What makes a great pub great.

uluwatu

What makes your favorite pub different from others? Why is it great?

TheValeyard

No loud music.

Deebles McBeebles

No TV. Good beer. Never packed.

Candlemass

No TV!

Andrew00

If the racing is on the tele with a bookie next door and no young lads glued to the phones

igCorcaigh

Staff who become your friends.

SEPT 23 1989

very little natural light

arybvtcw0eolkf

Sally O'Brien and the way she might look at you

cherryghost

A pool table or some table tennis!

nthclare

When you're out surfing on a winter's evening, you're drying yourself and the wind's Baltic...
You're drying for a hot drink and you drive from Doolin via Liscannor and Egan's looks like the blind's are down...

But you check the door anyhow and it's open and the blast of hot air hits you, the fire's on and you get a warm smile from the Spanish bar lady when you walk in the door....

Egan's the best pub in Clare

Franz Von Peppercorn II

TheValeyard wrote: »

No loud music.

And yet very few pub owners agree. There must be a reason, probably that a pub seems too quiet if relatively empty and no music.

Fr_Dougal

Turf fire, good pint of Guinness. Somewhere that hands out nibbles to their customers, let it be sandwiches or cocktail sausages.

Somewhere that all you have to do is nod and they serve you the same round again.

w/s/p/c/

- Staff who aren't pr*cks.
- Good pint (as in taps are constantly flowing).
- Clientele who are regulars that you can sit and chat with about anything (same goes for bar staff).
- Clean jacks are always a positive!
- Only food being served are bags of peanuts and packets of crisps, none of this gastro pub lark.
- No gimmicks like board games etc (I include a pool table in that too!!)

Tammy!

Lock-in's

freshpopcorn

We used go to this place on college. Ground floor had musical blaring and 1st floor was almost silent and great for a chat.
It was a great place for a night out with a mix of people

Force Carrier

Franz Von Peppercorn II wrote: »

And yet very few pub owners agree. There must be a reason, probably that a pub seems too quiet if relatively empty and no music.

If you can't talk you'll drink more. Spend more.

The Real Ramona

No airs and graces about the place.

Also agree with the no tvs and no loud music.

whisky_galore

Force Carrier wrote: »

If you can't talk you'll drink more. Spend more.

If I can't talk, I'll just spend nothing and leave.

uch

The only thing on the telly in my local is horse racing or football if the racing is finished, if you ask for anything else he'll politely tell you the pub over the road is showing it

corner of hells

Should only serve Guinness, cider and whiskey, barmen should all be ol' fellas wearing trousers and shirts.
The bar managers word is final and not up for discussion.


No gob****es with beards shall be allowed in , no young ones screechin'about love island either.Mobile phones to be kept on silent and in your pocket.

Pub should have an open fire , floor need only be ever swept every six weeks or so.

nthclare

corner of hells wrote: »

Should only serve Guinness, cider and whiskey, barmen should all be ol' fellas wearing trousers and shirts.
The bar managers word is final and not up for discussion.


No gob****es with beards shall be allowed in , no young ones screechin'about love island either.Mobile phones to be kept on silent and in your pocket.

Pub should have an open fire , floor need only be ever swept every six weeks or so.

The good old sawdust on the floor trick, love it...

Assetbacked

No serving of cocktails, slowing down the service.
No loud acoustics, including groups of people making too much noise.
Non-pretentious - respect given and respect expected.
Good Guinness but also a good selection of beers.
Open late enough on a weekend.
For others it's not a thing, but for me inexpensive, hearty food and guaranteed golf, rugby, football etc. on TV makes a good bar.
Good outside area, even if it's just standing on the street (e.g. Keogh's).

sioda

Good company and no TV in a mobile phone blackspot

Leg End Reject

No need to be overly dressed up or trendy, guaranteed a seat and friendly staff.

JohnnyFlash

Barmen who are quick, decent pints, covered smoking area, randy women.

Pauliedragon

How long's a piece of string. I like loud some people like quiet. I like blondes u like brunettes. I like meat you like fish. There is no great it's about personal choice. Its like the fools I used to serve ordering a €100 bottle of wine just to be seen when the €20 is just as good but you might personally not like it. We all have different opinions which is what makes us humans great and helps keeps the godfathers at boards in business. ðŸ‘

nthclare

nthclare wrote: »

The good old sawdust on the floor trick, love it...

Works a treat for O'Connor's "famous" pub in Salthill. Tourists swarm the place.

Thelonious Monk

A pub you can go into on your own and talk to people all night. I've never found such places in Ireland but had many such haunts while living abroad. I find in Dublin anyway people just go in and keep to themselves.

MrMusician18

Franz Von Peppercorn II wrote: »

And yet very few pub owners agree. There must be a reason, probably that a pub seems too quiet if relatively empty and no music.

It's because you drink more when the music is loud

Dr. Bre

The smell of Guinness Farts

Riddle101

Nice friendly atmosphere.
No overpriced drinks.
Some decent music that isn't too distracting but easy to listen to.
Decent pints.
An outdoor area for people to sit on sunny days, but also allows you some peace and quite from the noise inside the pub.

showpony1

just think of copper face jacks..

Masala

Good free WIFI
A glass of wine less than €6
complimintary nuts
Good Rock Classics blasting out on the speakers

Dog Man Star

Good music (1990s indie)
Lounge staff (I only want to get up to go the toilet).
Clean toilets
Plenty of decent looking women
Tasty pint of Arthur G.

Perfect.

Turquoise Hexagon Sun

A pub that doesn't just serve awful, generic pints like Bud, Heineken, Carlsberg, basically different shades of piss.

Music isn't too loud.
Not too bright either. Hate sitting in really bright pubs where it kills the atmosphere.
Complimentary nuts/nibbles like you get in bars all over Italy is great.
Most of all friendly people. Some pubs just attract a certain friendly type of person.

Corruptedmorals

I love old pubs but they need to be warm and friendly rather than grim. I really miss The Long Stone! Bonus points if it has nooks and crannies like the upstairs of The Bleeding Horse or is really pretty and nicely laid out like Palace Fleet Street.

B.A._Baracus

JeanL wrote: »

Lock-in's

On that subject whats the criac with that pub on pearse street? you walk past it at 8am and the doors are open and someone is having a smoke outside.

Gotta be a lock-in, right?

SpannerMonkey

backround music but not loud. so i can still talk to others ,
good pint ,
attentive staff not constantly on their phone,

and ost of all, small gestures like throwing out a free bag of peanuts or crisps if you have bought a few points and look like you are staying for a while. those small gestures make a massive difference and make a pub stand out

run_Forrest_run

- the person behind the bar aware that a pint of Guinness needs no more than 2 minutes to settle (and doesn't decide to head out around the bar cleaning up etc and never returning back to said pint (looking at you Tom Barry's :mad:)

plenty of screens
plenty of cocktails
music if necessary
smoking area three doors away from main room
girls nights
board games
wifi

basically anything that sends the pack a miserable fartsmelling tightwad stoutgobblers throughout this thread somewhere else so that people dont have to pretend theyre in a fcukin monastery with a tap

ebbsy

Minge.

lola85

Plenty of people mentioning a good pint.

No way I would have never thought that would make a good pub.

El_Duderino 09

Franz Von Peppercorn II wrote: »

And yet very few pub owners agree. There must be a reason, probably that a pub seems too quiet if relatively empty and no music.

Noise creates atmosphere and gives the impression that everyone else is having a good time.

How often are you sitting in a pub, having a great time, and someone suggests that the group needs to move to a noisy pub or night club. If you ask people individually they will tell you they are happy where they are. But the group consensus is that everyone else probably wants to go to the noisy night club.

My point is that for some reason people associate noise with fun.

corner of hells

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

JeanL wrote: »

Lock-in's

On that subject whats the criac with that pub on pearse street? you walk past it at 8am and the doors are open and someone is having a smoke outside.

Gotta be a lock-in, right?

Shhhh will ya.

Odyssey 2005

nthclare wrote: »

When you're out surfing on a winter's evening, you're drying yourself and the wind's Baltic...
You're drying for a hot drink and you drive from Doolin via Liscannor and Egan's looks like the blind's are down...

But you check the door anyhow and it's open and the blast of hot air hits you, the fire's on and you get a warm smile from the Spanish bar lady when you walk in the door....

Egan's the best pub in Clare

Certainly one of them.
Hes bat **** crazy though. :)

Abel Ruiz

Where are all these pubs without a TV?????
I wanna be cool too!

Ipso

Abel Ruiz wrote: »

Where are all these pubs without a TV?????
I wanna be cool too!

It's not about being cool. The Stags Head didn't have a tv and had a better atmosphere than the majority of pubs in Dublin on a Saturday night.

El_Duderino 09

I can thinking of a few of my favourite pubs and they don't have a lot in common except the absence of loud music. The thing they have in common is the fact that I have good friends who go there and we have a good time there.

There's one pub that's absolutely average. Older crowd, but very standard apart from that. It's across from my work so we go there most Fridays after work. Great nights with my close work mates. It often starts with a big crowd but whittled down to the core friend group.

I can't think of a single pub I'd class as "great" but I don't have good night's there. So I'm pretty sure it's based on whether or not I have good night's there. I'd imagine it's the same with other people.

Hamsterchops

....must have a selection of Real Ale (casked) + pub grub, all day breakfast, specials night, karaoke night too, with the rest of the week chilled. TV room for the footie separate!

A bowl of sausage & chips for just a few squid, none of your exorbitant Gastro Fayre (which costs a fortune).

Odyssey 2005

sioda wrote: »

Good company and no TV in a mobile phone blackspot

Gus o Connors on doolin. Phones don't work there.:)

Odyssey 2005

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

A pub you can go into on your own and talk to people all night. I've never found such places in Ireland but had many such haunts while living abroad. I find in Dublin anyway people just go in and keep to themselves.

Houricans in kilkenny.