Price of a pint !

Ye I would agree that using Spoons is unfair as they are basically a separate business model by design with their no music, crap news on tv all day and the cheapest of cheap crap food. I don't find anything inviting about them at all.

I've been to the one on Abbey St. twice (Uncle won't pay for a pint anywhere else) and their cheap casks both times was not working, my Uncle told me it's regularly not working and even when it does it's shíte stuff that according to the staff barely any one drinks.

I've only ever been to the one beside the Bleeding Horse and every time we've been there it's been grand. I couldn't give a shite about music (live or otherwise) and if there's no TV, that's a bonus as far as I'm concerned. I don't eat in pubs and despise that "gastro" bollocks. So there's no loss there for me either.

However, as a place to meet the lads for some pints at reasonable prices and have a few chats and a laugh, Whetherspoons more than suffices.

I absolute refuse to fork out over 7 euro for a pint and that's the end of it. There's zero value for money in that nonsense.

If someone thinks handing out nearly or over 7 euro for is "good value" for a pint, that's up to them.

It's not going to convince the vast majority of people though.

I rarely drink in town any more because it's so expensive. So most of my going out is local where I can get a pint for around 6.

II still think that that's too expensive for what you get.

It's all opinion.

That doesn't invalidate anything.

The fact is, however, is that the price of a pint has risen to ridiculous levels and by ludicrous amounts in a short space of time. The likes of Diageo are raising prices on a whim and the knock on effect occurs at the tap, with the punter getting mugged at the last stage. And whilst there's publicans that don't care about their own gouging, the ones I know locally are very disgruntled about Diageo's because it does affect their business.

If there are some people that don't bat an eyelid at paying silly money for a pint, that's on them. And yes, there are others that will hand over their money too. But don't mistake that as having "no issue" with doing so, or being happy about it.

It also doesn't make it a fact as you're portraying it to be.

We all wish that things were cheaper, I wish my house was cheaper, I wish my electric, gas and food were cheaper. I wish it was cheaper to go out for a meal but I've little to no control over the cost of the products.

I can be miserable and complain about it all or I can have one less pint a week and enjoy my night out with friends all the same. I know which one I see as as better.

It also doesn't make it a fact as you're portraying it to be.

If you're trying to tell me that the price of the pint hasn't risen to silly levels then there's not much point in continuing this.

I can be miserable and complain

It's not about being "miserable" or "complaining". It's just about being honest.

Maybe have a pint if you're getting this agitated.

It's being honest with oneself.

No, it's not, that's your opinion that you're declaring as fact and if I don't agree I'm lying or being dishonest. Another poster they said it's value to them too.

Is having a pint cheap? No it isn't, but it doesn't bother me and my mates when we're out, we still go out and buy 6/7/8 pints and we're not all sitting there saying "we're not doing this next week". The text "pints?" still gets sent and not for a single second do I think no it's is too expensive and judging by us doing it regularly neither do they.

In fairness the whole argument back and forth is a bit like the old parable about the blind men and the elephant. All are perfectly valid points based upon ones own experience. Personally pints/coffee/sandwiches out have broken some mental barrier where I've said internally, that's not worth that. Despite my ability to afford these things more than ever.

Wetherspoons have a lower cost base as they operate a low cost model. They also have economies of scale.

They have lower staff as they have lower service, they don't pay SKY because they don't have TVs, they don't pay imro because they don't have music. (For a medium sized pub Sky is about €40,000 a year. For a small rural pub it is about €9,000 a year)

They don't pay chefs within their premises because they pre make most of the menu off site into vacuum packaging and simply reheat.

In the UK (it didn't work here) they are very much a cafe from 8am until 5pm in the majority of their premises, thus fixed costs such as rent, rates etc are spread over a longer trading day.

It's a model that works very well for them, but only in the UK. The model didn't work here and they lost millions on their pubs outside Dublin and in Blackrock.

The large super pubs in Dublin and other cities make large profits as they get discounts and can charge €7-€10, but small independent rural and town pubs struggle because they can only charge about €6 - €6.50 and don't get the discounts, however they provide a fantastic offering in many cases.

Value is subjective. Lets all agree on that and move on.

I think every spoons has order to table. They don't have roving floor staff looking to take orders though

Having a few pints largely depends on who you're with, not where you are, and nothing to do with being "impoverished" or an "alcho".