's not really about Heineken, it's about cheaper everything, including food.

n97 mini wrote: »

It hasn't backfired on the vintners at all. It went their way: no cheap Heineken in Ireland.

Look at Heinekens comment....., they'll be back.

Creamy Goodness

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=93436070

really really huge bucket of salt with this. but I'd love them to come to bray the seafront being pretty much owned by one family means prices are artificially higher than normal.

Koptain Liverpool

n97 mini wrote: »

It hasn't backfired on the vintners at all. It went their way: no cheap Heineken in Ireland.

Regardless of the losses Heineken is facing through losing the UK contract the fact is that very few people will be put off drinking in Wetherspoons here because they don't have Heineken.

And while no Guinness/Murphy's may be more of a drawback I'd wager that €2.50 pints of an alternative nitro stout will more than make up for this.

I predict bumper times for Wetherspoon's in their new locations. I have two priorities however: cheap beer is one, and a good choice of distinctive pubs is another. I hope that there will be room for both in the years ahead.

n97 mini

Of course they're going to say that it's only a bump in the road and they'll all be pals again soon.

If WS's supply of beer is sufficiently choked it will stifle their penetration into the Irish market.

Lovely Bloke

n97 mini wrote: »

If WS's supply of beer is sufficiently choked it will stifle their penetration into the Irish market.

Choked by who?

They've already sourced a replacement from a sizeable UK brewery.

Lovely Bloke

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=93436070

really really huge bucket of salt with this. but I'd love them to come to bray the seafront being pretty much owned by one family means prices are artificially higher than normal.

Barracuda is the one in the same building as the Aquarium, right?

Is it even bug enough for a JDW?

Also, slightly off topic, but wtf is Bray people's fascination with The Harbour Bar? it's a horrible place.

n97 mini

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Choked by who?

They've already sourced a replacement from a sizeable UK brewery.

By whoever. The replacement beer is not the market leader, and therefore will not sell as well.

Sugarlumps

If one were to open in Bray, town would be a blaze come Monday morning. It would be like the pied piper calling out every deviant. I'd watch it burn from the sea.

oblivious

n97 mini wrote: »

By whoever. The replacement beer is not the market leader.

Heineken UK is not a market leader in draught, JDW are possibly one of their estate they supply.

Only in Ireland do they hold sway, but it not as if JDW came over to replicate your stand Irish bar. Right from the start they removed Guinness over a pricing issue too.

Lucena

n97 mini wrote: »

By whoever. The replacement beer is not the market leader, and therefore will not sell as well.

Most beers are not the market leader, and still sell well.

Besides, if the capacity of the pub is 300 customers (number plucked from thin air) and the pub reaches that capacity, it doesn't really matter that, in theory, they could have 400 customers by attracting 100 dedicated Heineken drinkers.

Trond

n97 mini wrote: »

By whoever. The replacement beer is not the market leader, and therefore will not sell as well.

Any pint for €2.50/€3.00 in a pub that's basically not on fire on Camden St will sell well. its not like the Heineken was a market leader in taste or presentation. Peoples drinking habits are changing.

Stats are one thing but amount of Heineken sold in Ireland has a lot to do with its strangle hold on certain markets/events & festivals.

Im delighted with the news I must say!

Lucena

Even one on fire would do well at those prices!

Strange amount of fire on the thread at the moment.

Creamy Goodness

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Barracuda is the one in the same building as the Aquarium, right?

Is it even bug enough for a JDW?

Also, slightly off topic, but wtf is Bray people's fascination with The Harbour Bar? it's a horrible place.

yup, it's big enough I think, only slightly smaller than the three tun (there's a fitness studio, and a "gastro" bar on the lower level that are owned by the barracuda).

Harbour bar was awful, recently done up though (haven't been in it since though) but I know they've started selling craft beers so that's a start i guess.

Krusty_Clown

n97 mini wrote: »

By whoever. The replacement beer is not the market leader, and therefore will not sell as well.

Given a choice between a pint of Heineken and almost two pints of some other larger (for arguments sake, lets say Bitburger or Staropramen), I'd imagine your typical punter might find something to like about the alternative beers. Is anyone that emotionally attached to a bland beer like Heineken that it would stop them from visiting a pub that didn't serve the product? I doubt it.

Baldy Conscience wrote:

Also, slightly off topic, but wtf is Bray people's fascination with The Harbour Bar? it's a horrible place.

It's got something that Wetherspoons doesn't have. Character!

MonkstownHoop

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Given a choice between a pint of Heineken and almost two pints of some other larger (for arguments sake, lets say Bitburger or Staropramen), I'd imagine your typical punter might find something to like about the alternative beers. Is anyone that emotionally attached to a bland beer like Heineken that it would stop them from visiting a pub that didn't serve the product? I doubt it.

My Xmas work night out was changed from TTT because of 2 girls complaining of no heino or bulmers, idiots.

Lovely Bloke

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

yup, it's big enough I think, only slightly smaller than the three tun (there's a fitness studio, and a "gastro" bar on the lower level that are owned by the barracuda).

Harbour bar was awful, recently done up though (haven't been in it since though) but I know they've started selling craft beers so that's a start i guess.

The Martello also has some Token craft now too, as does the pizza place in Katies.

I don't dread going out in Bray as much as I used to.

oblivious

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

. Is anyone that emotionally attached to a bland beer like Heineken that it would stop them from visiting a pub that didn't serve the product? I doubt it.

Sales from the off trade showed that Irish people will down grade their choice of fizzy yellow to a cheaper brand

Geuze

Am I correct here?

(1) Blackrock, Co. Dublin - open July 2014
(2) Dun Laoghaire - to open this week (Dec 2014)
(3) Cork city centre - to open early 2015
(4) Blanchardstown - on website, opening soon, say early 2015

The above four pubs are on www.jdwetherspoon.ie as of today.

Swords - bought Old Boro pub, announced

Cork suburbs - Douglas - PP application submitted

Waterford city - Arundel Square / Broad street - just a rumour so far?

Dublin city centre - Camden street - confirmed in news media today.

oblivious

Geuze wrote: »

Waterford city - Arundel Square / Broad street - just a rumour so far?

The old TSB bank and the unite beside it, but only one pun. Its a while off as development is down to take 18 months

the beer revolu

Do wetherspoon's charge half the price of a
pint for half a pint?

Creamy Goodness

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

The Martello also has some Token craft now too, as does the pizza place in Katies.

I don't dread going out in Bray as much as I used to.

heh, all owned by that same family I was talking about .

Hollands is my craft beer pub in Bray, but it's nice to have a decent beer down on the seafront or when I'm dragged out by mates who love the Martello.

Krusty_Clown

oblivious wrote: »

Sales from the off trade showed that Irish people will down grade their choice of fizzy yellow to a cheaper brand

Not sure if that's a typo or not. They will down-grade to a cheaper brand, or they will not?

I'd imagine that it would be more difficult to downgrade to a cheaper brand if there were a perceived deterioration in quality, but I wouldn't have thought that would not be the case with Staropramen and Bitburger. I guess it all comes down to brand loyalty, marketing and brand association/sponsorship (Heineken Cup for example), and I wouldn't think that either Staropramen or Bitburger have any of those things in Ireland.

the beer revolu wrote:

Do wetherspoon's charge half the price of a pint for half a pint?

I believe they do. Strange one a couple of weeks back, when they would only serve me a glass (rather than a pint) of some strong guest cask ale they had recently added to their beer festival line up. So I was charged €1.25 for a 7.8% beer. So I bought another glass. Don't think they really thought that one through.