Pub's closing in athlone

crazy_spider

Hi all, of late ive been hearing of a lot of pubs in athlone closing down..
So far i've heard that charlie brown's and dan's tavern are going to be flattened and that raynor's and biddy mulligans and closing too.

I've also heard in the last few day's that there's a possibility that bozos wont be re-opening?

does anyone know if there is truth to any of this and if so why its happening??

slowharry

rayners is shut didn't hear about charlie brownes. i think dan's is owned by a developer and is part of the site that the primary care building is proposed. there are lads doing work in bozo's so i presume its just a refurb job

offaly1

heard bout charlie browns alright! god it was a good spot when was in college. I saw in some property pages of some paper all that area round charlie browns was for sale.

raynors.....i think thats a lovely spot. was in there for a spot of food just after easter.

is the palace bar over the bridge still going strong?

veryangryman

Guess they're closing cos people drinking the bit less. Most pubs in town dont even open during the week no more.

Think its a nationwide thing. People barely go out at all these days and if they do, they save it for a Saturday. Net result is that the pubs have to close.

Think its a bit of a shame, but on the other hand maybe people are just looking after themselves better than they used to.

crazy_spider

offaly1 wrote: »

is the palace bar over the bridge still going strong?

Yes the palace is still going strong but they seem to let anyone of anyage in there...

Just heard that Conlon's is re-opening... anyone remember that place?? used to get a good crowd in!

offaly1

remember going to the palace a few times during my college years....which was years ago! it was a nice spot then....

Saint_Mel

Dan's was always going to be knocked after it sold on but there was talk of knocking it and building a smaller pub on the site.

I heard Durty Harrys is due to close too.

BoB_BoT

lots of rumours / info, but here's what I know :P,

Rayners is closed for redevelopment (they're extending the bistro downstairs, retail in the middle, offices on the top), Biddys is closing if not closed (havn't been down that direction lately), the Forge (never been in it) is closing/closed. O' Neills is closing/closed (havn't been up that direction in a while), Cartys is closing/closed. Heard about Charlies being sold for development into apts. That's the first I heard about Dans tavern, I've heard about Durty Harrys closing on and off for years, so it's hard to know about that one. Bozos is only closed for a refurb, "Conlon's reopening" ? I doubt that, isn't that part of Bozos now?

All in all, a crap load of pubs closing. There's one or two more I've heard of, just can't think of them off the top of my head.
Also, people arn't drinking less, just more at home.

denmcn

Bob Bot,

Drove by Biddys and O'Neills at lunchtime today and both were open - actually O'Neills was getting a paint job, so doubt if its going to close anytime soon

D

Onikage

I wouldn't shed a tear if any of those places closed except maybe Rayners for nostalgias sake.

BoB_BoT

denmcn wrote: »

Bob Bot,

Drove by Biddys and O'Neills at lunchtime today and both were open - actually O'Neills was getting a paint job, so doubt if its going to close anytime soon

D

Really, lol, ah sure I'd heard it from a "reliable" rumour sources lol
that's pretty funny, because I've had at least 4/5 people say it to me that they were closing. it's good to know, I like O'Neills, biddys however...

I also liked Rayners, but it never recovered pub wise, after it briefly lost its late license a few years back, it's like they all jump shipped to the Palace overnight

I'll have to investigate this weekend to see where has closed and where hasn't. In otherwords pub crawl! anyone want to come along?

Name a pub and we'll see if it's still open :P yes yes.. any excuse

styer

Are you sure Raynors lost it's licence for awhile? From what I gathered it was opened as a "super pub" a place where everyone goes cause it was new, it held onto a crowd for a while then a number of factors caused the crowd to move on ... some just simply went back to there original pub, gerties, seans etc, the palace revamped itself so that crowd that moves around just moved onto there, plus when raynors got a late licence it got fairly rough especially upstairs... think that was inline with Ginkles closing...

BoB_BoT

well that's what was said about it, that people across the road had complained about noise levels, they lost the license. The crowds varied, and a lot depended on what bouncers were on.

What do people think of Club Q so far? Havn't been in myself, have heard of people being turned away, new bouncers apparently, stricter policies etc..
Also heard it's over 20's that's a bad idea in my opinion, they're gonna alienate a lot of their customers :P

styer

Yeah I heard that it's over 20's... with both Karma and Club Q there's going to be the same situation that was in Athlone 8/9 years ago where both Bozo's and Ginkles were 21's... if both stay 20's then one club will loose out badly... will be interesting to see where people end up...

BoB_BoT

yeah I don't understand why they'd adopt a policy like that. How about a no scumbag policy instead? Anyone notice if prices have gone up? Usually "fancier" clubs tend to up the prices a bit, not that they weren't already a rip off.

von Smallhausen

Biddy Mulligans has closed b/c lease is up nobody taking it up as of yet...same with pub next to that..o'briens....Durty Harrys is still open....41's has reopened after 2 month closure with new management... (ehh where else now)... nope cant think of anywhere atm.

Danny B

BoB_BoT

ah 41's must have been closed longer than 2 months? Sure it was up for sale for a lot longer than that. Have yet to be in it, but told it's the same as it was before it closed :P

yeah, very few closed after all the rumours, sure time will tell.

dbigc

hi guys biddys is closed at the moment but i would like to know what was it like and what is the area like was it ever a good place to go and would you go to it again if it reopened. i am looking at the lease for it and would like some local info what sort of music it used to play the plans we have is a referb and good chart music and the odd band and of course onlike other places or age would be 18+ with a very strict no scum policy just a nice relaxed cosey bar .

any info would be great

thanks

von Smallhausen

dbigc wrote: »

hi guys biddys is closed at the moment but i would like to know what was it like and what is the area like was it ever a good place to go and would you go to it again if it reopened. i am looking at the lease for it and would like some local info what sort of music it used to play the plans we have is a referb and good chart music and the odd band and of course onlike other places or age would be 18+ with a very strict no scum policy just a nice relaxed cosey bar .

any info would be great

thanks

Hi, well I used to work in biddys for 5 years so i have a bit of info for ya!

It was (back before I started) a really good place to drink. But as like all places started to go downhill and fast. There was a lot of underage drinkers trying to get served. And a lot of as you called scum. Its a big place with a massive back yard behind a gate where there is a tempoary stage built years ago. Music wise there was most weekends a DJ where he would play really crappy techno/house muck!:D not my cup of tea lol. If you are thinking on going for the lease the owners are nice ppl as i know them well.

Hope was of help and if you have any questions just ask.

dbigc

thanks for the info danny it is helpful. where does everyone go to now.

Saint_Mel

In opposition the the title of this thread, as far as I know "The Local" will be opening for the 1st time tonight. (Formerly Bar Metro)

roosterman71

And Charlies closed on Wednesday night (or at least they had a closing down party)

damselnat

dbigc wrote: »

where does everyone go to now.

The Palace is my haunt of choice I must say, purely because of the dancefloors, its nice to go out and have a drink and dance without having to pay daft nightclub prices. Late bar helps too!!
If it's a traditional style pub you're thinking of though, that's probably not quite the thing! Coppers very popular with students, so it seems. Big fan of Sean's and Gertie's as well, it's that rustic olde worlde atmosphere:)
The Prince too, but that's in the vein of the Palace, with cocktails.
Depends on what your target market is tbh, I can on talk for the under25 set.....what we are missing is a decent bar with good >whisper it< drinks promotions:eek:

Seaneh

Yeah, besides Scribes (which you won't be competing with because YOU CAN'T and they aren't open at weekends) there is nowhere in athlone that does promotions at all, The Local will be doing them but not regularly (weekly).

If you had a wednesday/thursday night where you did 3 yoyo pints and advertised it around the college, talked to Lousie and Seamy in Karma about getting free passes or someone to come down and stamp for them for free entry you'd get a great student crowd.

Biddys is known as a pill-heads place for the last few years though.

No reason why it couldn't do well if run properly but If I was you I wouldn't dream of paying more than 1100 a week on a lease because you'll be struggling to pay it.

Also, get a good young chef and let him set a decent bar food menu (Keith McGrath would be good I think, not an amazing chef but a great chef manager, good at keeping cost down but still putting out quality food) and let him run the kitchen, don't breathe down his neck, it'd be stupid not to do bar food when you have a good sized kitchen as part of your lease.

Get security but don't let Dan Kelly send you useless fukers like he does to places like Ricks, try get Jimmy Flanagan or his brother Tommy, they know all the heads around town and wouldn't be shy about telling them to jog on.

Get a good resident band, once a week stuff, there are a few ok covers bands knocking around town, stay away from the likes of Big Deal unless you wanna her two lads talk ****e for a hour and spend the other hour playing over backing tracks.


Er, besides that I'd say you have some background in the business so no need to get into that besides to re-affirm taht if you wanna be busy you're going to have to do a **** load of promotions during the week nights, get on to Shauna (red bull rep for the area) about doing promos, she'll sort ya out big style and she does the promos herslef with a few friends, always good craic.

If you're competing for the 18-30 crowd you're main competition are the palace, prince, coppers and "The Local" (reopens tonight, used to be Bar Metro) which will do a steady tread because Beaumie is well liked and knows how to run a bar (Coosan Tavern has died a death since he left).

dbigc

thanks again for all your info very helpful please keep it coming i will never dismiss an idea or opinion as a great idea is great no matter where it comes from

dbigc

hi guys i went out in athlone last night (sat) what is going on every bar other than coppers was empty and i mean empty even the palace only had about 20 or 30 people but the night club was full so where are people drinking before the night clubs because its defo not in the town

- bo -

dbigc -

Im a student living in Athlone town Monday-Friday and as was mentioned previously, theres absolutely no sign of any cheap drinks promotions in any bars in the town. Not all students just head out in Genesis out at the main college campus, some people living closer to town and not in student accomodation prefer to stay in town (Im in the Northgate St campus in town and theres about 100 or so students there too).

So yeah, good cheap drinks promotions on Wednesdays and Thursdays (2 main nights for students to be out) and get the word spread and Im sure it would go down well. Bands every couple of weeks, sort of like a town-based version of the Scribesstudent bar out in the college). Myself and mates always go to a house first with cans and straight to niteclubs because well, none of us can go places to spend €4-5 on a drink in a pub.

(Actually I was in Biddy Mulligans last September/October at the start of the college year where they were doing €2 bottles of Miller, we heard ot was closing down soon so I take it they were just trying to get rid of stock?!)

Hope it goes well if you decide to go ahead with it, I know meself and a good lot of mates would give it a shot..

von Smallhausen

yea they were getting rid of stock.

dbigc

how long were they open last year and did they get many in when they were, as for €3 a drink i would want to sell some amount of beer to stay open but one think i am looking at is a full time line of beers and ales that i will be able to sell at about €3.50 which is not to bad, but was last sat night an average night because it was very quiet.

stapolinhosting

I recon Biddys could do well if the right management had it.

Its got a good location and its not a bad sized pub but there are a few things needing doing to it... like getting rid of the few resident rodents for one.

The last guy who had the lease kinda is now under house arrest or something for many counts of fraud, He opened the place up with no capitol, didnt pay the staff, didnt pay contractors, didnt even register the business until AFTER he opened. Brewery stopped delivering to him.

In the side beer garden the drains need to be looked at, its stinks out there and you got some over growth of briars and nettles and other strange things.

The outside has been freshly painted, so no worries there.

Some of the stuff in the kitchen need attention, just some updating and maybe fix a few things.

The place right now, you may find it difficult to build it back up after the crap the last guy caused to the place but like I said, the right management could really get it off the ground and cleaned up.

dbigc

stapolinhosting wrote: »

I recon Biddys could do well if the right management had it.

Its got a good location and its not a bad sized pub but there are a few things needing doing to it... like getting rid of the few resident rodents for one.

The last guy who had the lease kinda is now under house arrest or something for many counts of fraud, He opened the place up with no capitol, didnt pay the staff, didnt pay contractors, didnt even register the business until AFTER he opened. Brewery stopped delivering to him.

In the side beer garden the drains need to be looked at, its stinks out there and you got some over growth of briars and nettles and other strange things.

The outside has been freshly painted, so no worries there.

Some of the stuff in the kitchen need attention, just some updating and maybe fix a few things.

The place right now, you may find it difficult to build it back up after the crap the last guy caused to the place but like I said, the right management could really get it off the ground and cleaned up.

you sound like a guy who used to work there