What would lure you back to the bars?

abouttobebanned

Aside from the obvious one, cheaper drink...

Pubs are not as busy as they were 10 & 20 years ago and most of them are empty midweek...so what would make you want to go to them again? There's a pub where I live that runs a board games night every wednesday night...i think that's a great idea personally... but what would work for you?

Bring back quiz nights?
Poker?
Bands?
Karaoke?

This is not a bash the pub and club industry industry thread.....instead i'd like you to ask yourselves 2 questions...

What would make me want to go out to a pub more regularly...
If I owned a bar what would I do to get the punters in?

galwayrush

If i could make myself 20 years younger.:rolleyes:

Nolanger

Men-only bars.

biko

Pool tables and dart boards

abouttobebanned

galwayrush wrote: »

If i could make myself 20 years younger.:rolleyes:

I don't understand...are you 120 years of age?

galwayrush

Seriously, a good Rock Bar would help, if i could pick the music.

abouttobebanned

biko wrote: »

Pool tables and dart boards

I'm from this camp myself...but I'd like there to be about 5-6 dart boards spread about the place. And maybe one main board as a centrepiece.

galwayrush

abouttobebanned wrote: »

I don't understand...are you 120 years of age?

I'm just old enough to be pissed off trying to order drink in an overpacked Pub.:(

Royale with Cheese

Half their prices, it is the obvious choice but it needs to be said, again.

Was talking to my uncle there a while back, I was born in 85 so don't remember the last recession but was asking him about what he did when he left school etc.

Managed to get himself a job as a security guard earning about £4-5 an hour. Pints were about 90p. So he was earning about 5 pints an hour. You'd have to earn €20-25 an hour these days to get that.

Mc Love

Cheaper drink is probably the only way and Promotions, when i was in college early 00's, there would be plenty of folk in bars drinking!

abouttobebanned

There are so many laws against drinks promotions though....it seems that the bar's hands are tied...but I agree, and it's why i didn't want the thread to be all about it, the drink prices should be reduced immediately. People appreciate that bars are trying to make money and we're also paying for an atmosphere...but we shouldn't be paying more than €4 for a pint of lager. I think if all bars made the decision to cut prices together...then it might be feasible.

Jane Doh!

Nolanger wrote: »

Men-only bars.

Would that not be a different type of bar?

Biggins

Bars that have children STRICLTY NOT allowed in (this is for the childrens sake - not the adults).
Bars where ALL gambling machines are relocated to the nearist skip.

Bijoux

Jane Doh! wrote: »

Would that not be a different type of bar?

All of a sudden, the little old-man pub down the road is apperaing in a new light.....;)

Tom65

Aside from cheaper drink, I think transport costs. It costs me €5 to get the Dart to a pub (return), and the Dart is a crap service that stops at half 11. If I could stay a bit longer in the pub, without having to pay money for a taxi, I'd probably go more often.

DenMan

Poker wouldn't be a good idea, especially with alcohol involved. Definitely need band nights (louder the better Rock/Metal)

People just couldn't be bothered during the week anymore especially with the demands of work, family and the outrageous prices. We are getting more like the Americans/Canadians and having house parties, taking alcohol home etc.

PCPhoto

get rid of the element of scum in pubs and the drunken a**holes.

publicans (due to financial problems) will allow anyone into a pub now and will keep serving them alcohol as long as they can afford to keep paying and don't cause hassle.

i agree with another poster asking for darts/pool tables to be brought back into pubs, for me the only problem with that is .... you get people staying on the tables for the whole night - not allowing anyone else to play.

a decent pub has regulars and takes care of their regulars, couple of free drinks during the night always encourages people back or a free taxi service home, let them know that the management of the pub respects the customers and wants to reward them for their custom.

just my opinions

Sleepy

Couple of the obvious factors as to why the pubs are quieter:

pints being relatively more expensive
cost of a taxi home
busier "more professional" work environments where hangovers aren't acceptable

The main reasons for me, however would be the change in geography/demographics - living the far side of the country from most of my friends makes me far less likely to go to the local for a couple mid-week. Even if I lived at home, with house prices forcing young people to move out of the areas they grew up in, my friends most likely wouldn't be living close enough to me for it to be practical for us to meet in the local for a jar of an evening.

red_ice

reasonably priced drink

the_syco

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Bands?
Karaoke?

The former gains people, but it has to be a regular thing. The latter drives people away; only the friends and family of the person singing comes.

=-=

Pints costing €3 or less. I'm going drinking in a mates later. €20 for the bottle. That would be 3 shots in the pub. The universal €4 a shot is shooting themselves in the foot.

themadchef

You say "aside from the obvious one" but this really is the reason pubs are empty. If pints were €2 a pop do you think the pubs would be empty mid week?

People don't need excuses to go to the pub. Poker, darts, football on the telly, the after sports beers. People would stay longer if it was cheaper too.

Even if they put pole dancers in every bar in country 7 nights a week. Pubs would probably be busier all right, but, people wouldn't have any more money to spend.

_JOE_

Fully agree with the lack of pool tables/dart boards. You rarely see these in pubs today, and even when you do, they all seem to be "private members only"...

super_furry

A decent pint of beer for €4 in a nice pub.

Jane Doh!

Was in a Pub in Cork a few years back, downstairs of the family home tranformed into a cosy pub. Pool table, open fire and locals can help themselves to a pint cause the bar staff are drinking with them. Normally what you would see in the country.

We need more of them......:)

JohnCleary

Depends on the type of pub:

Rural - Freen mini-bus at the start/end of the night. This could work out a real winner for the publican as they can say "Pick up at XX only, Drop of at XX only (end of the night)" which means the punter will stay in the pub for the whole night, but will feel they are getting a good deal as their transport is sorted

Quiet/Relaxed pubs - Free finger food

Disco-pubs (Can't believe I said that word) - As said loads of times, cheaper drinks

sunnyjim

Karoke - Tacky
Darts - Hell yeah
pool table if it could be somewhere appropriate? - Sweet, but try not charging 2 euro a game!

Lower prices? Well, that's the reason we don't go to pubs anymore!

arybvtcw0eolkf

Well I'll tell you what I love about my local.

Its got local, Irish bar staff!.

The bar staff are 'proper' bar staff, ie they've done apprenticeships and made bartending a career, as a result the owner doesn't need to employ doorstaff as the lads behind the bar can call the shots on who is or isn't served.

They also know the craic and how to have it.

There's a dart board too, and a TV with the remote left on the bar!. And get this, a shop too!.

It also serves everyone if your old enough to drink a pint, so I drink in the company of farm labourers, members of the travelling community to business people to local 'heads' and in over ten years there I haven't seen one row.

abitlonely

yore ma?







and cheap pints. That price freeze thing is totally illegal

invincibleirish

Allow people smoke Weed.

Inside. No tobacco of course. That gives the barstaff cancer.

Jane Doh!

Dart boards, pool tables, gambling, TV (any kinda sport) and lap dancing poles.....

Boys n their toys

If Carlsburg did pubs.........

Koyasan

I got the last two years of the decent pub scene, and predicted and watched them go downhill from then to now. A few weeks back I was in Belfast and was reminded of those last two years of glory.

What happened?

Michael MacDowell.

All of the regulations he introduced should be repealed. Pubs could then make selected drinks cheaper at specified times.

But the primary reasons we started to stay away from pubs was that we felt offended by the notion of paying to enter (especially a pub such as Whelans after 10:30) and offended by the prices charged.