Pub's closing in athlone

stapolinhosting

dbigc wrote: »

you sound like a guy who used to work there

LOL, not a chance!

I know someone who did work for the guy who had Biddys. I was in there a few times pricing some work (Which im glad I never got to do, cause i would never have been paid). He was a complete A-H**E. While I was there going through some prices with him a guy came in who had hearing aids in his ears and was simply looking for one of his friends. The owner, without hesitation told him that no one was here of 'your sort'! The guy didnt here him propery, and asked what did he say, and the owner shouted at him and told him to get out, that his sort was not welcome!

What an ass! I felt like kicking him to last week. Anyway, as far as I know that guy cant even move out of his house without letting the Garda know! He deserves everything he gets as far as im concerned.

boredatwork82

Biddys use to be a great spot back in the day 5-10 years ago. I drank there 2-3 times a week for years. The crowd were great, It use to have great live bands, great tribute bands (guns N roses, stone roses, U2, thin lizzy etc etc.) Nice crowd - a mix of all ages. Actually had a chat (reminisce) with an old taxi driver who use to drink there tonight.

The last guy who had it was a pure coke head. I remember been in there with a few lads and the guy who was meant to be behind the bar was doing lines in full view of everyone. He brought DJ's in, and between scumbags and DJ's he lost the crowd that use to go there. There tore down aload of wood paneling and painted the walls white. This destroyed the pub, that use to be a lovely looking pub, and all the sound regulars who liked their rock and decent music left.
I use to love it pool and good music in a nice bar (big but not bar and empty looking, even with a small crowd it looked decent enough), was pretty cool. But bringing djs and changing the pub turned everyone away. As for now, there is not enough business to open the place. Coppers has taken all the business ( well the small bit that was in town) and every where else is empty. Its a shame that Athlone is gone to ****e.

stapolinhosting

Yeah, that guy destroyed the place. It looked like it had loads of potiential, but not the type he had in mind for it.

It haa a great area at the back for bands to play. I would love to see a sort of 'Fibber Mc Gees' of Athlone... Good people drinking there, Pool tables, REAL Bands playing, Hardly ever any trouble, and just a great atmosfere allround.

There are too many pubs in Athlone closing down now.. and I can see more following suit if the trade does not pick up. Coppers is taking all the trade and is destroying the rest of the towns pubs income. Altho there are some pubs which will probably never close like Seans and The Castle on the Connacht side, they always seem to do ok no matter what.

While writing this post I am thinking....

If a good Rock Bar was opened in Athlone I recon it could do well. I would defenitly go there to see a good band. Think about it tho.. It has to do well.... Most rockers I know have done really well in school/college and have a good job with a good wage, so they are making good money and have it to spend in a Rock Bar. Must ravers I know have feck all, they are usually in the dole Q, never made it to their junior cert in school. Some did good in school and have a good life with a good job, but not many!

Anyway, back to the point.... A god rock bar in Athlone could do very well. And the building presenty called Biddys could be a good spot for it!

Seaneh

Good Rock you say?

Small moose tonight in "The Local" (dublin gate street), Shane Gough (local lad and one of the best drummers in the country) and 2 other members of Blue moose (one of the biggest covers bands in the country) playing Rock classics with some off the wall covers (Michael Jacksons - black or white!) from 10.30 till closing! Will be a great night.

ashman007

hi there to all in athlone.

I recently have looked into venturing into taking over biddy mulligans in athlone. I have had a look around the premises and it has been left in a bad state by the previous people but i can see some potential in the place itself.

I would love to be able to bring an old fashioned bar back to life again but it seems that the trade has more or less become decased in athlone. I was in athlone last week and most pubs in the afternoon where either empty or closed. Is this the trend now in athlone?

Does Biddy's stand a chance of becomming popular again?

It also seems by posts here that a lot of places are not allowing under 21's through the door. Why is this so?

As far as i am concerned if you can show me that your 18 with an Garda age card and your not trouble maker then you are welcome

But i cant invest unless i had an idea it would be a success

I would have the open fires going again, trad nights, live bands, debate nights for students, I think a lot of bars are forgetting these small things.

Would love to here what you guys in athlone think

roosterman71

Page 2 of this thread has info on Biddys. Someone else posted here when they were thinking of leasing it

stapolinhosting

ashman007 wrote: »

hi there to all in athlone.

Does Biddy's stand a chance of becomming popular again?

But i cant invest unless i had an idea it would be a success

I would have the open fires going again, trad nights, live bands, debate nights for students, I think a lot of bars are forgetting these small things.

Would love to here what you guys in athlone think

If you did half of what you say above and put on as nice tradition lunch menu I would definitly be in with the missus and kids for soup and sandwitches to eat, sitting beside an open fire.

If you can pull in some good live music the that should be a good punter puller too. TBH, for me what you are thinking of doing is fantastic. I would definitly be calling in for a pint. Im not 18 anymore and do like to go to a place that is not just pumping out big bass drums so a place with a 'cosier' athmosphere sounds just right.

Good luck what every you descide.

Saruman

ashman007 wrote: »

hi there to all in athlone.

Do something a bit different, Athlone is a college town after all so become a Beer bar and do not bother with Coors light and crap like that. Go in to Dublin and go to the Bull and Castle and see what I mean. The place is always packed because of the type of beer they sell and the fact the food is second to none (owned by FXB).

It would be great if Athlone had something similar selling good premium beer.
People like to pay for quality especially in a recession. If I am going to spend €4.50 on a pint I will want it to be a top quality pint rather than a pint of crap like Heineken.

Oh and if you are going for the Irish theme then support your local Irish breweries and more than the British/foreign owned ones (diagio). Carlow brewing company, Franciscan Well, Galway hooker (from Roscommon actually) and there is a new one in Tipp but I do not think it is ready for distribution yet.

I would make the trip to Athlone more often as it is much quicker than getting to Dublin.

ashman007

i would love to but the place is not busy enough to make any investment worth while i believe.


The amount of money i would have to pump into the place would be crazy and i was in Sean Og's next door which is run by Paddy who is a decent guy but on the saturday night i was sitting there from 5.30pm and they had maybe 3-4 people all evening till 10pm then 25 or so came in for the live music. Yes then money was made but the pub cant survive on that

Paddy wants Biddy's open as to increase numbers that end of town bt i just cant see it being a success

We had put in an offer which we had agreed to meet again with auctioneer but i believe the son wants to take over negoatiations from the owners which means he will be greedy and it takes the talk to another dimension and has now really turned me off the place.

The idea's i had for the place to turn into a quality place..... Just the money will not be made there.... with the amount of rent they are looking for and now with the possible increase of it by the son means i just wont be able to cover any costs

I wish Sean Og's all the best, Paddy is a nice guy and has a lovely little bar there and i hope he does well. My search for a pub will most likely move elsewhere.

Thanks to all who posted with there comments it was much apreciated

JupiterKid

It's high time that Athlone got a gay bar. It could open in one of the town centre pubs that have closed down.

If Kilkenny (population 19,000) and Strabane (pop 16,000) can support a gay bar, than Athlone with 20,000 pop can do so too. And it would cater to a wider catchment of 200,000 people in the Midlands.

But would Athlone be ready for a gay bar?

Athlone could also do with a quality microbrewery.

Saruman

JupiterKid wrote: »

Athlone could also do with a quality microbrewery.

There are many towns and Cities that could do with a brewpub

Galway does not even have one yet, in fact it is only Dublin and Cork that actually have Brewpubs.

Do any pubs in Athlone even serve any Irish craft beer? Galway hooker (from Roscommon) for instance? I heard rumours that Sean's bar would get it on tap.

roosterman71

JupiterKid wrote: »

It's high time that Athlone got a gay bar. It could open in one of the town centre pubs that have closed down.

If Kilkenny (population 19,000) and Strabane (pop 16,000) can support a gay bar, than Athlone with 20,000 pop can do so too. And it would cater to a wider catchment of 200,000 people in the Midlands.

But would Athlone be ready for a gay bar?

Athlone could also do with a quality microbrewery.

Rumour had it that Bar Metro was a gay bar

JupiterKid

roosterman71 wrote: »

Rumour had it that Bar Metro was a gay bar

Ah yes...."rumour" - as if being a gay bar was something to be ashamed of/outraged by and muttered about in gossiping circles.:rolleyes:

It's 2009 and high time the Midlands got a gay bar. Out and proud, open to all open minded persons and no rumours required.

roosterman71

Don't shoot the messenger. Just passing on what i heard

IPushButtons

Gay Metro lol

ashman007

Been doing a lot of thinking regarding biddy's and i may give it a go. I have looked around different premises around ireland and once biddy's has been cleaned up i am hoping for a turn around in its fortunes.

Hopefully the offer will be accepted and work will comence on it soon.

So hopefully athlone you will drop down and see us in the new biddy's

Saruman

ashman007 wrote: »

Been doing a lot of thinking regarding biddy's and i may give it a go. I have looked around different premises around ireland and once biddy's has been cleaned up i am hoping for a turn around in its fortunes.

Hopefully the offer will be accepted and work will comence on it soon.

So hopefully athlone you will drop down and see us in the new biddy's

Good to hear and Good luck. Try and support our local Irish owned breweries. Get some Galway hooker on tap and perhaps some of the Carlow beers in bottles if not on tap.

Also the Franciscan well (Cork) beers like Rebel Red (lovely stuff) you can rename as you see fit and they do not mind. It has different names in Dublin such as Castle Red in the Bull and Castle. You could call it Athlone Red if you like.

Onikage

Best of luck ashman007.

+1 for Saruman's suggestions (except for Athlone Red ).

Saruman

Onikage wrote: »

+1 for Saruman's suggestions (except for Athlone Red ).

You mean the beer itself or the name? If it is just the name then sure, Athlone Red is a little lame but it can be anything you like. Does Athlone have a nickname people use? How about Shannon Red? I suppose you do not even have to have Red in the name.

Onikage

The beer is great, I'm all for getting Irish beers into the pubs. That would actually make me step foot in Biddys again after a ten year absense.

Saruman

Exactly, I am pretty sure no one in athlone stocks any real Irish beer (Guinness etc no longer counts as it is no longer Irish) at the moment.
You get someone with proper beer come along, especially the increasingly popular Galway hooker (sells out in Dublin a lot) then Biddys will be on to a winner once word spreads.

Oh ashman007, a word of advice. If you get these Irish craft beers in, make sure you advertise the fact inside that these are Irish premium beers. Also a list of your beer in the window like a menu would be handy as people will read it and decide to pop in to try these beers. I know I am like that, I hate going in to a pub and not knowing what they have as then I have to walk out when all they have is the boring usual stuff.

At the absolute very least, if you can not get the Irish craft beers in for whatever reason then at least get Paulaner (wheat beer) as it is owned by Heineken so they will be willing to sort you out with a good deal as they are really pushing it at the moment and are trying to swamp the market and get rid of Erdinger. Not a tactic I like but at the end of the day, Paulaner is actually a pretty nice beer.

If all you do is get the usual beers in, there is nothing to make you stand out and no reason for you to have any more success than the previous owners so be a little different and support our Irish breweries at the same time.

Onikage

+1 for Paulaner, selling for €3 a pint in a lot of pubs (none of which are in athlone) and bloody tasty. Like the idea of the beer menu, the porterhouse do this and it's always fun to browse through and try a the different ones.

s simpson

Danny_B wrote: »

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

Does anyone no a number for who owns Biddy Mulligans pub? Is it up for lease? cant find it on the net anywhere saying it is..

Stephen S

von Smallhausen

s simpson wrote: »

Danny_B wrote: »

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

Does anyone no a number for who owns Biddy Mulligans pub? Is it up for lease? cant find it on the net anywhere saying it is..

Stephen S

I dont have a number for the owner, but a few months back it was snapped up on another lease and is now called Richard Graces.

bmarley

Sure who'd want to go out drinking in Athlone?

Saruman

bmarley wrote: »

Sure who'd want to go out drinking in Athlone?

The same sort of person who wants to go out for a drink in Dublin or Cork? I'm only guessing here

Ruben Remus

On the general topic of beer in Athlone, I thought I'd mention that a Hoegaarden tap was recently put in at the bar in the Prince of Wales.
This is hardly an earth-shattering development but it is noteworthy given the very limited range of beer on offer in pubs in the town. Still no sign of Galway Hooker though.

Saruman

Nice one. It's better than nothing. I can't believe no one stocks Galway Hooker yet though. It's only brewed down the road.