Man your pumps, Wetherspoons are coming

BaZmO*

RasTa wrote: »

Yeah, I compare it to the chipper. Mushy peas and tartar sauce save it, with some vinegar.

Plus the meal only costs £3 quid or something. £7.60 up here with a pint of Punk.

Punk alone is £5.70 in the brewdog pub.

Yeah price wise you can’t really complain. It was €23 for 2 meals and 2 drinks. I always knew that it wasn’t Michelin star level but I was just surprised at how poor it was. I probably wouldn’t have noticed as much if I’d had a few beers in me already and just treated it as cheap fuel.

On the plus side, I did have a lovely beer from Oakham Ales, Inception. Pity you can’t their beers over here anymore. Drinkstore had them in for a while a few years back.

jackofalltrades

landofthetree wrote: »

Is there any chance of them doing a deal to sell Guinness?

It would be very unlikely, their business models are completely incompatible.
Diageo need to sell expensive beer, Wetherspoons don't do that.
That and I doubt Wetherspoons get dictated to by suppliers and aren't willing to start.

I hope they don't as well, it's good to see someone challenge the rip-off pub scene in this country.
Maybe Guinness drinkers will be forced to try something else and Diageo will lose their stranglehold.

machaseh

It's best to see spoons as your local not-so-great chipper except you can also get leathered.

irish_goat

The Spoons' in Derry, which was bought a few years ago is back up for sale.

https://www.derrynow.com/news/derry-news/509678/derry-bar-granny-annies-up-for-sale-at-1-5m.html

Can't imagine Spoons' will buy it back at that price. It's also been decorated to look like something out of the Wild West so it'd need a bit of work done to make it look normal again.

Muahahaha

irish_goat wrote: »

The Spoons' in Derry, which was bought a few years ago is back up for sale.

https://www.derrynow.com/news/derry-news/509678/derry-bar-granny-annies-up-for-sale-at-1-5m.html

Can't imagine Spoons' will buy it back at that price. It's also been decorated to look like something out of the Wild West so it'd need a bit of work done to make it look normal again.

haha Wild West indeed, first and last time I was in that Spoons a huge fight kicked off just as I had barely taken a bite out of my burger. Got out of there sharpish, all the staff had ran from the bar area into the kitchen for safety.

On the Guinness thing, are they still selling it in Spoons in the UK? Seem to remember it being on tap some place years back so they must have got cheap prices for a supply off Guinness over there.

BaZmO*

Muahahaha wrote: »

On the Guinness thing, are they still selling it in Spoons in the UK? Seem to remember it being on tap some place years back so they must have got cheap prices for a supply off Guinness over there.

The one I was in in London had it. £4.59 a pint, so not cheap, but I’d say that’s just a London thing.

ceekay74

Do any of the wetherspoons in Dublin have parking?

BeerNut

ceekay74 wrote: »

Do any of the wetherspoons in Dublin have parking?

Blanchardstown does as it's part of the Westend Village retail park.

GBX

ceekay74 wrote: »

Do any of the wetherspoons in Dublin have parking?

There is parking behind The Silver Penny in the Park Rite at the Irish Life centre
https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Silver+Penny+-+JD+Wetherspoon/@53.3494396,-6.2561909,18z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x48670f7fe7a6e9c3:0x710f8ec09265a8a!8m2!3d53.3490922!4d-6.2565557

Buckfast W

Swords has limited parking also.

odyssey06

The Forty Foot in Dun Laoghaire is easier to get at by boat I think. They don't like cars there.

Vic_08

odyssey06 wrote: »

The Forty Foot in Dun Laoghaire is easier to get at by boat I think. They don't like cars there.

It is surrounded by car parks, there are 4 within a few minutes walk, not counting the car park underneath the building the Forty Foot is part of.

Big Gerry

GooglePlus wrote: »

Any word when Camden St will be graced with a Wetherspoon?

I drove past it last week it looked they were getting ready to open it.

L1011

An article on a reputable enough industry site claims Camden Street isn't due until June and that HQ will be converted and open before then. Which seems quite unlikely.

Big Gerry

I was in wetherspoons on abbey street today it seems to be a lot less busy than when it opened last year.


Also they had no security on the door when I was there today.

machaseh

Big Gerry wrote: »

I was in wetherspoons on abbey street today it seems to be a lot less busy than when it opened last year.


Also they had no security on the door when I was there today.

Me mate is one of the doormen, there is security but they also sometimes have to go inside to arrange some other stuff etc.

The novelty of the place has died off a bit. For example I used to go there more often with me mates but the novelty of it has died down and now we only go there rarely.

Big Gerry

For whatever reason Wetherspoons has no atmosphere.


I wonder is that deliberate ?

BeerNut

Big Gerry wrote: »

For whatever reason Wetherspoons has no atmosphere.

The light is brighter than normal for bars in Ireland and there's no music. I think that's all "no atmosphere" really means.

JCX BXC

English pubs haven't a tap on Irish pubs either.

BillyBird

BeerNut wrote: »

The light is brighter than normal for bars in Ireland

Does anybody know why this is. Seems to be a thing for English pubs (i.e. in England), not sure why.
Maybe if you are used to it it makes no difference.

ciaran76

BeerNut wrote: »

The light is brighter than normal for bars in Ireland and there's no music. I think that's all "no atmosphere" really means.

Sounds like my type of pub !

Big Gerry

BeerNut wrote: »

The light is brighter than normal for bars in Ireland and there's no music. I think that's all "no atmosphere" really means.

Wetherspoons just doesn't feel like a real pub.

Hotblack Desiato

Big Gerry wrote: »

Wetherspoons just doesn't feel like a real pub.

Especially in the wallet!

anto9

jackofalltrades wrote: »

It would be very unlikely, their business models are completely incompatible.
Diageo need to sell expensive beer, Wetherspoons don't do that.
That and I doubt Wetherspoons get dictated to by suppliers and aren't willing to start.

I hope they don't as well, it's good to see someone challenge the rip-off pub scene in this country.
Maybe Guinness drinkers will be forced to try something else and Diageo will lose their stranglehold.

Belfast Wetherspoon sells Guinness .Around £3.5 a pint (sterling )

anto9

BaZmO* wrote: »

Had my first Wetherspoons experience yesterday. I was over in London for a couple days and we popped into the one beside the Tower of London for a quick something to eat with a beer. The location and the views were amazing.
Nothing wrong with the beer either, in fact it was lovely, but the food was shocking. I wasn’t expecting much tbh but I thought it was really sub standard. I suppose you get what you pay for. Is the food that bad in the Irish ones?

The place was jammed though. They also fairly packed the tables in. Not much room to move about as the tables were so close.

Their breakfast is good I.M.O.

irish_goat

anto9 wrote: »

Belfast Wetherspoon sells Guinness .Around £3.5 a pint (sterling )

They bring that over from Britain though.

Reputable Rog

irish_goat wrote: »

They bring that over from Britain though.

They could bring it up from the Lisburn Road after it’s been brought to Belfast from Dublin in tankers but they probably bring it from a central distribution depot somewhere on the mainland.

BeerNut

Reputable Rog wrote: »

they probably bring it from a central distribution depot somewhere on the mainland.

I'd say there's a fair chance that the Guinness you get served in The Bridge House has been brewed in Dublin, trucked to Belfast for watering-down and kegging, shipped to a JDW warehouse in England and then shipped all the way back over to the pub in Belfast. Can't see any Brexit related problems for oul Timbo there :rolleyes:

rubadub

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Especially in the wallet!

and the choice of drinks.

BeerNut wrote: »

brewed in Dublin, trucked to Belfast for watering-down and kegging,

Yes, that is what I thought happened. The guinness in spoons is usually 4.1% vs 4.2% in pubs here (many think it is 4.3% like many other beers).

I remember the aviva stadium threatened to get their guinness shipped back from the UK as it was cheaper to do so, and that was factoring in the VAT/duty and retransport costs.

BeerNut

rubadub wrote: »

The guinness in spoons is usually 4.1% vs 4.2% in pubs here

The Guinness throughout the UK is 4.1%. If those numbers are accurate it would mean that at the packaging plants in Belfast and Runcorn the same liquid is being watered to 4.2% for the Republic and 4.1% for the UK. I think that's unlikely and that they're both the same. The declared strength can be +/-0.5% so it's probably only for historical marketing reasons that they're different.

Hotblack Desiato

rubadub wrote: »

and the choice of drinks.

Far better than most pubs here. If you want Guinness you can go anywhere.

Blut2

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Far better than most pubs here. If you want Guinness you can go anywhere.

+1

Wetherspoons has a much better craft beer selection than most Irish pubs. And at probably 50% the cost.

poitinstill

wetherspoons has a good selection of craft beer but its fairly stagnant. the one in cork seem to have the same stuff in for yonks. whenever i go in its for the cask ale. what would be a game changer is if they took on some irish craft beer on cask regularly ( even if they had to hike the price a bit)

Idbatterim

I think its going to be very interesting, what happens when you throw in a massive spoon, in an affluent drinking area of dublin, I.e camden street. I doubt that place is going to have flat atmosphere etc!

BeerNut

poitinstill wrote: »

what would be a game changer is if they took on some irish craft beer on cask regularly

Carlow had Brú Red Ale the other day.

Muahahaha

Idbatterim wrote: »

I think its going to be very interesting, what happens when you throw in a massive spoon, in an affluent drinking area of dublin, I.e camden street. I doubt that place is going to have flat atmosphere etc!

When it opens Id say Camden St will be mobbed every night of the week. With pints for 4 euro when everywhere else on the street is 6 many will flock there for at least a few before moving on. I can see it becoming a part of the Flannerys- Coppers circuit.

Idbatterim

Muahahaha wrote: »

When it opens Id say Camden St will be mobbed every night of the week. With pints for 4 euro when everywhere else on the street is 6 many will flock there for at least a few before moving on. I can see it becoming a part of the Flannerys- Coppers circuit.

Six seventy a pint in house Leeson street the other night.young and youngish People just have to many outgoing to go out frequently at the rip off prices. Can’t wait for the spoons. It’s a great place to start even if you don’t want to spend night there

Muahahaha

Yeah pint prices have gone insane in the city. Lots of young people earning 25k cant afford to drop 100 quid on a night out. The Camden St branch will shake things up a bit on that street as huge amounts of people in their 20s and 30s drink in that area but many are price sensitive due to crappy wages.

Even young nurses, guards and teachers arent paid that much starting off these days and many are spending around 50% of their net income just on rent in Dublin alone. So I can definitely see Spoons going down a storm when it opens up in Camden St, I think it will be their busiest pub in the Irish chain bar none.

Bit of competition for them from Lidl of all places in NI. I wonder will they try to do it here too (not sure how comparable licensing laws are between the UK and here).

https://twitter.com/9whitedeer/status/1237453772403679234

BeerNut

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I wonder will they try to do it here too (not sure how comparable licensing laws are between the UK and here

The laws in NI are more similar to here than GB. Lidl already owns a pub licence at its shop in Tallaght.

BaZmO*

BeerNut wrote: »

The laws in NI are more similar to here than GB. Lidl already owns a pub licence at its shop in Tallaght.

When I first heard the news that's were I thought the location was. Interesting to see if that's the next move.

Muahahaha

Wtf would Lidl be doing going opening pubs? Have they done it in Germany or elsewhere?

I dont think mixing drunk people and chainsaws from the middle aisle is such a good idea :pac:

BeerNut

BeerNut wrote: »

The laws in NI are more similar to here than GB. Lidl already owns a pub licence at its shop in Tallaght.

I’d forgot about that til you said it there. That’s the fancy one just off the Belgard road isn’t it?

BaZmO*

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I’d forgot about that til you said it there. That’s the fancy one just off the Belgard road isn’t it?

Yeah, formally The Belgard Inn/Coco's Nightclub

Geuze

BeerNut wrote: »

The laws in NI are more similar to here than GB. Lidl already owns a pub licence at its shop in Tallaght.

Can I ask - isn't every licence for an off-licence also a pub licence?

For example, you must extinguish an existing pub licence and transfer it to the off-licence that you plan to open?

So every off-licence represents a former pub closed?

Reputable Rog

Went to the Linen Weaver today, €5 steak and chips and it was very good.
Beamish also very good, new barman whose very good. Takes multiple orders, chats to the customers, he won’t last.

BeerNut

Geuze wrote: »

isn't every licence for an off-licence also a pub licence?

No. Conversion of pub licences into off licences does happen but not every off licence used to be a pub licence.

L1011

I suspect they converted the licence of Blakes Tavern in Blanchardstown/Blakestown when it was replaced with a Lidl; ditto the two pub to Tesco (without knocking the building - Fingal House and Quinlans) that I know of but its impossible to tell with public records.

L1011

L1011 wrote: »

I suspect they converted the licence of Blakes Tavern in Blanchardstown/Blakestown when it was replaced with a Lidl; ditto the two pub to Tesco (without knocking the building - Fingal House and Quinlans) that I know of but its impossible to tell with public records.

Does blakestown have a bar or do you mean they used that one for Belgard?

L1011

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Does blakestown have a bar or do you mean they used that one for Belgard?

They bought and knocked the Blakes Tavern to build the store in Blakestown; I presume they converted that licence to an off-licence one for use on the same site. But I can't say for certain.

The Dunnes in Blackrock is still using the pub licence from the pub it was built in (as a pub licence allows off-sales), unconverted as far as I can tell.