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why are there no J D Wetherspoon pubs in ROI?

dd972

You'd think with the boozing culture we have they'd have colonised our town and cities some time ago, plus costwise they'd annihilate the opposition paying through the nose for their Guinness and Heineken.

Only heard bit and bobs of rumour as to why there's no Spoon pubs here ranging from the fact that it's in the Eurozone and it doesn't fit in with their business plan and the Victuallers Association here are keeping them out by some means or other, anybody heard anything more substantial?

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12 march 1930

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Seaneh

ThisRegard wrote: »

I'm only angry that it's not close to me, I'd love to have a local with a selection of beers and ales like that.

Where are you? Might be something with some sort of selection near you.

keith16

Bits_n_Bobs wrote: »

In fairness the Galway Bay (can't remember its name...) boozer on the bottom of Carysfort is a decent boozer.

The Dark Horse? Yeah forgot about that, decent boozer allright.

Lockstep

I've zero issue with the atmosphere in Wetherspoons as well.
What they normally do is buy a pub and keep the theme but harmonise the menu. So in Nottingham, the Roebuck pub still had a lot of hunting paintings etc. Given how ****ty most Irish pubs are, I don't see much difference.

Also, they don't do music which is a huge plus for me, it's great having a pint without music forcing you to bellow at each other.

Also, I'm seeing a huge amount of snobbery towards WS clientele in this thread. In the WS I've visited, it tends to be older people. Working class people, but older and I've never had any problems in any of them. You wouldn't go on the lash in them but they're great to visit for a pint and food. Especially their Tuesday Steak Club. Ribs, chips and a pint for €12.00. Num num.
The food isn't spectacular but it's pretty much the same quality as most Irish pub foods. Filling, stodgy and decent portions.

Also happy they're selling Goose Island and Brooklyn for €3.50

keith16

Seaneh wrote: »

They are having a ticketed opening weekend event this weekend, they are giving out tickets in Black rock today between 1pm and 2pm and 6pm and 7pm.

Ticket gets you into the event with free food and drinks for all.

Thanks for the heads up, might try and snaffle a few! Where did you hear this?

ThisRegard

Dublin 15, Mulligans in Stoneybatter is the closest that I'm aware of.

And don't mentioned the the 12th Lock. Last time on a rare night out without the kids I asked the barman what craft beers they had, he offered me Cobra.

ScumLord

awec wrote: »

Exactly, there's little difference between one Wetherspoons and the next. There is certainly no historical preservation - their pubs feel like walking in to a cafe.

JDW do preserve old bars, I've been in a few in London. They also have different styles of pubs, they have ones that are pseudo traditional english pubs, others that are like a sitting room for the hipsters and others that are just like big eateries.

ssaye2

What are their reasons for generally no seats at the bar? I am a bar drinker and don't really like sitting at a table or away from it?

Seaneh

keith16 wrote: »

Thanks for the heads up, might try and snaffle a few! Where did you hear this?

their twitter account about an hour ago.

Seaneh

ssaye2 wrote: »

What are their reasons for generally no seats at the bar? I am a bar drinker and don't really like sitting at a table or away from it?

Food and drink orders are taken at the bar so it's just easier to have space to people to stand when ordering and paying instead of having to reach over/past people sitting at the bar.

Seaneh

Seaneh wrote: »

their twitter account about an hour ago.

This twitter account to be exact

https://twitter.com/ThreeTunTavern

Lapin

Hopefully the barstaff in their Irish pubs will be capable of serving more than one drink to one customer at a time unlike most of their counterparts in Moon's pubs across the water.

Looking forward to popping in the next time I'm in Dublin and trying the real ale.
I refuse to use the pretentious term 'craft beer'.

fortwilliam

I just heard their guy on NewsTalk,
He said they will stock other Diagio brands, just not Guinness as they feel the cost price from Diagio is too high, they would rather not sell it than sell it at a too high price.

They will be serving food from 8am, The presenter asked about the perception of soulless bars, they said they will be tailoring their irish pubs for their Irish customers, but in no way will they be trying to open "Irish Bars"

Seaneh

Lapin wrote: »

Hopefully the barstaff in their Irish pubs will be capable of serving more than one drink to one customer at a time unlike most of their counterparts in Moon's pubs across the water.

Looking forward to popping in the next time I'm in Dublin and trying the real ale.
I refuse to use the pretentious term 'craft beer'.

Craft beer and real ale are two terms used to describe different things though.

Real Ale only applies to cask ales.

Craft Beer is a much broader term and there's nothing pretentious about it, it's just used to differentiate it from mass produced swill.

Muahahaha

awec wrote: »

Of course price comes in to it, but to suggest people don't care what the feel of the place is like is nonsense. Why do you think that Wetherspoons has the reputation it has? If all people cared about was price and crowd Wetherspoons would be universally loved by all.

I think that's exactly the space Weatherspoons occupy in the UK- ask any British national what they think about them and they either love them or they hate them, they're like Marmite. I can see the exact same scenario being the case in Ireland, they'll be loved and hated in equal measure.

But at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what the entire market thinks of Weatherspoons because their aim is not to corner the entire market. Just like Ryanair they want to capture the low to middle end of the market and the people who don't like them can pay more to fly Aer Lingus, Ryanair don't care about their haters because they carry 80 million a year who don't hate them.

It's the exact same scenario for Iceland in the UK. The vast majority of the UK public hate Iceland and wouldn't be seen dead doing their food shopping there. But the 10% that do love shopping there and won't shop anywhere else. Iceland don't care for the 90% who don't shop with them as they know they're not their market; the 10% who are remain extremely loyal to the Iceland brand and ethos and the company punches way above it's weight up against the likes of Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys, etc.

awec wrote: »

To be fair the food is what it is. I don't think anyone is under any illusions that it's anything other than cheap and average. Good for a bite to eat if you happen to be out and about, but not somewhere you are going to take the family for pub grub.

I'm pretty sure the food arrives pre-prepared and is just heated up on the premises.

The food is definitely pre cooked and the chefs are nothing more than glorified microwave operators.

But I'd disagree with you on families eating out there, in fact in suburbia at weekends I can see Weatherspoons being mobbed with families with young children. Think about what it currently would cost to buy main courses and drinks for 2 adults and 2 children in an Irish pub-

2 Adult Mains €13 =€26
2 Kids mains €7=€14
Pint of Lager €5
Glass of Wine €6
Two soft drinks €2.75 each = €5.50.

Total typical average cost for a family eating out is €56.50, by the time you've left a 10% tip for decent table service you're down €62 to feed and water a family of four. And that's not allowing for anything extravagant from the menu, the adults would be eating a low cost €13 main course such as lasagne, seafood salad, fish and chips, chilli con carne, burger and chips, that sort of thing. God help them if one or both wants to push the boat out and have a steak or nice piece of fish, if that's the case then the €62 cost easily rockets up towards €80-€90 pretty quickly.

Weathespoons arrival changes all that. While I haven't seen a kids menu yet I don't doubt there is one and I assume that kids meals will come packaged with a soft drink for somewhere in the order of €5-6 and not the €10 the same thing would cost in a regular pub. So with Weatherspoons being able to feed and water a family of four main courses, lager, wine and two soft drinks for somewhere in the region of €30-32 then I'd say every food serving pub in Blackrock are extremely nervous right now. Weatherspoons will bring a whole new range of customers out of the woodwork who couldn't afford to pay €60+ to have a family meal out. Their only option was McDonalds where two adult meals and two happy meals would come in at somewhere around €25. Now for an extra €6-7 over McDonalds prices they can sit down in much more comfortable surroundings and have a full family meal and alcoholic drinks delivered to their table with no need to tip the server who will only ever visit your table once to drop the food down.There are thousands upon thousands of people in Dublin, myself included, who might be termed as 'the working poor', I.e. after all bills and living costs are paid for you've got dam all disposable income. For many families with two school going kids and a giant mortgage on their back all they have left for luxuries at the end of the week is €100. Now if all you've got is €100 to spare is that family really going to spend €60-70 of it dining out for one meal in one pub ? Unlikely, but if they know they can dine and drink out for €32 and still have nearly €70 of disposable income left for the week then dining in Weatherspoons is a no brainer. And let's say they really want to push the boat out and both have a steak, well that's grand too because the bill will still come in at under €40. That's a huge difference in price to paying €80-90 in an average suburban Dublin pub. I'm not for one minute suggesting the quality of Weatherspoons food is on a par but there's no getting away from the price differential, Weatherspoons can feed and water a family of four for around half the price of an average Dublin pub, that's huge in terms of the market and when they do finally have all their 30 pubs in Ireland open their presence will very much be felt.

So when you say you don't think it will be busy for families eating out I think you will be proven wrong in time and that (at least for the Blackrock venue) families eating out will be one of the main stays of their trade. Thinks about it McDonalds €25, Weatherspoons €32, Average Dublin suburban pub, €62 upwards. McDonalds are already wedged with families eating there every weekend of the year, it's only a small step upwards to dine and have alcoholic drinks in Weatherspoons so they'll snap a lot of the Clowns market whilst also making people who normally pay €62+ for a pub meal think to themselves weather or not they're getting good value. Some of those people will have the snob factor and won't be seen dead dining in Weatherspoons. They'll continue to struggle to pay their €60-70 odd for a meal out, begrudgingly whilst secretly wishing there was a cheaper alternative that wasn't Weatherspoons. But for a lot of people they'll have no such pretences about giving it a try out and if they like the offering then the low prices will definitely have them coming back and being turned into regular customers.

Finally some people seem to be assuming that because some of their pubs in the UK are dumps that this one in Blackrock will be along the same lines. I also think this is going to prove to be well wide of the mark, Weatherspoons have spent €2.35 million on fitting out this pub, which is a significant investment and is arguably more than what the land the pub sits on is currently worth. I don't drink out in Blackrock but I'd hazard a guess that none of the pubs out there have had a significant renovation or complete overhaul since the property market crashed in 2006. My guess is that many pubs haven't had an update in Blackrock in almost a decade or even longer and that when Weatherspoons opens up with it's €2.35 million worth of shiny new fixtures, fittings and furniture they'll quickly make most of the pub offerings in Blackrock look old, tired and dated in comparison.

Cienciano

From the few pictures alone I can see it has a better selection of beer than 99% of Irish pubs.
Anyone know what those ciders are like? I never had a proper cider, just the big brands, would like to try a proper one. Bulmers have cornered the cider market in Ireland and you can't get anything else in most places.

Cantona's Collars

fortwilliam wrote: »

They will be serving food from 8am, The presenter asked about the perception of soulless bars, they said they will be tailoring their irish pubs for their Irish customers, but in no way will they be trying to open "Irish Bars"

Any JDW's I've been into around the UK have been far from soulless,there's a massive one in Cardiff that used to be a cinema and it looks pretty cool.There's others around Manchester etc. that I've had great craic in.

Irish pubs have become soulless places especially after the Celtic Tiger where many places were revamped to make them "trendy",so many lost their character.One pub that I drank in did a complete refit & after the curiosity factor wore off it started to lose customers,'something' was missing.
A pub is what you make of it,so long as the staff are good,beer selection is good then the customers will stay.

Cienciano

I think some people here think the wallpaper design and tables provide atmosphere in a pub and not the people.

Links234

Seaneh wrote: »

Craft Beer is a much broader term and there's nothing pretentious about it, it's just used to differentiate it from mass produced swill.

Nothin' pretentious there at all Seaneh :pac:

Seaneh

Links234 wrote: »

Nothin' pretentious there at all Seaneh :pac:

It's like the difference between artisan cheeses and easy singles, in fairness.

userod

Seaneh wrote: »

It's like the difference between artisan cheeses and easy singles, in fairness.

To be honest, it's hard to beat opening the fridge and eating a lash of easy singles.

Idbatterim

if there was a local that stocked nothing Diageo, I would happily pay current prices just to avoid giving those gougers a cent to be honest...

Seaneh

userod wrote: »

To be honest, it's hard to beat opening the fridge and eating a lash of easy singles.

They have their place in the world, but I'm never going to eat them if I have a choice :P

userod

Seaneh wrote: »

They have their place in the world, but I'm never going to eat them if I have a choice :P

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder i suppose. Most of those fancy cheeses do nothing for me either.

Seaneh

userod wrote: »

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder i suppose. Most of those fancy cheeses do nothing for me either.

I love me a nice strong blue cheese I do, still think nothing beats a slice of Dubliner in a ham and cheese toastie though.

ScumLord

Cienciano wrote: »

From the few pictures alone I can see it has a better selection of beer than 99% of Irish pubs.

I can't really stand Irish pubs anymore to tell the truth, the beers they have available are just popular muck and if they have anything decent it costs crazy money. I tend to buy 6 bottles these days, usually all completely different. It's a much nicer experience too, I get a warm fuzzy type of steamed and I'm grand in the morning.

Go out for pints and it tastes like I'm drinking gas, get bloated, get manky drunk and feel like shyte the next day. Whatever gas they're using in pubs just doesn't agree with me which is why I'd like to be able to stick to ales. That's why I liked witherspoons over in England, they all had a collection of ales, at least 6 different types and all cheap. In Ireland if it's not being sold by the trough load they over charge to the point it's not worth the money.

userod

Seaneh wrote: »

I love me a nice strong blue cheese I do, still think nothing beats a slice of Dubliner in a ham and cheese toastie though.

This, I have to agree with.

Lapin

Seaneh wrote: »

Craft beer and real ale are two terms used to describe different things though.

Real Ale only applies to cask ales.

Craft Beer is a much broader term and there's nothing pretentious about it, it's just used to differentiate it from mass produced swill.

I know. But a lot of people confuse the two.

When I worked in the pub game in London I got fed up explaining to Irish customers the difference between the two. If I had a euro for everytime someone on a stag or football weekend asked me what craft beer on draft I'd recommend, I could have bought my own pub.

I still think the term is pretentious though. Not quite as pretentious as 'artisan cheese' but pretentious all the same.

Although neither term is as up it's own arse as the one this hipster used one day when asking me to recommend something different for him. "I'd like to try a sophisticated beer please".

I told the fúckwit to have a pint of Carling saying it was full of 'sophisticated' chemicals and preservatives.

drumswan

Lapin wrote: »

I know. But a lot of people confuse the two.

When I worked in the pub game in London I got fed up explaining to Irish customers the difference between the two. If I had a euro for everytime someone on a stag or football weekend asked me what craft beer on draft I'd recommend, I could have bought my own pub.

I still think the term is pretentious though. Not quite as pretentious as 'artisan cheese' but pretentious all the same.

Although neither term is as up it's own arse as the one this hipster used one day when asking me to recommend something different for him. "I'd like to try a sophisticated beer please".

I told the fúckwit to have a pint of Carling saying it was full of 'sophisticated' chemicals and preservatives.

It's silly reverse snobbery like this that has the Irish pub scene in the mess that it is. Who has a
chip on their shoulder about tasty small batch cheese ffs

Muahahaha

Lapin wrote: »

I know. But a lot of people confuse the two.

When I worked in the pub game in London I got fed up explaining to Irish customers the difference between the two. If I had a euro for everytime someone on a stag or football weekend asked me what craft beer on draft I'd recommend, I could have bought my own pub.

I still think the term is pretentious though. Not quite as pretentious as 'artisan cheese' but pretentious all the same.

Although neither term is as up it's own arse as the one this hipster used one day when asking me to recommend something different for him. "I'd like to try a sophisticated beer please".

I told the fúckwit to have a pint of Carling saying it was full of 'sophisticated' chemicals and preservatives.

It's 'hand-crafted' that grinds my gears like oh wow, someone used their hands to make something :rolleyes:

Don't even get me started on 'hand-cut sandwiches' or 'hand crafted coffee' :mad:

Sometimes I spend nearly ten minutes making myself a coffee at home, grinding beans, timing the shot, steaming and frothing milk, all that stuff. But I'd never be so up my own arse as to describe it as a 'hand-crafted coffee'!Especially not when it was actually the mechanical ability of the machine to brew at the correct temperature and dispense water at the precise pressure required to make the actual coffee taste as nice as it does. That's not 'hand-crafted coffee', it's 'machine perfected coffee', let's hear them call a spade a spade !

Tar.Aldarion

do wetherspoons have any good ciders?