You want a coke? Get out

walterking

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120011712#Comment_120011712

I can assure you that there are many many any other options for them to go to in the very close proximity.

and those who say its commercial suicide - try running a retail/hospitality business.

He has targeted a very specific market and therefore does not need to hold large levels of stock that sits there. It won't work for most, but it can work out if you are the only person doing it.

Next time I'm up there and want a decent pint and no frills, I'll be popping in.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014219#Comment_120014219

And this lad doesn't have coke on his menu, so whats the problem?

SteM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014214#Comment_120014214

Core product? If he doesn't want sell coke then he shouldn't make it available for sale on his premises, it's really simple. McDonalds core product is fast food but they won't stop you from going in to buy an ice cream.

It's not that he doesn't want to sell coke, he obviously just wants to act like a prick to foster this 'quirky personality' people seem to attribute to him. He said it himself in the interview - 'It was a bit tongue in cheek'. Fair play to him, I hope his regulars stick by him in the hard times to come for his trade.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014204#Comment_120014204

While your beans on toast analogy is way off the mark, because Coke IS on this bar’s menu, pretty much any restaurant I’ve ever eaten in seems to be perfectly happy to do customer requests - omit a particular ingredient, cook something a particular way, substitute one part of the dish for something else. I’ve been in restaurants where someone has only ordered a starter or a desert, with no issue.

Let’s not pretend that this guy’s action is in any way normal. It’s only news and we’re only discussing it here because it’s NOT normal.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014333#Comment_120014333

The guy who owns the place says it isn't on his "menu".

And yes I know he probably will still have it there for mixers, doesn't change the point.

People talking about restaurants responding to special requests are also missing the point made. I have no doubt that many restaurants respond to such requests, but the point made was that nobody would bat an eyelid if they heard about a restaurant that didn't.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014330#Comment_120014330

So if a fancy restaurant doesn't want to sell beans on toast then they shouldn't have bread available either?

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014328#Comment_120014328

He...literally does though....

Have you ever actually been in the bar?

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014380#Comment_120014380

He...literally...says he doesn't want to sell it. How is that not the only relevant point in this tangent.

Jarhead_Tendler

I presume the story did not happen and dear John is getting some nice publicity out of it

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014432#Comment_120014432

Of course it didn’t, it serves the purpose of garnering publicity by allowing people who like being outraged to be outraged. Do you think any customer would give a toss about being told to piss off for ordering a coke?

walterking

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014076#Comment_120014076

If you checked his pub you would know its a famous whiskey pub.

28 measures (UK) in a bottle. He'd be "cheap" at £3 a shot. €84 gross on a bottle that costs him under €20.

That's way way better than the margin on a coke.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014369#Comment_120014369

<Snip>

Your comparing apples to oranges. An item completely unavailable due to supplies is not the same as abject refusal because you want to be in The Sun.

I’ve worked in many hotels and restaurants and have personally organised special requests when I can. From a guest who came for Afternoon Tea, despite not eating bread, to a young lady who needed food after the kitchen was closed for the night (just before I left) to take medication. I’ve even ran across the hotel to the bar to plate a dessert for a guest in the bar.

If it can be done any decent chef will do it. I’ve had arguments with my junior chefs about this before. Now if someone wanted a colcannon or bacon and cabbage, they’ll be told no, because it can’t be done. We don’t stock it or serve it and that’s the end of it.

However, I remember distinctly one of the team preparing a portion of mash potato for a baby bowl that was asked for, we had no mash, but we had potatoes and we had bowls. It wasn’t a difficult thing to put together.

Do you see how the difference? He had coke he just refused to serve it. If you have food or drinks a guest wants to pay for you’re a fool if you say no. People remember when they’ve been treated well, believe me, they come back. Treat them bad you’ll never see them again. People speak with their wallets, not always their words. Very scarcely will a guest complain much to the servers because they don’t want to “make a scene”. In my experience in fact, most complainers are just shite talkers.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014432#Comment_120014432

He was lined up to be on the Nolan radio show on BBC Radio Ulster, mentioned in the intro at 1 minute 25. Big new broke during the programme about the fuel payments in the North, so the item did not run. Could be on tomorrow.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001g8ny

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014485#Comment_120014485

With all due respect, who gives a toss what you did or would do.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014495#Comment_120014495

The repeat customers care a great deal.

notAMember

Storm in tea-cup. ;)

One person coming in hogging a table and drinking one coke for hours is what they want to avoid. Sounds reasonable to me.

I'm fairly sure a group of regulars or a group ordering pints, with one person in that group who has a coke or a glass of water, would be absolutely fine.

Discretion.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014596#Comment_120014596

Discretion would be doing as you suggest and keeping his big mouth shut.

Tinter Box

It’s a small very well run pub. The artwork in it is a big draw for tourists. I can see his point to be honest. When I’m up I tend to go in early afternoon to get a table but it’s usually pretty busy. Last time I was in a (very hammered) girl ordered a pint of bud. He told her they didn’t do Bud and she ended up with a pint of some craft lager. She then dropped the full pint which smashed and went everywhere. In hindsight a Coke would have been a better option then!

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120015202#Comment_120015202

You understand this guy has got a massive amount of publicity, for the price of a glass of coke.

Strumms

What if you went in at 1pm… on your todd with a newspaper … ordered a pint of Guinness…. To get a reply.. “sorry, this is technically lunch time, will you be ordering food with the Guinness ? No ? Erm ok, well I’ll need to ask you to leave as that space that you are taking up I can gain more revenue if I allow someone eating food to sit there…”

a lot of publicans anyway are absolute toerags…. One in Temple Bar is now charging 7.60 for a Heineken ffs. 10 pints = 76 euros.. 😏

so no surprise that some stoop to not letting people actually choose what the person would like from a selection of food / drinks.

what next, an airline refusing to sell a potential customer a seat… “ not until you select priority boarding and the meal deal “ Can’t just have the seat anymore.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120015334#Comment_120015334

Ah yes I suppose he thinks he's smart.

Time will tell if the punters agree with him.

Dohnjoe

What about people who have to drive? Or people's kids in the pub? Or someone who is on medication? Or an occupation (e.g. pilot)?

Business must be great if he can afford to be so edgy, but if I went in there with a group and he wouldn't serve the DD a coke we'd take our money elsewhere.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014596#Comment_120014596

People don’t go in to pubs drinking the same drink for ‘hours’… that is not a thing.

Curse These Metal Hands

The whole businesses seeking exposure by being pricks to their customers shtick is seriously tiresome and cringy.

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014204#Comment_120014204

The margin on a softdrink is far greater than a pint of Guinness. The person drinking the coke is usually done before the person drinking the Guinness in my experience. I was at a Christmas party the other night with a free bar. I was driving, so only had 1 beer. Even with the free alcohol, the pints weren't going down nearly as fast as those of us on the soft drinks. Plenty of dedicated Guinness lovers there too. Yer man is just taking advantage of free advertising.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014596#Comment_120014596

Who on earth would actually do that? Sit at a table on their own with one glass of coke and stay there for hours. Maybe if there was a match on, but usually then the pub is busy from well before kick off so Mr Hypothetically Nursing A Coke For Hours won't get a seat never mind a table to himself.

And if the pub is so not busy that Mr HNACFH can indeed get and keep a whole table to himself, kicking him out isn't going to improve the bottom line any.

Finally - won't he have to go to the jacks at some point 😁

chrissb8

His pub his rules. But all he's doing is causing irritation among his customers or even potential customers. It will put enough people off who are usually drinkers but on the odd chance don't want to drink and just go out to socialise with friends. Customers don't like being told what is and isn't on sale to them.

That is, it's an inward-to-outward approach of the publican to say this is how you drink in here and that's it. All you'll foster is resentment and a bad reputation. Customers will rightly say who tf does this guy think he is that he dictates how people are to be in his pub based on his stupid rules.

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120016734#Comment_120016734

He is only causing irritation among those he doesn’t want as customers. I just don’t see why anyone gets wound up about this kind of stuff, he either wants only to sell alcohol in his pub, or just thought that customer was a tosser and used the excuse to get him/her out. Because those that are easily outraged are predictably outraged by this, he gets a load to free publicity, drawing in those that want a nice pint of Guinness.

notAMember

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120015785#Comment_120015785

I do it. In quieter places usually, in other countries. But when I'm on business travel, if I'm stuck over a weekend there, or have a day free between work schedules and I'm shattered, I will take a book and go to someplace with a bit of history and chill out there on my own with one drink for an hour or two. It's often a bar. It's pretty common with solo travellers, I've been doing it for probably a decade.

dxhound2005

The bar owner was on the Nolan programme on BBC Radio Ulster. He is a bit of a character, and not the sort to organise a publicity stunt. Listen at 1:13:30.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001g92z