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Irish pubs vs British pubs

2

Comments

  • #32
    lufties
    Registered Users Posts: 3,507 ✭✭✭lufties


    grimm2005 wrote: »
    Completely agree with this. I've had a few brilliant nights out in Camden that easily rival or were better then nights I've had in Dublin, and the bar staff were perfectly grand and in the World's End for example are incredibly fast and efficient, more so then I've seen in most places in Dublin. People seem to forget that London is a gigantic city that's exponentially larger then Dublin, there's many areas to go out on a night out and places that will suit everyone's niche.

    Worlds end, jesus what a kip!!


  • #33
    homerjay2005
    Registered Users Posts: 29,346 ✭✭✭✭homerjay2005


    i go to England at least once a month and in general, the quality of beer and pubs are absolutely s*ite. poor serving techniques, alot of the pubs are old fashioned and lacking any soul what so ever.

    if theres one thing we do better in Ireland than anywhere else, its pubs and alcohol.


  • #34
    FTA69
    Registered Users Posts: 9,252 ✭✭✭FTA69


    homerjay2005 wrote: »
    i go to England at least once a month and in general, the quality of beer and pubs are absolutely s*ite. poor serving techniques, alot of the pubs are old fashioned and lacking any soul what so ever.

    if theres one thing we do better in Ireland than anywhere else, its pubs and alcohol.

    On the contrary, most British pubs serve at least some locally-produced beer or ales and offer a much bigger variety of drinks. In the vast majority of pubs in Ireland you're limited to Guinness and a plethora of identical p*ssy lagers.


  • #35
    lufties
    Registered Users Posts: 3,507 ✭✭✭lufties


    homerjay2005 wrote: »
    i go to England at least once a month and in general, the quality of beer and pubs are absolutely s*ite. poor serving techniques, alot of the pubs are old fashioned and lacking any soul what so ever.

    if theres one thing we do better in Ireland than anywhere else, its pubs and alcohol.

    Unwelcoming I'd say is a biggie, and the staff have no clue how to deal with customers.

    Well its spurring me on to give up drink so than can only be a good thing.


  • #36
    lufties
    Registered Users Posts: 3,507 ✭✭✭lufties


    FTA69 wrote: »
    On the contrary, most British pubs serve at least some locally-produced beer or ales and offer a much bigger variety of drinks. In the vast majority of pubs in Ireland you're limited to Guinness and a plethora of identical p*ssy lagers.

    Heineken, carlsberg etc


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  • #37
    FTA69
    Registered Users Posts: 9,252 ✭✭✭FTA69


    lufties wrote: »
    Heineken, carlsberg etc

    Exactly. P*ssy lagers that taste the same as the next one. And you'll see the exact same beers in nearly every Irish pub, although that's thankfully beginning to change,


  • #38
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    FTA69 wrote: »
    That's the case in Central London but not the case in most other parts of the city.
    I accept that, but I would maintain that the majority of businesses you'll come across in any part of london is a chain, you have to know where to find the other places.

    I went to the Tiroler Hut austrian bar/resturant in London and had great craic, I haven't been to a place like it. It was cheesy as all hell, crammed and pretty expensive. I don't know whether it was some event they planned but as we finished our food people started doing karaoke, one guy was the spit of david hasselhoff and sang david hasselhoff songs. Normally that would have me heading for the door but there was such a fun atmosphere you could only enjoy it.


  • #39
    The_Captain
    Registered Users Posts: 1,376 ✭✭✭The_Captain


    Londoners in 'not very chatty' shocker


  • #40
    Meangadh
    Registered Users Posts: 3,963 ✭✭✭Meangadh


    brummytom wrote: »
    I live in Manchester... I'm just getting ready now to head out and play trad music with a C&W singer (Nathan Carter? Poor man's Daniel O'Donnell apparently) in a Manchester pub. :pac:

    Oh God, he's made it across the water??? I know there's the whole 800 years and all that malarkey, but do we really need to inflict that on the British??? :pac:


  • #41
    ceadaoin.
    Registered Users Posts: 8,085 ✭✭✭ceadaoin.


    I lived in London for years and found the pubs good and in a lot of cases friendlier than ireland. We had a couple of proper 'locals' where the landlord/landlady knew us and we would chat to the regulars. They were run by irish people so maybe that's why but most of the regulars would have been Londoners. My husband was involved with darts and most of the pubs he played in were friendly. This was in chiswick and around shepherds bush and hammersmith.


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  • #42
    The Backwards Man
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,299 ✭✭✭✭The Backwards Man


    Meangadh wrote: »
    Oh God, he's made it across the water??? I know there's the whole 800 years and all that malarkey, but do we really need to inflict that on the British??? :pac:
    He's from Liverpool. Like The Beatles.:)


  • #43
    EDit
    Registered Users Posts: 819 ✭✭✭EDit


    Part of the problem is that so many independent pubs (ie, not owned by one of the big Brewers and which tend to have a more homely feel and better service) in rural England seem to have closed down in recent years. When I go back over to the town where my parents live, it's bloody sad as so many of my old drinking haunts have been turned into restaurants, flats, old people's homes, or simply boarded up. From my time here (living here for past 10 yrs) it seems the pubs in Ireland have faired better in terms of surviving the recession.


  • #44
    fryup
    Registered Users Posts: 18,069 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    i'm going to wetherspoons tomorrow

    can someone recommend me a bitter


  • #45
    anncoates
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,925 ✭✭✭✭anncoates


    Speaking for Dublin, ironically a lot of what we think of as classic Dublin pubs are actually typically British Victorian pubs.

    Our pub cultures are very similar. Generally, England and Ireland have some great pubs and some bad pubs. I don't think we have a trademark on it. .


  • #46
    Barry Edmonds
    Site Banned Posts: 28 ✭Barry Edmonds


    Being able to retire to a cosy pub and enjoy a quite pint is a man's God-given right. Unfortunately today it's very difficult to find a good pub, even rural pubs will have the tv blaring away in the corner.

    The only advantage Irish pubs have is that they don't usually have fruit machines.


  • #47
    anncoates
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,925 ✭✭✭✭anncoates


    ScumLord wrote: »
    the only problem I'd have with pubs in London is that it's mostly chain pubs like wetherspoons.

    With respect, that's not true. There's lots of chain pubs but there's nice boozers in London, like any part of England.


  • #48
    Meangadh
    Registered Users Posts: 3,963 ✭✭✭Meangadh


    The Backwards Man wrote: »
    He's from Liverpool. Like The Beatles.:)

    Wow. I mean I thought the famine was bad- but to subject us to the aural tourture of Wagon Wheel??! Too far England. Too far.


  • #49
    MarkAnthony
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,934 ✭✭✭MarkAnthony


    I've lived in England, Scotland and Ireland for some reason I have a very well developed opinion on this subject.

    Firstly you can't really compare the three, you need to identify the areas so here's my take on South Eastern English Pubs, Dublin pubs and Edinburgh pubs.

    Dublin Pubs are amazing, the variety, the friendliness something for everyone. Service is always a bit dodge IMHO, especially when there is no designated area to order from the bar and you have to practically piggyback ride someone sat at the bar to get served.

    Edinburgh Pubs, never had a spot of bother but people are a bit more stand offish, much better service than Dublin, cheaper generally. Bouncers a model of politeness and restraint usually.

    South East England - You simply can't beat an English Pub for lazy afternoon drinking, better food, better facilities, better service. Way too many chains with a sterile feel though, nighttime 'pub' drinking finishes (or used too) way to bloody early.

    London Pubs - might be a cultural thing but I find them very friendly, maybe my thick English accent helps.

    Final point I've been to 'Irish Bars' in various countries throughout Europe, every single one of them run by an Englishman.


  • #50
    fran oconnor
    Registered Users Posts: 662 ✭✭✭fran oconnor


    Your Superior wrote: »
    I can say the same about Ireland. Had many many terrible visits to pubs, with the occasional good one in towns in Clare, Kildare and Tipperary.

    I think it's just a cultural thing. I personally find the forced "craic" and "aren't we grand" culture in Irish pubs to be tiresome, much preferring pubs in the North of England or Suffolk. At least there's no trad music there or jukeboxes full of country and western rubbish...

    Horses for courses really.
    Oh I failed to mention them poxy fruit machines that reside in English pubs, I actually refuse to drink in a pub that has some ****bag in the corner using these damn things.


  • #51
    ancapailldorcha
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,061 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    fran oconnor wrote: »
    Oh I failed to mention them poxy fruit machines that reside in English pubs, I actually refuse to drink in a pub that has some ****bag in the corner using these damn things.

    One of the most depressing things I've ever seen. I've actually seen guys spend hours on end at them, no exaggeration.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



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  • #52
    HalloweenJack
    Registered Users Posts: 7,050 ✭✭✭HalloweenJack


    Spent the last summer working in Nottingham and found a local called the Three Wheatsheaves. I loved it. Generally a very quiet place, barman was a delightful character, don't thinl I got his name but we'd chat for hours about the football and everything. It was a lovely place.

    Don't get the whole Irish staff are friendlier argument. I've met friendlier people working in British bars but I wouldn't say British pubs are friendlier. They're just different.


  • #53
    Hulk Hands
    Registered Users Posts: 6,013 ✭✭✭Hulk Hands


    Have been to pubs all over Britain, the common theme being the bar staff being very poor to disgraceful in places. It's probably to a culture thing and wages (although a lot of bar staff aren't exactly paid well here). Can't take more than one order at once, no urgency whatsoever no matter how big the queue and a lack of general skills in serving the drink. I thought maybe it was just an Irish thing to have staff running around manic to get everyone served, but it's similar in the US and many parts of Europe. It's quite lax in parts of Eastern Europe and Asia. Nowhere as bad as the UK though.

    Have found Irish pubs to have much nicer interior and a better atmosphere also. The pros in Britain being much better value on the price of drink. It's a common thing to run Ireland down here but pubs is one thing we do quite well. Certain pubs in Dublin, Galway and Cork specifically are some of the finest around the world


  • #54
    flas
    Registered Users Posts: 1,270 ✭✭✭flas


    A lot of people don't realise just how many pubs in dublin are chain pubs!its a crazy amount!


  • #55
    ancapailldorcha
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,061 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    HalloweenJack wrote: »
    Spent the last summer working in Nottingham and found a local called the Three Wheatsheaves. I loved it. Generally a very quiet place, barman was a delightful character, don't thinl I got his name but we'd chat for hours about the football and everything. It was a lovely place.

    Don't get the whole Irish staff are friendlier argument. I've met friendlier people working in British bars but I wouldn't say British pubs are friendlier. They're just different.

    Funnily enough, I've found the staff in Wetherspoon's to be quite good on average.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



  • #56
    Hulk Hands
    Registered Users Posts: 6,013 ✭✭✭Hulk Hands


    flas wrote: »
    A lot of people don't realise just how many pubs in dublin are chain pubs!its a crazy amount!

    There's many owned by the same people/company, but it's rare you get a lot with the exact same menu selling the same food, the pub laid out in the same way and the same music policy. Granted the vast majority of the country are selling the same stuff behind the bar which is a problem, one that is changing slowly though. The fact that not many people know plenty of pubs in Dublin are 'chains' shows this, whereas its blatantly obvious when you walk into a chain pub in the UK, even one with an original name and design outside


  • #57
    The Golden Miller
    Registered Users Posts: 5,032 ✭✭✭The Golden Miller


    Hate English pubs. In general your quintessential Irish pub is far more homely than an English pub. Just don't like the feel of you standard English pub, just the interior. And I'm not even talking about their chain pubs. Normally I'd be off the persuasion that when I go to another country, I go out of the way not to go to an Irish bar. Why go all the way to another country for the same thing? But in England I go out of my way to find Irish pubs. Nothing against the English, love English people. Just hate their pubs. When I watch something like Inbetweeners and see them in that sort of standard English pub, I associate how the English pub looks with a feeling of sickness from a hangover after drinking in one the night before.

    And I don't know what is mixed in pints in the UK, but Magners over there certainly has a lingering bad taste that you don't get in Bulmers over here, and it goes for all drinks, whether it be Heineken or Guinness or whatever. It's not even an after taste, there's just something in them that doesn't taste the same. Even the cans and pint bottles are the same (and what's with their 440ml cans everywhere? Where's all the normal size one's? And the selection for you standard cans is dreadful in shops). Far worse hangovers and feelings of sickness after drinking the sh1te that passes for alcohol over in England, than over here. Can't really put my finger on it, but it just ain't the same. Same craic in Manchester, London, Leeds and Harrogate. And believe me I'm not some pretentious connoisseur of beer, who goes on about craft beer and other such nonsense. I'll drink most things if it has alcohol in it. Just not into that English pub scene at all.

    And after all that, you can't even head down to the local shop for your chicken fillet roll the next morning. What's that all about? Surely there is a niche market over there for the aul deli counter where they make rolls? That's just my experience, and I'm not having it at all


  • #58
    johnohanlon
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 67 ✭✭johnohanlon


    Irish pubs and Britannic pubs cannot be simply divided like that, a pub in rural yorkshire would be very like an Irish pub, and a swanky pub in the pale wouldn't be the same as a pub in rural ireland so it wouldn't.

    What makes an Irish pub anyway? sure there are Irish pubs everywhere in the world? In Manchester there is a pub which has ulster and leinster flegs outside it.

    One of the most popular Irish pubs in the world is McSorleys of New York, the founder was actually the ancestor of your man who played Todd Unctious in Father Ted, there is an interesting fact for you


  • #59
    lufties
    Registered Users Posts: 3,507 ✭✭✭lufties


    The Golden Miller wrote: »
    Hate English pubs. In general your quintessential Irish pub is far more homely than an English pub. Just don't like the feel of you standard English pub, just the interior. And I'm not even talking about their chain pubs. Normally I'd be off the persuasion that when I go to another country, I go out of the way not to go to an Irish bar. Why go all the way to another country for the same thing? But in England I go out of my way to find Irish pubs. Nothing against the English, love English people. Just hate their pubs. When I watch something like Inbetweeners and see them in that sort of standard English pub, I associate how the English pub looks with a feeling of sickness from a hangover after drinking in one the night before.

    And I don't know what is mixed in pints in the UK, but Magners over there certainly has a lingering bad taste that you don't get in Bulmers over here, and it goes for all drinks, whether it be Heineken or Guinness or whatever. It's not even an after taste, there's just something in them that doesn't taste the same. Even the cans and pint bottles are the same (and what's with their 440ml cans everywhere? Where's all the normal size one's? And the selection for you standard cans is dreadful in shops). Far worse hangovers and feelings of sickness after drinking the sh1te that passes for alcohol over in England, than over here. Can't really put my finger on it, but it just ain't the same. Same craic in Manchester, London, Leeds and Harrogate. And believe me I'm not some pretentious connoisseur of beer, who goes on about craft beer and other such nonsense. I'll drink most things if it has alcohol in it. Just not into that English pub scene at all.

    And after all that, you can't even head down to the local shop for your chicken fillet roll the next morning. What's that all about? Surely there is a niche market over there for the aul deli counter where they make rolls? That's just my experience, and I'm not having it at all

    Have you ever seen that video for the song 'only you' by the flying pickets. Jesus wept its awful depressing. Reminds me of a miserable pub on a dreary sunday somewhere in east london.


  • #60
    humbert
    Registered Users Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭humbert


    This confuses me. Could you name one pub in London/England and one in Dublin/Ireland that adequately exemplifies the rest so I can form an opinion?


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  • #61
    The Golden Miller
    Registered Users Posts: 5,032 ✭✭✭The Golden Miller


    lufties wrote: »
    Have you ever seen that video for the song 'only you' by the flying pickets. Jesus wept its awful depressing. Reminds me of a miserable pub on a dreary sunday somewhere in east london.

    Only watched it the other day actually. Soul destroying. Blow your brains out kind of stuff


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