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What would lure you back to the bars?

abouttobebanned

Aside from the obvious one, cheaper drink...

Pubs are not as busy as they were 10 & 20 years ago and most of them are empty midweek...so what would make you want to go to them again? There's a pub where I live that runs a board games night every wednesday night...i think that's a great idea personally... but what would work for you?

Bring back quiz nights?
Poker?
Bands?
Karaoke?

This is not a bash the pub and club industry industry thread.....instead i'd like you to ask yourselves 2 questions...

What would make me want to go out to a pub more regularly...
If I owned a bar what would I do to get the punters in?

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Cuddlesworth

OPENROAD wrote: »

I'm in my 30's :P

Be glad their is a level of anonimosity on the net.

galwayrush

I think the computer thing could work.
Here's my wishlist.
3 levels, silent, occasional music and a live band area.
Good food available at all hours.
Computer games area with pool etc, probably in occasional music area.
Vast beer menu.

DenMan

galwayrush wrote: »

I think the computer thing could work.
Here's my wishlist.
3 levels, silent, occasional music and a live band area.
Good food available at all hours.
Computer games area with pool etc, probably in occasional music area.
Vast beer menu.

That could work alright....in Jamaica or the Bahamas. We can walk in wearing shorts and a t shirt. Fresh from having a swim, sip rum, watch bands and drink beer....and of course play video games and pool.

mikemac

I see a lot of people here looking for a pub with quiet or no music and cheap drink.

Ever been to a JD Wetherspoon pub, there is one in Enniskillen, Belfast and all over the UK.
They were supposed to be locating to ROI a few years but it didn't happen, dunno why.

It'd be more competition anyway. I'm not saying they are perfect but it'd shake up the market
Decent bar food too imo though many will disagree

Tannylan

Free Coke and Hookers for all boardsie's:D

OPENROAD

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Be glad their is a level of anonimosity on the net.

Couldn't care less

Jane Doh!

Cocktail bars with a difference, let the punters make the cocktails......

ejmaztec

knife-fights, arm-wrestling, whores and spittoons, not necessarily in that order.

DundalkDuffman

mikemac wrote: »

I see a lot of people here looking for a pub with quiet or no music and cheap drink.

Ever been to a JD Wetherspoon pub, there is one in Enniskillen, Belfast and all over the UK.
They were supposed to be locating to ROI a few years but it didn't happen, dunno why.

It'd be more competition anyway. I'm not saying they are perfect but it'd shake up the market
Decent bar food too imo though many will disagree

From memory it was the Vintners put a stop on it. I personally love hitting JDs when in England. There is no better taste than a 1.99 pint of lager! Compared to 4.80 in Dundalk for the identical drink :rolleyes:
I don't think there is anything that the landlords can do to get people into the pubs, everyone is limited in their drink budgets. I can't remember a quieter Christmas than this year around town, everyone seems to be staying at home. A quick look round on bin day here tells you why too, lots of empty cardboard beer boxes out.

carlop

Friendlier staff who are appreciative of the fact you're drinking in their beer, for example maybe theye give you the occasional free drink. A selection of board games that customers can play, nothing beats pints and monopoly on a lazy sports-less afternoon. Darts, pool, etc.

Ultimately though, if prices don't come down, the rest doesn't matter. If a pub was to forego the widescreen tv and the swanky interiors, how much could they profitably sell a pint for?

longshanks

ejmaztec wrote: »

knife-fights, arm-wrestling, whores and spittoons, not necessarily in that order.

ever been to limerick?

colly10

Biggins wrote: »

Bars where ALL gambling machines are relocated to the nearist skip.

Real sign of a kip that

Jane Doh!

longshanks wrote: »

ever been to limerick?

Yawwwnnnn......getting tired of the old Limerick jokes.

juvenal

Having spent the couple of months leading up to Christmas driving one of Dublin's bigger publicans, we had this discussion almost every night I had him in the car (he just opened a new establishment in the second week of December).

IMO a few things can happen to shake up the industry;

Bring back the days where a barman was a skilled employee who served his time just like a plumber/carpenter/electrician. There's a huge difference between a trained professional who understands customer service, alcohol and how to serve it as it's intended by the brewer/distiller/vintner; and some spotty part-time student who has the ability to fill a glass with liquid. Any prat can turn on a tap and fill a container, it takes skill to maintain and serve alcoholic beverages to an acceptable standard. A good barman also understands the effects of alcohol on the human body and can deal with drunks, thus eliminating the need for bomber-jacket wearing doormen.

Less of the "Now that's what I call music" shuffle-jukebox blasting out sh1te top 40 tracks around the bar. Yes, loud music inhibits people's ability to chat, forcing less talk, quicker consumption and higher sales. What also happens is less chat = more drinking = more drunkenness = more antisocial behaviour/vomiting = more security staff = more overhead costs.

More establishments catering for different tastes. I love a good session and a late night in a club followed by overpriced fast food as much as the next man, but that's the exception rather than the rule for me. I'd be much more inclined to have a few settlers in a pub if there are more amenities such as pool/darts etc rather than 40" plasmas everywhere showing non-stop Sky Sports news. Give me a good live band, be it rock/blues/jazz, than some tw@t with a funky haircut who thinks they're the next Judge Jules.

The chap I was driving is a prominent member of the LVA and owns several pubs around the city, and in fairness he understands that publicans have had it better than good for a long time. The days of limitless profits with a full pub 4/5 nights of the week are gone, and it's up to publicans to innovate or die. Reduce your overheads and reduce your prices. Run the pub as a business and not as your own personal ATM. Sure we've seen more pubs that serve food over the past few years, but hopefully this is only the tip of the iceberg. The cost of soft drinks is obscene, as is the cost of a pint of plain in some establishments in Dublin.

It's up to publicans to take some pride in their craft, understand that they're in the hospitality industry and not be all about the bottom line all the time.

az2wp0sye65487

Mairt wrote: »

Well I'll tell you what I love about my local.

Its got local, Irish bar staff!.

The bar staff are 'proper' bar staff, ie they've done apprenticeships and made bartending a career, as a result the owner doesn't need to employ doorstaff as the lads behind the bar can call the shots on who is or isn't served.

They also know the craic and how to have it.

There's a dart board too, and a TV with the remote left on the bar!. And get this, a shop too!.

It also serves everyone if your old enough to drink a pint, so I drink in the company of farm labourers, members of the travelling community to business people to local 'heads' and in over ten years there I haven't seen one row.

Where is that???

colly10

PCPhoto wrote: »

publicans (due to financial problems) will allow anyone into a pub now and will keep serving them alcohol as long as they can afford to keep paying and don't cause hassle.

Ye, theres a problem right there

darts/pool tables to be brought back into pubs

I like the idea of this in the quieter pubs

Less of the "Now that's what I call music" shuffle-jukebox blasting out sh1te top 40 tracks around the bar. Yes, loud music inhibits people's ability to chat, forcing less talk, quicker consumption and higher sales. What also happens is less chat = more drinking = more drunkenness = more antisocial behaviour/vomiting = more security staff = more overhead costs.

Thats optimistic even, lately we just walk out of places if their talking the piss with the music blasting, if noones there to dance and I can't hear myself think I go next door

Galvasean

abouttobebanned wrote: »

I find it hard to picture the whole computer games in bars thing...could that really work?!

A lot of bars in America and on the continent have video game machines. I don't mean an Xbox hooked up in the corner, but these things:

midgetflynn

cheaper drink would be good as well,it's prob one of the main reasons I don't go out that often. I'd like a place with a good atmosphere,music in the backround but not blaring. Pool table would be great, I also like the idea of having some sort of games console, one of the college bars has one. I also like the idea of having some board games there as well, fun ones like Guess Who?. I'd have all that one one level.Cafe bar sounds great,with simple food like sandwiches being served late into the night. And a fireplace as well,I like being toasty and warm! And even though I don't smoke,a nice warm comfortable smoking area/beer garden would be nice as well.
A seperate level for louder music and dancing, with fun themed nights every now and again and the option of having a live band in every now and again.A late bar would be ideal as well.

and friendly bar staff who know how to engage in conversation would bring me back somewhere as well.

I had no idea The Bier Haus had a Wii,I might check it out!

Patricide

Darts, pool tables, cheaper drinks but most imporantly live music instead of this dj carry on. No disrespect to em, its fine to have em on at some stage during the night but the way theres almost no live music now blows imo.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Something a bit different. Instead of trying to work out what's already out there and copying it, try to work out what's NOT out there...

PrivateEye

*pool tables, there was a time they were in most pubs apparently (?)

Had to wander around town for AGGGGES to find one recently, and there wasn't a pint to be seen there either.

*More live music, less music-for-the-sake-of-it.

*There's a reason pubs like the Gravediggers and O' Donoghues have survived so well, and its the telly staying off most of the time.

ShooterSF

Pool tables are seen as a magnet for the wrong crowd unfortunately. I was in a pub in donegal that had a playstation connected to a screen on the wall. Playing burnout as you get progressively drunk is quite interesting.

Professey Chin

Galvasean wrote: »

A lot of bars in America and on the continent have video game machines. I don't mean an Xbox hooked up in the corner, but these things:

If I found a pub with that exact machine, Id set up camp:cool:

K-9

ShooterSF wrote: »

Pool tables are seen as a magnet for the wrong crowd unfortunately.

Maybe, pool cues would be used for many a wrong reason. I'd bar DJ's, Alco pops, Fat Frogs etc. for the same reason though!

Zebra3

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/03/one-pound-pub-lunch-deals

Nothingcompares

Kingsley Howling Socialism wrote: »

Where is that???

soubds like campions on the malahide road

Nothingcompares

I spent way too much of 2008 in pubs. I'm hoping to get well down on this in 2009. Although, as we may all agree, without some sort of alcohol/pub it's quite difficult to socialise as an adult.

Obviously the reason why half the pubs in Ireland are empty during the week is because there are way too many of them (and they're charging a pretty penny). There's too many pubs as the man says, that are owned by absentee landlords employing budget and semi-competent staff. When I go to a pub and I see a bar man that knows his craft I'm very impressed. If he isn't an arrogant arsehole it makes me want to come back.

I wouldn't be mad into the gimmicks either. I love a game of darts, pool, bowling, video games but I don't want to do them in the pub. I want to drink, talk to my mates, and try and chat women up in pubs. I don't want to sit and watch sky sports or play electronic poker. Music I'm fairly undecided on. YOu could have a really nice pub, well decorated and kept, no music (market bar in dublin for example) and have no women in it, just a load of "old" blokes. Not my cup of tea.

NOt that mad about food in pubs either. Actually. Let me rethink all this

Maybe It would be a good idea if you had all these gimmick pubs. ONce in a while I do want to go out and play a game of pool and have a few pints. And once in a while I do like to get some decent pub grub with a pint. But generally, my time in pubs is spent drinking.

banshee_bones

Im a foodie , you can always lure me with good food !

Even as i read our weekly local newspaper, they struggle to find a place to meet the requiremnets of their 'lunch for under a tenner' column.

So i think that €1 meal deal would be very interesting to see how it would work here, although knowing out greedy establishments it would be more like 2e or 5e but even still i guess that would be a start

funloving

Nolanger wrote: »

Men-only bars.

that would work for me if the only girl allowed it's ME

Hard Larry

Lift the smoking ban so the smell of ciggies covers back up the smell of arse.