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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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drumswan

craggles wrote: »

They are everywhere over there, it's difficult to avoid them.

More nonsense, about 1.5% of pubs in the UK are Wetherspoons.

Grayson

Craggles, you wouldn't happen to work for the vintners would you?

Geuze

craggles wrote: »

. Their food is diabolical and their pubs are soulless places devoid of all atmosphere and warmth. They are a cancer on any bar and pub scene in any area they move into and as much as the greed of publicans in this country turns all of our stomachs, in comparison with this vile pub chain they represent a lesser of two evils.

Of course competition is always a good thing but Wetherspoons gaining a foothold has the potential to be irreversibly detrimental to Irish pub culture if it is allowed to happen.

These statements are not in any way fair.

While their food is average enough, it's fine and filling.

Their pubs may lack the "character" of some Irish pubs, yes.

But if they're so bad, how did they get to 900 pubs +??

I welcome them to Irl, there is space for them in the market.

Even if they reach 25 outlets, there'll still be 8,000 off non-WS pubs.

Idbatterim

Absolutely fantastic news, they are stopping to sell Heineken in any of their 926 british pubs over a dispute about the one that is due to open in Dun Laoghaire! If they stop serving it in the uk is probably a near total irrelevance to WS, I am over in a town that has one in the Uk every month, nobody over there is hell bent on the "big brands" the way they are over here, there are endless local beers and microbreweries. No one in their right mind would stop drinking in a spoons, because they didnt sell the creme de la creme of beers that is Heineken :rolleyes: (in the uk at least) This is fantastic on so many levels! I wouldnt be surprised if the greedy VFI thugs are behind this, well it looks like it has majorly backfired on Heineken!

What has possibly happened is local pubs Dun Laoghaire pubs approach VFI or they do it of their own accord, who then approach Heineken, "our members are concerned about the price of your drink in spoons v our other establishments that supply it" What ended up in them trying to blackmail spoons over 1 pub in Ireland, where they have been ripping us off for years, has ended up with them losing out on 926 british pubs, even if it is only temporarily. LOL LOL!

Wetherspoon drops Heineken from its pubs in row over Irish prices
Move comes over row with the Dutch brewer over pricing in Ireland

British pub group Wetherspoon said it would no longer sell Heineken drinks at any of its 926 pubs after a disagreement with the Dutch brewer over pricing in Ireland.

Wetherspoon, whose cheap drink and food offers have proved popular in the UK, has been selling pints of Heineken lager and Murphy's stout at prices around 40pc below the competition at its first Irish pub in Blackrock, Dublin.

The pub chain, which last year outlined plans for around 30 pubs in the Republic of Ireland, said today that Heineken had refused to supply Heineken lager, Ireland's biggest selling draught beer, and Murphy's to its second pub in Dun Laoghaire, due to open this month.

The spat is another blow for Wetherspoon's Irish ambitions. The firm does not serve Guinness there either after a disagreement on price with drinks group Diageo.

Wetherspoon said Heineken had also wanted personal guarantees from Chief Executive John Hutson in order to supply the Dun Laoghaire pub any of its others drinks, such as Strongbow cider and Foster's lager. It did not say what the guarantees were.

Heineken, whose business with Wetherspoon is worth around £60m (€76m) a year, was not available for immediate comment.

Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin said the brewer's decision was "unacceptable and hard to understand".

"We have been trading with Heineken for 35 years and they have never requested personal guarantees before. It's obstructive to do so now, especially when we made record profits of around £80m last year," he added.

Shares in Wetherspoon were broadly flat at 802 pence at 10:05 GMT. Heineken shares were down 1 percent to €61.80.

Beefy78

craggles wrote: »

They are everywhere over there, it's difficult to avoid them.

No it isn't. It is extremely easy to avoid them.

Personally I like cheap drink, a vast choice in beer, great selection of food deals and the buzz of a rammed pub so I regularly frequent Wetherspoons pubs up and down the UK.

I applaud their attitude toward Heineken who are emblematic of the biggest problem with the Irish pub scene. Wetherspoons won't be bullied and by turfing them out of 1,000 pubs they're giving them a taste of their own medicine.

Idbatterim

I applaud their attitude toward Heineken who are emblematic of the biggest problem with the Irish pub scene. Wetherspoons won't be bulled and by turfing them out of 1,000 pubs they're giving them a taste of their own medicine.

when Heineken come crawling back, if spoons take them back, they should stop selling it for a few weeks as a lesson, they will think twice about it in future...

Beano

I cant see wetherspoons being particularly affected by not being able to see heineken in the UK. Their customers will just buy something else. I dont think i've ever seen anybody drink heineken in the uk.

Garlicrosemary

Delighted, let that be a lesson to the big breweries.

Alun

craggles wrote: »

They are everywhere over there, it's difficult to avoid them.

Nonsense. I go to the UK regularly (from there originally) and this year I went to my first ever Wetherspoons. Which was fine as it happens.

recyclops

TBH i was frequented a pub in the uk when over with work and i only realised the other week it was a weetherspoons

Idbatterim

Originally Posted by craggles View Post
They are everywhere over there, it's difficult to avoid them.

what do you mean? it will be a normal building with the pub name on it, often it can be difficult to tell from the outside that it is a spoons. Simply walk past it, you would swear every second boozer in uk towns was a spoons from the way it is portrayed here, which is BS!

WoollyRedHat

craggles wrote: »

I see it's getting some absolutely glowing reviews here anyway!

http://www.yelp.ie/biz/the-three-tun-tavern-blackrock

You're using a sample size of 6, really? If that was 4 stars and only 6 people had rated it, you would berating them for bringing it up and rightly so.

apoeiguq3094y

I've no problem with JD weatherspoons individually, but I would hate to see Ireland end up like the UK where most of the pubs are owned by brewries or chains.

http://www.pubexpertsguide.co.uk/listing.cfm?CategoryID=7

Most of the chains and breweries strictly control the brands on sale in the pubs in the UK. So there is more variety in the UK, but not really choice... once you are in a particular branded pub, its still a small choice.

The food available in the chains is all the same and mostly cooked off site and reheated to be served. There's very little variety in the menus or the food. I rarely eat out for this reason when in the UK.

While JD might be good for competition by shaking up the VFI and the cartel like prices, if it ended up like the UK - it would be just a different type of cartel with the profits going to someone elses pockets.

Beano

apoeiguq3094y wrote: »

I've no problem with JD weatherspoons individually, but I would hate to see Ireland end up like the UK where most of the pubs are owned by brewries or chains.

http://www.pubexpertsguide.co.uk/listing.cfm?CategoryID=7

Most of the chains and breweries strictly control the brands on sale in the pubs in the UK. So there is more variety in the UK, but not really choice... once you are in a particular branded pub, its still a small choice.

The food available in the chains is all the same and mostly cooked off site and reheated to be served. There's very little variety in the menus or the food. I rarely eat out for this reason when in the UK.

While JD might be good for competition by shaking up the VFI and the cartel like prices, if it ended up like the UK - it would be just a different type of cartel with the profits going to someone elses pockets.

Unlike the great variety available here in most pubs which consists of guiness, heineken, carlsberg, murphys and budweiser?

Most chains do stock the same range (well except when they have guest beers in which wethersppons do regularly) but walk to the pub down the road and the choice will be different. that is real choice.

apoeiguq3094y

Beano wrote: »

Unlike the great variety available here in most pubs which consists of guiness, heineken, carlsberg, murphys and budweiser?

Most chains do stock the same range (well except when they have guest beers in which wethersppons do regularly) but walk to the pub down the road and the choice will be different. that is real choice.

No, my point is that while Diageo and Heineken control the offerings in Irish pubs, but UK pub managers aren't free to stock what they want. They have strict contracts with the chain/owners that restrict the choice in the pub. Its the same anti-competition control exerted by large companies. Neither the consumer nor the pub itself is free to choose the beers.

The ideal scenario is when the local clients will influence the beer coice. If people want major brands thats fine, or if they want small independent micro-brewed craft beers the choice should be there.

JDW looks like choice now because they are different to what we have. If they had a majority of pubs, people would be complaining that they could only get the types of beer JDW sold and that they couldn't get Heineken or whatever anywhere.

Nothing wrong with 'spoons, but the aren't some charitable group here to set us free... they are here to use their market strength to undercut local competitors.

Idbatterim

JDW looks like choice now because they are different to what we have. If they had a majority of pubs, people would be complaining that they could only get the types of beer JDW sold and that they couldn't get Heineken or whatever anywhere.

Nothing wrong with 'spoons, but the aren't some charitable group here to set us free... they are here to use their market strength to undercut local competitors.

They are the first non Diageo pubs, that is massive here, where between themselves and the VFI, they have run a cartell for years! Of course they arent a charitable group, ryanair and aldi and lidl are not either, but thank god for them!

Its gone from one extreme to another here and it is fantastic IMO. Its gone from a total anti consumer VFI Diageo stranglehold, to a pub chain so big coming in here, that they have the power to totally dismiss them, the Schadenfreude I am deriving from this is next level!

Beefy78

The consumer is free to choose the beer in the UK because if they don't like the beer in one pub they go three doors down the road into a pub with a different set of beers. Unlike here where every pub is different except for the beer which is the same in 97% of them.

It isn't usually difficult to find a local ale in even a mainstream chain pub in the UK.

Beano

apoeiguq3094y wrote: »

No, my point is that while Diageo and Heineken control the offerings in Irish pubs, but UK pub managers aren't free to stock what they want. They have strict contracts with the chain/owners that restrict the choice in the pub. Its the same anti-competition control exerted by large companies. Neither the consumer nor the pub itself is free to choose the beers.

The ideal scenario is when the local clients will influence the beer coice. If people want major brands thats fine, or if they want small independent micro-brewed craft beers the choice should be there.

JDW looks like choice now because they are different to what we have. If they had a majority of pubs, people would be complaining that they could only get the types of beer JDW sold and that they couldn't get Heineken or whatever anywhere.

Nothing wrong with 'spoons, but the aren't some charitable group here to set us free... they are here to use their market strength to undercut local competitors.

I dont see how anything that introduces more choice can be a bad thing. If people dont want what is on offer with wetherspoons they will vote with their feet.

Geuze

This move by Heineken Irl has, if anything, made it more likely I will travel to both Blackrock and DL to visit their two pubs.

Garlicrosemary

Geuze wrote: »

This move by Heineken Irl has, if anything, made it more likely I will travel to both Blackrock and DL to visit their two pubs.

As a Heineken drinker ( when no decent beers are available) I'll be drinking another brand of dishwater from now on.:D

Beano

Geuze wrote: »

This move by Heineken Irl has, if anything, made it more likely I will travel to both Blackrock and DL to visit their two pubs.

judging by the username you must be a man who appreciates an ale or two.

suicide_circus

Anyone or anything that damages the vintners/diageo/heino cartel in Ireland is alrigt by me.

Any moves by the vintners/diageo/heino cartel to hamper competition in the form of spoons or the craft beer pubs only serves to drive me into those establishments. Since my first drink in an irish pub, I knew I was being ripped off and this feeling has persisted on almost every subsequent visit.

anncoates

Am assuming that the spat must because JDW won't jack up the price of Heineken and Murphys here?

Delighted to see somebody stand up to the cartel here on behalf of pubs that don't have the clout.

Win win. Either they have to back down or just get in something like O'Hara's stout and another lager instead.

Capt'n Midnight

VinLieger wrote: »

About time somebody challenged the all powerful ripoff triefecta of the VFI, Heineken and Diageo.

Remember the old argument that the publicans didn't have a cartel going because VFI and LVA were different ?

http://www.lva.ie/press/press-release-publicans-to-consider-establishment-of-a-new-national-representative-body-06-11-2014/

PRESS RELEASE - Publicans to Consider Establishment of a New National Representative Body - 06.11.2014

The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA), which represents publicans located in the Greater Dublin area, and the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI), which represents publicans located outside Dublin, have today agreed to engage in discussions that may lead to the creation of a new representative body.

Also the excise duty on a pint of 4.3% Heino is 55c

apoeiguq3094y

anncoates wrote: »

Am assuming that the spat must because JDW won't jack up the price of Heineken and Murphys here?

Delighted to see somebody stand up to the cartel here on behalf of pubs that don't have the clout.

Win win. Either they have to back down or just get in something like O'Hara's stout and another lager instead.

I'm delighted to see somebody stand up to the cartel, but I just wish it was a group of independent pubs deciding to break ranks with the VFI. Not a huge chain like JDW.

syklops

WesternZulu wrote: »

Thank god there isn't!

They've the same identical soulless pubs serving crap beer and food all over the UK.

Was in there on Sunday evening. Murphys stout and Staropramen Czech beer, both draught. the two together came to 6 euro, slightly more than what 1 pint of Murphys would be in practically any other pub in the country.

I then had delicious chicken wings and a pulled pork burger with chips.

Crap beer Good affordable beer
crap food Delicious food.

How does that post have so many thanks?

Links234

The only criticism here against Wetherspoons I'd agree with is that the food is crap, but jesus are some people really going out of their way to bash 'em

Aongus Von Bismarck

My couple of visits to a Wetherspoons pub are memorable only for the fact that the pubs themselves were always terrible places, devoid of any real atmosphere, and devoted to serving up average British ales and vile microwaved food to punters surrounded by slot machines.

That said, I like to see them play hardball with the large breweries. It's capitalism at its finest. I live in Germany, and while the place isn't completely devoid of soulless drinking dens; there remains a real tradition of pubs buying beer from the local brewery and serving it at a reasonable price. When I head back to Galway I do see the nebulous of this starting to happen. But it's in craft beer pubs who charge utterly extortionate prices for American style Pale Ales that rarely offer anything new or exciting.

Links234

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

and devoted to serving up average British ales

They serve up absolutely fantastic British ales, probably the only real reason to set foot in a Wetherspoons tbh, and proper cask ale is hard to come by in this country. Hell, even going into some of the craft beer places these days, it can be dominated by Hoppy McHopperson's Hopped-up All-Hop IPA at 8% and the like, which is grand if you want to taste nothing but hop burn and alcohol.

A good pint of Adnams or Thornbridge on cask is fantastic

awec

Links234 wrote: »

The only criticism here against Wetherspoons I'd agree with is that the food is crap, but jesus are some people really going out of their way to bash 'em

Food and atmosphere. The coffee shop / canteen style layout and atmosphere is just a bit weird for a pub.

Wetherspoons prices and selection in a proper pub and you've got the real deal.