Man your pumps, Wetherspoons are coming

Hotblack Desiato

I read somewhere once there was some sort of tax dispute with the Irish exchequer in the 1930s and Guinness moved their corporate HQ to London at the time to lower their corporate taxes (that's pretty ironic from today's point of view, but their corporate HQ is still there.)

Muahahaha

irish_goat wrote: »

The first spoons to close in Derry has reopened in just under 5 days using the same name, The Diamond.

That Spoons on the Diamond in Derry was my first ever experience, way back in 1999 . I was driving from Dublin to Moville in Donegal and fancied and break and a bite to eat. Being a student I didnt have many coins to rattle but a burger, chips and drink for £2.50 was too good to resist. I placed my order, paid and sat down.

In less than three minutes the burger came out to me, preceded by the ding of the microwave. I took one bite and it was rubber as fcuk. While chewing it down a massive fight broke out at the bar. All the barstaff scrambled to the safety of the kitchen as punches were being thrown. For a brief minute I sat there munching through a rubber burger with a full on 8 man scrap going on in front of me. At that point I decided the burger wasnt worth it and left.

Good times.

listermint

Muahahaha wrote: »

That Spoons on the Diamond in Derry was my first ever experience, way back in 1999 . I was driving from Dublin to Moville in Donegal and fancied and break and a bite to eat. Being a student I didnt have many coins to rattle but a burger, chips and drink for £2.50 was too good to resist. I placed my order, paid and sat down.

In less than three minutes the burger came out to me, preceded by the ding of the microwave. I took one bite and it was rubber as fcuk. While chewing it down a massive fight broke out at the bar. All the barstaff scrambled to the safety of the kitchen as punches were being thrown. For a brief minute I sat there munching through a rubber burger with a full on 8 man scrap going on in front of me. At that point I decided the burger wasnt worth it and left.

Good times.

You got food and free mma for 2.50

That's a bargain

Reputable Rog

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

I read somewhere once there was some sort of tax dispute with the Irish exchequer in the 1930s and Guinness moved their corporate HQ to London at the time to lower their corporate taxes (that's pretty ironic from today's point of view, but their corporate HQ is still there.)

It was due to the Irish government refusing to pay ground rents to British absentee landlords so the Brits imposed sanctions on Irish imports and so to circumvent the sanctions Guinness moved their to London, the period was known as the economic war, although in reality there was ever only going to be one winner.

D Trent

Muahahaha wrote: »

That Spoons on the Diamond in Derry was my first ever experience, way back in 1999 . I was driving from Dublin to Moville in Donegal and fancied and break and a bite to eat. Being a student I didnt have many coins to rattle but a burger, chips and drink for £2.50 was too good to resist. I placed my order, paid and sat down.

In less than three minutes the burger came out to me, preceded by the ding of the microwave. I took one bite and it was rubber as fcuk. While chewing it down a massive fight broke out at the bar. All the barstaff scrambled to the safety of the kitchen as punches were being thrown. For a brief minute I sat there munching through a rubber burger with a full on 8 man scrap going on in front of me. At that point I decided the burger wasnt worth it and left.

Good times.

What was in Moville

Muahahaha

D Trent wrote: »

What was in Moville

At the time I was doing a few weeks work up there before going back to studies. Moville is a great little town, as are Redcastle and Greencastle on the Inishowen peninsula too

n97 mini

Lucena wrote: »

Diageo are based in London, so Guinness is British. As well as being watery ****e!

Guinness HQ moved to London in the 80s, but Diageo's shareholders are worldwide, including thousands in Ireland, who originally owned Guinness shares.

Muahahaha

Had the Weathersppons Traditional Breakfast earlier today. Server allowed me to swap the beans and tomato for an extra egg and sausage. Came with toast and coffee, all for 5.50, total bargain.

n97 mini

If I have it right, work on Camden St is going to start next, with full planning permission recently granted. Waterford and Carlow were granted planning permission quite a while ago (10 months and 2 years ago respectively), so if I was a betting man I'd say it doesn't look good for either of these locations.

Reputable Rog

n97 mini wrote: »

If I have it right, work on Camden St is going to start next, with full planning permission recently granted. Waterford and Carlow were granted planning permission quite a while ago (10 months and 2 years ago respectively), so if I was a betting man I'd say it doesn't look good for either of these locations.

Waterford and Carlow are not proceeding at present according to Tim Martin.

n97 mini

Reputable Rog wrote: »

Waterford and Carlow are not proceeding at present according to Tim Martin.

Where did you see that?

If I was a betting man (again) I'd say Cork will get the chop too. It's too far away from the logistics centre.

Stevek101

Any word on Camden or Abbey Street?

L1011

Their promo rag in the pubs now says Camden Street will start in January to open early 2019

There's also a promo board with renders and a name for Abbey Street (Silver Penny) but no dates

Idbatterim

E2 pints on promo on camden street, that isnt bloody D2 etc. Cant wait for this LOL!

Geuze

L1011 wrote: »

Their promo rag in the pubs now says Camden Street will start in January to open early 2019

There's also a promo board with renders and a name for Abbey Street (Silver Penny) but no dates

Thanks.

Can I check/confirm?

4x pubs open in Co. Dublin as of Dec 2017 = Swords, Blanch, Blackrock, DL

Cork city open.

So five pubs in RoI open.


Plans

Douglas, Cork city suburbs - abandoned?

Waterford city - premises bought, I think, but...............???

Carlow.............???

Future Dublin pubs

Camden street, definitely going ahead, great.

Abbey street, premises bought...............??

L1011

Pretty much. Unlikely to back out of Abbey Street at this stage but they may sequence construction with Camden. The other plans are probably all gone

They went to the permission stage for Capel Street about 15 years ago and totally abandoned it and they also dump plans in the UK from time to time

Geuze

Ok, so by 2019, hopefully:

2x Dublin city centre
4x Dublin suburbs
1x Cork city centre

schemingbohemia

Had a few lovely pints of Jaipur on Cask in the Forty Foot on Saturday night.

Stevek101

Abbey Street has also gotten the green light.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ireland/dubliners-lose-planning-battle-to-prevent-wetherspoons-super-pub-j5bf038d5 (behind a paywall)

http://www.pleanala.ie/casenum/248832.htm

D Trent

"British pub group JD Wetherspoon is set to hunt out more new sites here on the back of its Irish pubs outperforming its UK operations in a better-than-expected start to its financial year, writes Geoff Percival"

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/jd-wetherspoons-to-expand-as-irish-pubs-outperform-those-in-the-uk-824640.html

Reputable Rog

I was in The Linen Weaver before Christmas, pints were lovely but the service is getting worse and worse every time I'm in there.
The amount of beers not available is ridiculous.

donaghs

Idbatterim wrote: »

E2 pints on promo on camden street, that isnt bloody D2 etc. Cant wait for this LOL!

Yeh, the Odeon were charging €6 something for a pint of Rebel Red recently. Be great to have a better range of beer at better prices, nearby.

Muahahaha

I would imagine both their Camden St and Abbey St venues will be very busy, lots of office workers in those areas and Camden St is a big nighttime spot too. A 98 bedroom hotel will not be hard to fill either, the city centre is crying out for more hotel bedrooms.

Was in the Blanch venue there last Saturday and it was very busy, took ages to find a seat. The Blackrock one doesnt appear that busy anytime Ive been in but the Dun Laoighire one is always mobbed on weekends.

rubadub

Idbatterim wrote: »

E2 pints on promo on camden street, that isnt bloody D2 etc. Cant wait for this LOL!

I wonder how cheap it will be. I remember lots of complains as blanch was quite a bit dearer than blackrock & DL.

They might be cautious about getting a bad name, as people are expecting it to be teeming with drunken stag parties etc.

Blut2

Theres the reputation concerns and theres an increased security cost to bear as well. The crowd in Camden St on a big night out in town will definitely be rowdier than in a local pub in Blackrock.

Theres no way it'll be €2 pints, I'd say €3 or even €3.50 for their cheapest. But if they're €3.50 thats still a huge chunk lower than the bars around there where it'd be almost €6 a pint.

odyssey06

Blut2 wrote: »

Theres no way it'll be €2 pints, I'd say €3 or even €3.50 for their cheapest. But if they're €3.50 thats still a huge chunk lower than the bars around there where it'd be almost €6 a pint.

I'm sure their prices on bottles of wine, prosecco, cocktails and spirits+mixer deals will be much cheaper than the alternatives too ... I wonder if the Bleedin Horse etc will revise their prices, run promotions etc to counter.

BeerNut

Blut2 wrote: »

The crowd in Camden St on a big night out in town will definitely be rowdier than in a local pub in Blackrock.

I can't see them being interested in a brightly lit pub-restaurant with no music that closes before midnight.

Blut2

BeerNut wrote: »

I can't see them being interested in a brightly lit pub-restaurant with no music that closes before midnight.

Last orders in the Three Tun Tavern (Blackrock Wetherspoons) at the weekend are 00:30, kickout usually around 1am - standard pub license times. Where are you getting "before midnight" as a likely closing time?

I think you're wrong there either way anyway. A huge number of early/mid-20s people would be happy to spend a couple hours there saving 3eur a pint before heading on to somewhere more lively at 1am.

Were you ever in the Blackrock Wetherspoons on a Friday night when Flash Harrys across the road had its late license? It was full of young people doing exactly that.

BeerNut

Blut2 wrote: »

Where are you getting "before midnight" as a likely closing time?

Stated hours in the planning material, but those are weeknight; you're right that 12.30 will be closing time on Friday and Saturday. I still can't imagine city centre revellers wanting to make an evening of it in Wetherspoon, any more than they do in the similarly brightly-lit Devitt's down the street.

Idbatterim

Wetherspoon starting to do dirt cheap weddings packages in two uk pubs...

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/wetherspoons-wedding-package-all-inclusive-3000-pounds-pub-value-deal-venue-offer-a8202976.html