why are there no J D Wetherspoon pubs in ROI?

Tar.Aldarion

MYOB wrote: »

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.

30% bigger here at 400% the cost.

My name is URL

meemeemee wrote: »

Wethersppoons is like Disneyland. Alcohol, at pocket money prices.

You've never been to Disneyland then :pac:

It's more like Funtasia

Lucena

joeguevara wrote: »

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.

Any pub I've been in in England had half pints at half the price of a full pint.
It's only in Ireland that I've seen halves at 2/3 the cost.

Obviously most people would prefer the former over the latter. On the odd time when I've drunk a half in Ireland, I feel like I've been bent over the bar and been rode by the barman. :eek:

Although I can understand the logic of it (apart from just making more money and discouraging people from buying smaller quantities). The time a barman spends on a half or on a pint is almost similar, so the extra time (relatively speaking) needs to be paid for.

SteM

Lucena wrote: »

The time a barman spends on a half or on a pint is almost similar, so the extra time (relatively speaking) needs to be paid for.

That's just another excuse the industry will give to fleece the public.

Using that logic, if you're buying a pint and order a drink from a tap that is down the other end of the bar you should pay more because the barman has to walk further to go and get it and bring it back? Single spirits should be more than half the cost of double spirits? You should pay more for a soft drink with ice because the barman has to go to the ice bucket and get it? Guinness should have an extra cost because the barman has to let it rest and then go back to it?

A barman is there to serve a drink, the time it takes to serve it should not factor into the cost of half pints vs full pints.

Lucena

SteM wrote: »

That's just another excuse the industry will give to fleece the public.

Using that logic, if you're buying a pint and order a drink from a tap that is down the other end of the bar you should pay more because the barman has to walk further to go and get it and bring it back? Single spirits should be more than half the cost of double spirits? You should pay more for a soft drink with ice because the barman has to go to the ice bucket and get it? Guinness should have an extra cost because the barman has to let it rest and then go back to it?

A barman is there to serve a drink, the time it takes to serve it should not factor into the cost of half pints vs full pints.

Not saying I agree with that logic (I don't), but if on a busy night, lots of people were drinking halves (yes very hypothetical I know!), the barman would spend more time per litre sold.

However, I'm sure that in Ireland, the half-pint costs more than half of the price of a full pint for one simple reason: Because they can.

Capt'n Midnight

Gaillimh1976 wrote: »

Breweries charge pubs more than supermarkets
Wages are much much higher here than in UK
Insurance, Council Rates much higher than in UK

Not a fair comparison to just look at price of a pint vs price of a pint

And then there's paying for all that stuff I don't want in a pub

SKY + big telly , Loud music - and all the other attempts to kill conversation because it slows down drinking

Refit every few years, I'd rather a place with real charm than a plastic pub that looks like someone threw the contents of a recently deceased farmers shed up on the wall

As has been pointed out earlier excise is LESS here than in the UK
Excise hasn't increased since 1994. All the increases since (apart from some changes in VAT) have been on the part of the publicans and industry


And the fact that a pint of cola costs more than a pint of beer shows just how much they screw the punter. I've been charged up to €2.40 for a pint of blackcurrant (and it was watery), it can vary from a euro to 20/40c to free in other places.

Lucena

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Refit every few years, I'd rather a place with real charm than a plastic pub that looks like someone threw the contents of a recently deceased farmers shed up on the wall

:D:D

LordSutch

Surely JD Wetherspoon must be ready to open anytime now (Blackrock)?

Anyone heard when it opens, or if it's already open for business?

Seaneh

LordSutch wrote: »

Surely JD Wetherspoon must be ready to open anytime now (Blackrock)?

Anyone heard when it opens, or if it's already open for business?

Summer 2014.

LordSutch

Bugger, it was meant to be before this Christmas

Super-Rush

Supposed to be a JDW coming to Carlow soon.

Ace2007

heard that the place on dame street, used to the NIB is going to open as a JDW, dunno when though as it was just sold.

votecounts

Super-Rush wrote: »

Supposed to be a JDW coming to Carlow soon.

Where do you think in carlow? I heard tyndalls but that would surely be too small.

Dry Hopped

When I first moved to London I went to the Wetherspoons pubs. Soulless drinking dens for the most part. Fullers pubs were slightly better, but neither of them had any of the character of an independent local. They'll come to Ireland and do fairly well I'd say. I'll stick to my local with it's regulars and late-80's decor. And hit the craft brew pubs when I go into town.

Super-Rush

votecounts wrote: »

Where do you think in carlow? I heard tyndalls but that would surely be too small.

I've heard Tyndall's and The Level One, Saints and Sinners complex being mentioned.

Tyndall's has been sold but the other place is still for sale.

Seaneh

I've heard rumours that JDW are interested in buying either The Palace Bar, Rayner's or Biddy Milligan's Bar in Athlone. In talks with all 3 owners and weighing up their options. Apparently most interested in The Palace and Biddy's because they both have parking adjacent where as Rayner's doesn't.

dinneenp

meant to be buying Mangans and Newport in Cork. Was in Sunday times yesterday.

Kettleson

JDW make the lions share of their money on food. In the past decade there have been loads of privately owned pubs that have had to change their focus to do the same or close. Its bound to change the clientele and the atmosphere. The smoking ban contributed significantly to the demise of the "Irish pub". No bad thing IMO.

Mind you, can't complain about a decent pint at a great price. The O'Neills "Irish Pub" chain got the balance sorta right in UK in the 90's.

votecounts

Super-Rush wrote: »

I've heard Tyndall's and The Level One, Saints and Sinners complex being mentioned.

Tyndall's has been sold but the other place is still for sale.

Part of that complex (S and S)was recently sold and it will be apartments as far as i know.
Edit: Could be the pub next to it.

Geuze

The first JDW pub to open in RoI will begin trading in July 2014.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/retail-and-services/jd-wetherspoon-starts-1-5m-building-job-on-blackrock-pub-1.1705777

Idbatterim

I take it that they will offer a splash of coke or whatever from the fountain? Probably the biggest rip off publicans currently have going...

Muahahaha

Geuze wrote: »

The first JDW pub to open in RoI will begin trading in July 2014.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/retail-and-services/jd-wetherspoon-starts-1-5m-building-job-on-blackrock-pub-1.1705777

I'm surprised they went with the Blackrock location first, you'd think the city center would be priority. I'm sure something in the city will follow by the autumn. I hear the bar manager of the Blackrock venue is a Kerryman who has ran Weathespoons pubs in London for 13 years and wants a move home.

Dravokivich

Muahahaha wrote: »

I'm surprised they went with the Blackrock location first, you'd think the city center would be priority. I'm sure something in the city will follow by the autumn. I hear the bar manager of the Blackrock venue is a Kerryman who has ran Weathespoons pubs in London for 13 years and wants a move home.

So you read the article then?

suicide_circus

will be interesting alright. I must say though I ate in a Wetherspoons in London and Edinburgh and the food was very low grade. that said, I find food generally in the UK to be ****e when dining out.

Whisko

suicide_circus wrote: »

will be interesting alright. I must say though I ate in a Wetherspoons in London and Edinburgh and the food was very low grade. that said, I find food generally in the UK to be ****e when dining out.

They're soulless horrible **** holes. The last thing Ireland needs is the invasion of ****ty generic chain pubs like in England.

If you're in England and want decent food, avoid these places like the plague. There is great food over there, just too many crappy generic chains that you can walk in to unaware.

Next time you're over, get trip advisor on your phone and let it take you somewhere nice. The quality of food in London blows Dublin away if you go to the right place.

Idbatterim

Their soulless horrible **** holes. The last thing Ireland needs is the invasion of ****ty generic chain pubs like in England.

If you're in England and want decent food, avoid these places like the plague. There is great food over there, just too many crappy generic chains that you can walk in to unaware.

I travel over to the Uk once a month, the odd time go to the local spoons, the food is by no means crap, the quality may be a bit lower, but the price is a hell of a lot lower... It will be very interesting to see how Weatherspoons do here.

miss no stars

It might depend on the pub itself. I was in one a few months ago and thought the food was nice and very good value. I don't think it's pretending to be a restaurant, it's a pub that serves food. I was very pleased. We'd heard about them scouting for property in Ireland at the time and tbh, if they keep the prices equivalent to the prices in the UK then I wish them well. If they hike it up beyond what currency, VAT and higher overheads can account for then feck them.

Whisko

Idbatterim wrote: »

I travel over to the Uk once a month, the odd time go to the local spoons, the food is by no means crap, the quality may be a bit lower, but the price is a hell of a lot lower...

If you're happy you're happy.

I think it is proper crap.

partyguinness

I have been living in the UK for the past few years and the pub culture is very different here.

Pubs (espec in large towns are cities) are pretty much mass produced chain drinking factories. The word soulless has been used and yes that is correct.

'Spoons' are one of several large chains and they are standardised like much of the high street in the UK.

The traditional pubs in Ireland are a genuine social outlet where you will find all sorts mixing. Nobody interacts and WTF is with the carpet in pubs!!

Pubs in the UK are generally crap and serve cheap and nasty 'ding ding' food that arrives to the pub prepacked.

Also, pubs in England are very much dominated by the working class and very much a working class pursuit (espec in suburban areas). You will find pubs that are just like Eastenders with similar characters. You always feel that is one bad look from a mass brawl kicking off.

Dont even get me started on the bar tenders. Completely incapable to serving more than one customer at a time and only serve those directly in front of them. In other words, they only serve whoever fills in after the last customer. You can wait for 10-15 minutes and forget about it if you think a customer who arrives after you will politely direct the bartender to you.

It's only when you live away from Ireland you appreciate how good our pubs (not perfect of course and plenty of nasty ones around) are and also the food.

Try going on the beer and you will find that certain pub chains will only serve certain beers. So, as an ale/bitter drinker, I can go into 5 differeent pubs and fail to have the same drink twice. In other words, I will end up drinking 5 different beers because each one will have differect beers on draft. Safe enough if you are a Heino/Carlsberg etc drinker. Cue very bad headache the next day..:(

Oh, the ales and bitters are pure muck. I am a Guinness/Murphy's drinker so I am really screwed.

I am sure many of my points have been echoed already.

I really miss Irish pubs...:(

J_E

Stay away. This is coming at a time where pubs are really upping the game with microbreweries and the like. Who actually wants to go to JDW over some of the other great pubs around? It's like choosing McDonalds over a proper food joint.