why are there no J D Wetherspoon pubs in ROI?

Cienciano · 24-09-2013 4:52pm

2 bottles of coke in a pint glass of ice is usually more expensive than a pint of beer. And the coke is usually sitting on a shelf at room temperture. Unbelievable that pubs still serve this shíte and wonder why people stay at home.

meemeemee · 24-09-2013 4:53pm

In a London branch of Wetherspoons, this summer I paid something like £5.80 for a bottle of wine which is 750 ML. Addmittedly it was the house wine, but in other London pubs you could pay easily pay £5 for one glass.

I noticed that they served Champagne by the bottle, and to be honest, there was no apparent mark up on it. It was the same price as in a corner shop, maybe £25 to £30.

mariaalice · 24-09-2013 5:05pm

I think its is in the area of wine and soft drinks and getting around the strangle hold some of the distributes have here that will have most effect.

Karl Stein · 24-09-2013 5:05pm

At last. An invasion from England that we can all drink to.

Geuze · 24-09-2013 5:08pm

joeguevara wrote: »

We do have that in Ireland, however, I am nearly sure that its pepsi products rather than Coke.

I tried to get the gun from coke when I had the bar but they refused to give it to me (this was in 2003-3004.) They stated that it was not a service that they offer to pubs. I asked about putting in a machine like they have in takeways but they refused to even consider it. They make too much selling bottles. They could not see the irony that the same company offered the same service in the UK.

This sort of attitude from suppliers is what I hope changes due to the entry of JDW into the market.

Many pubs are struggling, often their own fault, but also due to excessive overheads and input costs.

Input costs must fall, leaving room for a bit more gross margin for the publican.

Beefy78 · 24-09-2013 5:10pm

meemeemee wrote: »

In a London branch of Wetherspoons, this summer I paid something like £5.80 for a bottle of wine which is 750 ML. Addmittedly it was the house wine, but in other London pubs you could pay easily pay £5 for one glass.

I noticed that they served Champagne by the bottle, and to be honest, there was no apparent mark up on it. It was the same price as in a corner shop, maybe £25 to £30.

I bought two bottles of champagne at the Wetherspoons in Leigh-on-Sea (The Elms for the record

) to celebrate Southend United's promotion to the Championship in 2006. £40 for the pair.

They did have to go to the cellar to get them though. They were covered in dust and were luke-warm so had to be put into an actual bucket and covered in ice (as opposed to an ice bucket) before they were drinkable.

Beefy78 · 24-09-2013 5:12pm

mariaalice wrote: »

I think its is in the area of wine and soft drinks and getting around the strangle hold some of the distributes have here that will have most effect.

Spirits too. I'm sure there'll be a 'double up for €2' offer on most spirits.

My name is URL · 24-09-2013 5:20pm

Charlie Rock wrote: »

At last. An invasion from England that we can all drink to.

Founded by a Irishman, so it's all good :pac:

Karl Stein · 24-09-2013 5:23pm

Had no idea it was founded by an Irishman. I'll definitely be checking it out when it comes.

Kettleson · 24-09-2013 5:33pm

joeguevara wrote: »

You can do what you want. Customers wouldn't stand for coke out of a bottle. Saying that some use the white lemonade.

Yes a lot of mark up on bottles, but would have been a similar mark up if we had the dispensing machine. If I was still in it, I would have just stated I was a chipper, got the dispensing machine and served the dashes that way.

Customers sometimes are cnuts demanding that bottled coke is better but then giving out about the cost. To me gun coke and bottled coke taste exactly the same. Each to their own, and until somebody does something about it, it will stay exactly the same. Viva la revolucion.

Thanks for that.

When I came back to Ireland in 97, a good few pubs around Sligo had the old bottle of Red and White lemonade to help yourself to a dash. And my local let you take dashes from a plastic coke bottle....and there were a good few bottles used up on any night.

You couldn't get into the pub from 4pm on a Friday until opening time Monday afternoon, it was wedged. A well run, decent pub too, and customers were not yet Tiger flush. Win-Win...

The Tiger put an end to that, folk had the beans to buy the bottle and some too embarrassed not to.

The bottle of Red Lemonade will be back I'm sure.

anncoates · 24-09-2013 5:44pm

mariaalice wrote: »

In the UK pubs often have soft drink that come form a keg and are very cheap even in London, I never understood why we don't have it here also you can get wine very cheap in the UK, in a trendy bar in Manchester I have got a bottle of wine for 9 pounds.

Naked greed?

anncoates · 24-09-2013 5:50pm

Kettleson wrote: »

Thanks for that.

When I came back to Ireland in 97, a good few pubs around Sligo had the old bottle of Red and White lemonade to help yourself to a dash. And my local let you take dashes from a plastic coke bottle....and there were a good few bottles used up on any night.

You couldn't get into the pub from 4pm on a Friday until opening time Monday afternoon, it was wedged. A well run, decent pub too, and customers were not yet Tiger flush. Win-Win...

The Tiger put an end to that, folk had the beans to buy the bottle and some too embarrassed not to.

The bottle of Red Lemonade will be back I'm sure.

I remember loads of pubs in Dublin added a 'splash' to spirits from a gun. It was the Tiger that saw the trend for selling small mixer bottles.

L1011 · 24-09-2013 5:52pm

joeguevara wrote: »

They could not see the irony that the same company offered the same service in the UK.

Its not the same company though. Coke is a franchise - not particularly well known that it is. Each territory has a franchiser who buys the goop off the parent firm.

Coke in Ireland is "made" (dilulted from goop) and sold by a company called Hellenic. Coke in the UK is sold by a company called Coca Cola Enterprises. Two completely different firms.

This lead to the oddity of Hellenic closing its factory in the south about the same time the parent company was opening its goop factory in Drogheda.

And now back to the booze talk...

Mr Whirly · 24-09-2013 5:58pm

MYOB wrote: »

Its not the same company though. Coke is a franchise - not particularly well known that it is. Each territory has a franchiser who buys the goop off the parent firm.

Coke in Ireland is "made" (dilulted from goop) and sold by a company called Hellenic. Coke in the UK is sold by a company called Coca Cola Enterprises. Two completely different firms.

This lead to the oddity of Hellenic closing its factory in the south about the same time the parent company was opening its goop factory in Drogheda.

And now back to the booze talk...

That's mad. It explains why it tastes completely different here than in the UK or Europe.

questionmark? · 24-09-2013 7:23pm

JDW entering the market can only be a good thing. Let's hope they have a big focus on real ales like they do here in the UK. Ale is usually high quality and cheaply priced.

The quality of spoons pubs varies hugely,you can go from one that is just a room that looks like a bingo hall to a lovely laid out pub with cracking atmosphere and massive beer gardens I think they have over 1000 pubs in the UK

The_Gatsby · 24-09-2013 7:55pm

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I though the reason that our drink was so expensive was because of minimum prices imposed by the government?

Kettleson · 24-09-2013 7:58pm

The_Gatsby wrote: »

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I though the reason that our drink was so expensive was because of minimum prices imposed by the government?

You are forgiven.

awec · 24-09-2013 8:10pm

Madam wrote: »

Ok I may have gone over the top with the word excellent but I still say the food is fine and great for a long night out when you need your carbs to keep you on an even keel. You say you ate in Wetherspoons as a student - you do know they've moved on since those days and most(not all I'll admit)have come along way in the last few years. All in all you get what you pay for, if you want gastro food go to a so called up market gastro pub but if you just want something with a nice drink(half the price of other places), I can't see why you wouldn't be delighted with what you get at Wetherspoons. Now if you want a complete down market pub with crap food in the UK - go to a John Barras bar(they seem to be taking over the good pubs in the suburbs at the moment)!

Yes, it's decent. If you are out for a night on the piss and you are looking something cheap and cheerful then it'll fill a hole.

It's not the sort of place where you'd plan to go for a pub grub meal out.

Madam · 24-09-2013 8:26pm

awec wrote: »

Yes, it's decent. If you are out for a night on the piss and you are looking something cheap and cheerful then it'll fill a hole.

It's not the sort of place where you'd plan to go for a pub grub meal out.

Oh I don't know - its a great place to go after work or the cinema, or a few drinks on saturday afternoon with the girlfriends. I'm a bit long in the tooth for going out on the piss though:rolleyes: Would I want the husband to take me there for our anniversary dinner? Not if he wanted to live 'till the next one:)

joeguevara · 24-09-2013 11:23pm

MYOB wrote: »

Its not the same company though. Coke is a franchise - not particularly well known that it is. Each territory has a franchiser who buys the goop off the parent firm.

Coke in Ireland is "made" (dilulted from goop) and sold by a company called Hellenic. Coke in the UK is sold by a company called Coca Cola Enterprises. Two completely different firms.

This lead to the oddity of Hellenic closing its factory in the south about the same time the parent company was opening its goop factory in Drogheda.

And now back to the booze talk...

If I can put concentrate coke in a dispenser in a chipper I should be able to do the same in a pub. Doesn't matter who owns the company. I still make mark up from the splash and customer is happy they don't have to pay €2.70 for a coke to go into their vodka.

Geuze · 25-09-2013 12:25am

The_Gatsby wrote: »

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I though the reason that our drink was so expensive was because of minimum prices imposed by the government?

No, there are no price controls on drink in pubs in Ireland.

Some people want a min price per unit of alcohol, which would increase prices in the off-trade.

Beefy78 · 25-09-2013 4:05am

I'm sure I've read before that the mark-up on soft drinks from the tap in the UK is huge. It's just so cheap that pubs can make a lot of profit on it and still keep the price down.

Mr Simpson · 25-09-2013 8:00am

joeguevara wrote: »

If I can put concentrate coke in a dispenser in a chipper I should be able to do the same in a pub. Doesn't matter who owns the company. I still make mark up from the splash and customer is happy they don't have to pay €2.70 for a coke to go into their vodka.

Not really, Hellenic choose who they distribute to in ROI, apparently they wont sell post mix to the on trade. The one pub I know who sells Splash Coke (Gibneys Malahide) buy there product from NI

joeguevara · 25-09-2013 9:20am

Mr Simpson wrote: »

Not really, Hellenic choose who they distribute to in ROI, apparently they wont sell post mix to the on trade. The one pub I know who sells Splash Coke (Gibneys Malahide) buy there product from NI

I think you misunderstood me. I know they wont sell to trade as they refused to sell to me. I am just saying it is not right. But it is something that all publicans should do (fair play to Gibneys). Everyone wins. Customer gets cheaper drink and publican gets the same mark up on the splash.

Mr Simpson · 25-09-2013 2:04pm

joeguevara wrote: »

I think you misunderstood me. I know they wont sell to trade as they refused to sell to me. I am just saying it is not right. But it is something that all publicans should do (fair play to Gibneys). Everyone wins. Customer gets cheaper drink and publican gets the same mark up on the splash.

I did indeed misunterstand you. Its the epitome off rip off Ireland unfortunately

questionmark? · 25-09-2013 5:04pm

Beefy78 wrote: »

I'm sure I've read before that the mark-up on soft drinks from the tap in the UK is huge. It's just so cheap that pubs can make a lot of profit on it and still keep the price down.

JDW don't charge for any dashs like a lot of other pubs in the UK. I'm sure they are factored in to the overall price. Then again I can get a double Bells whiskey and coke for £2.89 in my local JDW!!! A double Jameson doesn't cost much more. I know the measures in Ireland are a little bigger but you don't get much change from €15 on a double whiskey and bottle of coke in Ireland.

Geuze · 25-09-2013 5:06pm

questionmark? wrote: »

JDW don't charge for any dashs like a lot of other pubs in the UK. I'm sure they are factored in to the overall price. Then again I can get a double Bells whiskey and coke for £2.89 in my local JDW!!! A double Jameson doesn't cost much more. I know the measures in Ireland are a little bigger but you don't get much change from €15 on a double whiskey and bottle of coke in Ireland.

Whiskey maybe 4.00-4.20 in my town, cola I don't know, maybe 2.40-2.60??

Price would be maybe 11 euro.

joeguevara · 25-09-2013 5:09pm

questionmark? wrote: »

JDW don't charge for any dashs like a lot of other pubs in the UK. I'm sure they are factored in to the overall price. Then again I can get a double Bells whiskey and coke for £2.89 in my local JDW!!! A double Jameson doesn't cost much more. I know the measures in Ireland are a little bigger but you don't get much change from €15 on a double whiskey and bottle of coke in Ireland.

Unless things have changed Wetherspoons, certainly do charge for dashes. When I was there it was something like 50p. If an employee did not charge for dashes they would get a stern talking to and then disciplined if it happened again.

Just seen meemeemees next post. It mudt have changed regarding free dashes. It must be factored in.

One thing I did like about wetherspoons when I was there was that half a pint cost half as much as a pint. Unlike most pubs where it is 2/3 the cost. That could have changed as well.

meemeemee · 25-09-2013 5:11pm

Yeah, I noticed that about the "free" mixers. Obviously no such thing as a "free lunch" but they obviously factor it in.

All spirit drinks now include a free mixer. Up to you if you want it or not.

You would see young women, they will fill the glass right up.

The other thing is, they have these big jugs. They put a couple of spirits in it, some ice, and fill it right up with mixer.

For a teenage drinker, students, and OAPs Wethersppoons is like Disneyland. Nearly everything you like about a pub, well alcohol, at pocket money prices.

L1011 · 25-09-2013 6:57pm

questionmark? wrote: »

JDW don't charge for any dashs like a lot of other pubs in the UK. I'm sure they are factored in to the overall price. Then again I can get a double Bells whiskey and coke for £2.89 in my local JDW!!! A double Jameson doesn't cost much more. I know the measures in Ireland are a little bigger but you don't get much change from €15 on a double whiskey and bottle of coke in Ireland.

They're a lot more than a "little bigger", and we've far higher duty on spirits. Doesn't explain the full price gap though.

why are there no J D Wetherspoon pubs in ROI?

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