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Why don't Irish pubs sell snacks?

Geuze

By snacks, I mean more than crisps / nuts, but less than full meals.

During my last few trips to the UK, I was in several pubs that sold hot snacks, but where there was no cook/chef present.

Often I am hungry, but I don't want to spend 15 euro on a meal.

First example: the Athletic Arms in Edinburgh

Pies, heated up = 2.00 to 2.50, Toasted sandwich = 2.00, see the menu below (older version)

Another example: the Hope in south London

Pork pies and rolls from the counter.

One-pot meals 6.50-7.50 served until 10pm, see below

In the Southhampton Arms in London, they sell pork pies (cold) and hot roast pork bap, again no chef present.

Is it due to a lack of demand from customers?

Or maybe some health & safety regulations preventing it?

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Furze99

Regulations re food safety. I have family who were involved in pub business 30 years ago - common then for the message to come upstairs for the woman of the house to make ham sandwiches or soup etc, done at the kitchen table.

waterwelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121297107#Comment_121297107

From personal experience I can't think of many doing toasted sandwiches without any kitchen anymore.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121297490#Comment_121297490

From personal experience I have worked in ones that do.

It's a pretty small number anyway because most pubs never did toasties.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121297467#Comment_121297467

It's not got to do with regulations for toasties (soup yes). In those situations it's got to do with lots of publicans not living in the pubs anymore and if they do the chances the "woman of the house" is waiting around upstairs in case you want a toastie are very slim.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121297697#Comment_121297697

They were a family business like many other small pubs and everyone mucked in.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299634#Comment_121299634

Ya and they don't exist that much anymore. It's nothing to do with regulations and all to do with the changing nature of the "family pub". Most publicans I know wouldn't be caught dead living above their own pub now and the partner probably has a job seperate to the pub.

In the UK you still get a lot of the chain pubs advertising for a husband (bar manager) and wife (cook) team to manage pubs but that doesn't happen here because we don't have that type of chain pub.

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299657#Comment_121299657

Think the local weatherspoons here (sadly closing soon) are run by a British couple

Nice to see those traditions still going but times a changing

waterwelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299657#Comment_121299657

It's not just the HSE though. The fire regulations can be strenuous and as you said the idea of living upstairs is becoming rarer and rarer.

A lot of accomodation would be outdated and no longer suited to a family regardless of regulations.

So now people have 3 properties to maintain, 2 electric bills, broadband, maintenance, 2 insurance policies etc l.

Another part of drink being more expensive.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299667#Comment_121299667

Wetherspoons in Ireland don't even have proper kitchens - food is brought in precooked and is microwaved - so they absolutely aren't doing the old brewery idea of things.

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299696#Comment_121299696

Is this Fullers crowd a fancier Wetherspoons in the UK ?

When I was over in London in the summer a lot of places were run by them

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299711#Comment_121299711

They're a traditional brewery with pubs albeit owned by a multinational

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299717#Comment_121299717

The Amstel was nice tbh

You'd miss a proper pint of Carlsberg in the UK

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299711#Comment_121299711

Most pubs in England are brewery owned, Fullers is a brewery.

Brewery owned pubs only stock brands that the brewery brews or are licensed to sell.

Pub management in the UK, well in cities anyway, is completely different from Ireland.

There can be a lot of management turnover, I worked in and lived above a pub in London years ago, came downstairs one morning to discover that the manager and the rest of us had been sacked overnight and there was a completely new manager and staff now working in the pub.

I didn't mind it was only a summer job and I was ready to head home anyway.

Pubs that are not owned by breweries are known as Free Houses.

They are free to buy stock from who they want.

Wetherspoons are a chain of Free Houses.

When they first launched in the 1980s there big selling point was that they had no TVs.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299667#Comment_121299667

Those traditions are not great when you are in my situation and myself the bar manager and my platonic male chef friend are refused the job because we are not a barman and cook woman team. Should be illegal what they do over there.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299696#Comment_121299696

Same in the UK. All microwave in bag stuff.

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299830#Comment_121299830

Didn't know that, great insight

Do find 'British pubs' not to be as 'jolly' as Irish pubs. You'd probably strike a conversation with a randomer here but if you tried the same thing in the UK you'd feel embarrassed and want the ground to open up below ya

Jinglejangle69

I remember being in a pub in Australia years ago and they served free sausage rolls and mini pies a couple of times through the night.

Such a simple idea and would keep people in the pub all night.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299917#Comment_121299917

Tapas, Aussie style. They're in the price of the pints of course.

The pub (it was actually a hotel bar) we all used to drink in where I worked ~18 years ago used to cook up everything left in the fridge at about 9 and throw them at the regulars.

There was the cost of the cooking / cleaning the plates after, but food that was going to waste anyway, and said regulars bought vastly more pints. Sausages / sausage rolls, wedges, chicken dippers, burgers, whatever had been prepped but not sold.

It was random as to whether there'd be anything or what it was and most of us had dinner at lunchtime (cost price canteen) anyway but it added some variety to the evening.

reactadabtc

Harry Byrnes in Clontarf have Bocos pizza operating a pizza van in their car park. You order online, put your table number in, and it's dropped to your table. It's a little pricey, but nice to have the option to get something after a feed of pints.

Clareman

Chef Mike does most of the work in the UK kitchens 😁

BeerNut

The era of brewery-owned pubs in the UK is largely over. The breweries either got rid of their brewing operations and became pub companies, or sold all the pubs to someone else. The Fullers pub company is nothing to do with the brewery in Chiswick, other than sharing a name.

donaghs

There's definitely a niche missing in Ireland in terms of informal places to have food and alcohol in the evening. Compared with the continent.

e.g. in a typical "tapas" place in Ireland it can still have all the formal "restaurant" tropes: you might have to book a table, wait to be seated, then wait for you orders to be taken etc etc. As opposed to a group friends just wandering in like to a cafe or pub, picking a seating area and coming and going over the course of the night - ordering their drinks and food at the bar if its suits them, and paying separately if they want. As opposed the formal presentation of "the bill" at the end you get in the typical restaurant.

squonk

A pub in Ennis, McHughs, did tge tapas thing. There were being run by western hard brewery at that stage. It wasn’t very inviting though as it was expensive for what you get and if you order a few bits the price really added up. Don’t think it lasted long and it’s definitely not a western herd pub now. Not knocking Western Herd. Lonely bunch of people but tapas here seems to be a way of extracting maximum coin for a small output.

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121387599#Comment_121387599

When anyone does try that continental style of casual eating, Irish people don't, generally, get it. They insist on treating it like a restaurant and having their dinner!

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121294506#Comment_121294506

They are famous for not really changing in 50 years and being in the centre of town. Toasted sandwiches are mediocre. I'd rather just stoll off to get something elsewhere and then come back again.

DelmarODonnell

I was over in Leicester for a rugby match last year. The city not up to much but the pubs were great. Every single pub that didn't have a full food offering had a basket or cabinet filled with Fresh Cobs (crusty baps) with Cheese and Onion or Ham and Cheese. Cost around £2.50 and keep you going really well. Another pub had Samosas in a cabinet beside their Cobs and were delicious, just kept warm, rather than needing heating up. So simple and effective and the food offering didn't extend beyond this in most of the places.

Dunphys in Dun Laoghaire always would have had a glass cabinet of freshly made sandwiches and some soup on the go. Easy peasy.

For the traditional boozers, I'd love to see something like those Cobs on offer. Although hard to see them being sold for the prices in Leicester!

z80CPU

More an observation than actually why not more Irish pubs sell snacks : The actual in house coffee machine.

In 2 separate establishments in Dublin - one now gone some years and the other in Ranelagh: both places served a menu.

I made a throwaway remark about the stare of coffee machine and the bar man gave a complete death stare.

A coffee machine remains a more a black art for many Irish publicans in this day and age

Regular Cleaning of said coffee machine will also present challenges : this is stipulated legislation by the HSE - A rocket science for the skivvy new join employed by the same pub.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121395615#Comment_121395615

I am the OP. This is exactly what I am on about:

"Basket or cabinet filled with fresh cobs, around GBP 2.50"

Thanks for all the replies, we now know one of the reasons we can't have this is over-zealous HSE/EHO rules.

It will never happen, but I hope for toasted sandwiches / cobs / rolls, etc. for 3-4 euro.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121297244#Comment_121297244

This was big during covid, our local had no options to serve food but the village had a catering company. So you could go in, order the grub, have a few beers while it got delivered from the company

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121395677#Comment_121395677

Ah yeah, but did he wait two minutes between the two part pour fof Guinness? That's what's important. People will taste that if it's done wrong. Sure coffee is just coffee. Water and ground beans. How hard can it be.

CWMMC

Because eating is cheating

Wilsoruna

It’s funny how Irish pubs don't usually offer snacks like some other places do. I think it's just part of the whole pub vibe—keeping it simple and focused on drinks. A lot of pubs prefer serving proper meals or just sticking to drinks, so they often let the local takeaways handle the lighter bites. I guess it’s easier for them to focus on their core business rather than juggling both food and drinks. If you’re craving a snack, you could always try ordering something like barley grass powder, which is a great healthy option if you're into that kind of thing. Or, if you're looking for a quick bite with your pint, just pop over to the takeaway next door like you did!