Man your pumps, Wetherspoons are coming

conor678

I am back in Dublin from England visiting friends and family this weekend and I look forward to trying out the new weatherspoons. Anything to shake up the rip off price of drink in Ireland is a good thing.

Been to many weatherspoons in the UK and always have a great selection of beer at good value. Food is what it is, cheap easy food.

I was over a few weeks ago and was paying 5.70 euro for a Guinness in my local in north Dublin. That's scandalous. Really hope the inevitable success of the weatherspoons puts the cat among the pigeons for the pubs.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117794575#Comment_117794575

They invest in their premises, that's for sure

If they'd invest in their staff (wages, training), facilities (kitchens) and products (fresh rather than frozen/nuked food) to the same extent it'd be marvellous.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117803473#Comment_117803473

They won't ever. The business model doesn't allow it. Cheap food markup and get them on with the low alcohol purchased in bulk. You won't see spoons moving to a fresh Al la carte menu

pleasant Co.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117803473#Comment_117803473

Are their staff paid more poorly than other generic Irish pub staff? I wouldn’t have thought so, but as you’ve brought it up you probably know.

BeerNut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117803551#Comment_117803551

Martin has said they make more on food per pub in Ireland than in the UK. I would say it's very much the food offer, and its potential returns, that's driving their expansion in Ireland. It also helps with planning when they present themselves as primarily a restaurant chain.

DelmarODonnell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117797942#Comment_117797942

Look it would be great if they could drive down prices here, we'd all be happy out. But they are able to charge low prices because they have something like 900 pubs in the UK. There is nothing like that in Ireland that even gets close to the buying power that they have. They are able to operate with miniscule margins because they are such a large group.

Their cheapest offerings are cask beers, which virtually none of the 'native pubs' even stock. I would only go in the odd time, and it would be purely for the novelty of the cask beers. I like drinking local beers primarily, makes me feel like I am contributing a bit more to jobs based in Ireland and Wetherspoons selection of Irish Independent beer has remained shite, despite promises when they set up in Blackrock initially and their Beoir signs at the taps.

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117803473#Comment_117803473

I dont think they ever would go to a fully fresh menu because that would mean higher prices. iirc a burger, chips & soft drink in Spoons is 8.95 so in the market price wise they are really positioned just a level above McDonalds, Burger King, etc Spoons and McDonalds both operate a re-heated food model to keep prices cheap. The main difference being that McDonalds and other fast food outlets are set up purposefully with hard upright seating to make sure people dont linger after eating whereas Spoons has proper chairs with armrests that you can actually be comfortable in and after a meal. McDonalds want you to leave after eating whereas Spoons want people to stay, have a cofffee, dessert or a few pints.

If Spoons were to go to a fresh cooked to order menu prices would rise because more labour would be needed in the kitchen. That would then position them more towards competing against the casual dining sector like Pizza Express (Milanos here), Nandos, Wagamama and a load of chains who only do burgers like GBK. The casual dining space in the UK is pretty saturated, Jamie Olivers chain of Italian restaurants went bust and that was almost a year before the pandemic hit when the economy was good. Oliver blamed high rents and the over saturation of the sector for the business failing.

So Id say Spoons are happy being in that midpoint between fast food outlets like McDonalds and casual diners like Pizza Express. They offer the comfort and decor of the latter but their prices are closer to the former.

donaghs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117804981#Comment_117804981

With a few exceptions, e.g. Galway Bay pubs, it’s hard now to find much Irish independent craft beer in typical Irish pubs. I notice some pubs which did have a selection on tap have replaced them with Diageo and Heineken’s “craft” offerings. Or beers who’ve sold a stake to the big boys and suddenly appear everywhere, like Five Lamps and the Franciscan Well.

im looking forward to trying the new Spoons in Camden st, if I happen to be down that way again.

L1011

Galway Bay, right now, seem to only have their own beer on draught plus the few German/Czechs for people who insist on a brand. I've been in three since pubs reopened and all were like that (edit - no, I can't say that for certain as I didn't see the taps in the Gasworks. Brew Dock and Beer Traders were though). Also no cask.

I don't expect that to last.

Diageo pushing out Rockshore variants to try get even more taps than the one obvious target (Budweiser, which they lost to C&C) plus Heinekens fraft and now Islands Edge often having multiple lines in a pub have really squeezed everyone else, even the other "big boys".

Stag stout in black sheep.

L1011

Did my requisite visit to Keavens Port today. Garden tables completely fully, main body of the pub quite busy with a primarily 40+ male crowd; but the little rooms at the front were all empty and that's probably the nicest place in any 'spoons in the city.

Contact tracing setup at the door is a tad convoluted and is using two staff - I'm sure Tim Martin is counting down the days til that's gone.

I still won't be back.

fritzelly

Been to Keavens three times since it opened

It's large inside and very nice looking but service is beyond terrible - had one round I ordered arrive 40 minutes after ordering, got other drinks before it but in fairness every visit we've ended up with free drink as they brought the same order out again multiple times lmao

Staff have no idea where they are going with the table numbers - walking round like headless chickens looking at table numbers

I'm sure it'll get better with time and I'm happy to pay a pretty penny less than a pub across the road 😉

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117813194#Comment_117813194

Did you get to see the old section of a church alter that is inside it, whats that like? Do they have tables right around it or how is it laid out?

And why no return, too busy or something else? Wont get to go for a few weeks myself but thats no bad thing when the staff are still getting up to speed

L1011

There's things outside saying "dining only in chapel" so I didn't think they'd appreciate me wandering in - it seems to have a decent volume of tables inside it. There's a holy water font is outside it covered with perspex.

Won't return as I've no need to - its not near where I'd go normally, I prefer other pubs in the area and I really dislike the food and the owner!

pleasant Co.

Must go and test it out, the reviews here so far have let me know to give the staff time to bed in, but nothing really negative outside of that.

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117813281#Comment_117813281

ah right, fair enough. I wouldnt normally drink in that area myself either so will probably be similar and just make the one visit some evening. I am in the area the odd time early mornings though and I think their full breakfast is something like 7 or 8 quid including tea/coffee so I might pop in for that the odd time

DelmarODonnell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117808165#Comment_117808165

I think it all depends where you are. If the town where you live has a brewery nearby, you will most likely get a local beer on tap. But also hopefully when more normal service returns, the craft offerings in pubs will return. I think a lot of them ended up doing quite decently during the time pubs were shutdown.

BeerNut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117824021#Comment_117824021

This is one of those things that should be true but isn't. Most Irish breweries have a very tough time selling beers locally.

DelmarODonnell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117824702#Comment_117824702

Yeah I am sure it is quite tough.

Probably depends on the town itself. I'm talking as a person living in Bray, where the majority of the pubs have Wicklow Wolf or Larkins or O'Brother. Go to Greystones/Kilcoole/Shankill/Killiney/Dalkey or smaller places around the area and they will be mostly the same aswell.

Thinking of Sligo where I was recently, where most pubs had White Hag/Lough Gill. Or North Mayo were I had a 4 euro pint of Reel Deel in Kilala.

OldRio

Oh the irony is utterly delicious. Martin complaining he can't get the staff or the beer.

Wonderful.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117833507#Comment_117833507

Where did you see that?

L1011

The staff problems have been documented for ages, with Martin asking to be allowed take in more EU immigrants.

The beer thing is more recent and connected to the huge shortage of truck drivers which is significantly down to the end of cabotage rules since Brexit.

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/wetherspoons-brexit-covid-shortage-carling-coors-beer-b953211.html

The horror of the consequences of your actions!

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117833536#Comment_117833536

I presume its about this, some beers are not being stocked in Spoons

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/food-and-drink/wetherspoons-tim-martin-beer-shortages-lorry-drivers-brexit-1178079

He was also on about not being able to get staff and wanted the Tories to introduce special visas to get eastern Europeans back into the UK. So far the Tories are saying that British businesses need to hire British staff but the haulage industry in particular needs 100,000 HGV drivers or theres going to be even more shortages in the run up to Christmas. Its certainly ironic that he was one of Brexits biggest backers and is now at the coal face of the effects of it.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117833536#Comment_117833536

https://www.thejournal.ie/wetherspoons-beer-supply-chain-issues-5537199-Sep2021/

OldRio

The only downsize to this is where will the Weatherspoons clientele migrate to?

They might start attending, heaven forbid, nice bars. An awful thought.

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117836466#Comment_117836466

Many posters here often frequent witherspoon's.

Stupid, ignorant comment.

If "nice bars" are where you and your ilk drink, l'd rather drink in witherspoon's!

OldRio

If you like to line the pockets of that odious individual that is your choice.

Others have higher principles.

conor678

Jesus some real snobiness going on about the whole weatherspoons thing.

The politics of the whole thing is bizarre in my opinion. Plenty of other heinous things done by other corporations that people don't bat an eye to (pharma, oil, sports good, food production etc.). Objectively to me it's a good effective business model that works wherever it goes.

Also as someone based in england carling is much more an everyday man's larger drank in every pub going, tho k Carlsberg in ireland. So this will impact more or less all pubs in England. Cant say I have ever seen coors anywherein England. However for all the talk of empty shelves etc I haven't seen one empty shelf in any super market in the north east of England.

Muahahaha

Its pretty ironic to be complaining about lining Tim Martins pockets on a digital device that contains cobalt and lines the pockets of mining companies in the Congo who use child slave labour. I mean if someone finds Tim Martin politics abhorrent enough for a boycott then surely they should be throwing away their phones and laptops too.

OldRio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117837830#Comment_117837830

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117837830#Comment_117837830

The false equivalence is rather large with this I had to quote it twice.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117837633#Comment_117837633

The successful business man, you mean?

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117838565#Comment_117838565

This is what you said

If you like to line the pockets of that odious individual that is your choice.

Others have higher principles.

I guess your principles arent that high so

Blut2

Every time I've been in a Spoons in Dublin at the weekend its been either busy, or very busy. And I presume thats not just my own anecdotal experience, given the fact they keep expanding quite quickly, and expanding into very large capacity locations at that.

So a minority (and/or pub owners) can complain as much as they want about the Britishness, or the owner's politics, or anything else. But the general public is voting with its feet pretty clearly - they seem delighted to have Spoons here. Which isn't that surprising given the ripoff prices in 'normal' pubs really.

When/if we get to a stage where we have 5-10 Spoons in the city center its going to make things very interesting. The normal publicans can ignore them when its only 1 or 2 locations, but once they're in a position to really start making a dent in the market it might lead to some real price competition.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117837633#Comment_117837633

Most people who talk about Martin's principles haven't a notion about the principles of the owner of the pubs they drink in.

It's amazing how these principles only surface about Martin - and how much of that is down to him not being Irish?

Which says a strange thing about the 'principles' behind the objection. Is racism a higher principle?

If you have a local and you know the publican fair enough, but it doesn't really apply to any of the areas Wetherspoon's have opened up here.

Most Irish people don't even know who or what entity owns the pub they are drinking in, certainly not city centres.

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117838837#Comment_117838837

There are plenty of Irish publicans who treat their staff like sh1t and have them on minimum wage but you dont hear people complaining about them. Seems because Martin is English he is targeted yet his pubs pay above minimum wage, they even pay for university education for some of their staff. I dont agree on his Brexit positions but he is entitled to his views, as are we all in a democracy. Dont drink there if you feel that strongly about it, problem solved. But next time you're over in the UK looking for a pint make sure to ask the publican if they voted for Brexit or not, just to make sure your principals arent being breached 👍️

If we were to live our lives on principals and how businesses operate then you might as well knock off your electricity, throw away your phone and never buy clothes again. All of those industries commit human rights abuses far in excess of anything Tim Martin has ever done.

L1011

I know the politics of the owner of my local as it's a single pub entity, his family have local political history going back to the 30s (not with either of the parties that usually have publicans in them either!) and he would support that parties fundraising.

But that isn't going to be that common.

I don’t care who owns it or what they do, but for me Wetherspoons are just too like English pubs and English pubs are terrible. Ours are bad enough at the minute with having to sit down at tables but at least it’s coming to an end soon.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117838820#Comment_117838820

I would like it to happen, but I can't see any widespread price competition happening in Dublin pubs.

Geuze

Can I take it that JD Wetherspoon are doing well in Ireland?

All locations?

I was surprised that they sold some pubs in NI.

I wonder will the Galway pub go ahead?

And what is happening with the pub in the Dublin docklands?

L1011

The Docklands one is due to open in December as is Waterford. Galway and a further Dublin premises will be later

ClashCityRocker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117838954#Comment_117838954

Martin/Wethespoons come in for criticism in the UK also, i think its unfair to paint any criticism here as some sort of anti Brit agenda

Whipping Boy

Was in there last night and had a great experience - staff attentive, service prompt, food well received across the board and, of course, all for a price that feels ridiculous. Hard to believe we were paying €3.95 for a G&T smack bang in the middle of town.

We actually had a space booked in a different spot down the road but they had planned to kick us out after 105 minutes for some reason so we jumped ship. Will definitely be back

BeerNut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117840439#Comment_117840439

The docklands one now has the official name of The South Strand.

Speak Now

Waterford one will be called The Arundel Gate. 

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117839595#Comment_117839595

I've never been to any of the Irish venues but if they are the same style as the UK ones I wouldn't be to bothered going.

I hate that big open room, lights up full, echoey ambiance that you get it a lot of English pubs. When you do go to a good pub in London everyone raves about it but then are far to happy to accept mediocrity from most of them

L1011

The Blackrock one is up for sale

Black Sheep

I haven't been in Blackrock in years, but it was never a drinking town or a destination when I worked there (Not in the way Dun Laoghaire or Dalkey were, where you'd have people coming from Stillorgan, Shankill and locally). It's been 15+ years but there was a daytime crowd at lunch and then in the evening it was locals, and yes, I can see how a Wetherspoons might not have been the best fit.

Cloudio9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117839595#Comment_117839595

I'd much rather wander around an English city visiting different pubs than doing the same in Ireland. I'm going to encounter much better food and drink options.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117845915#Comment_117845915

Different pubs ?

The problem in England is every town is just a Spoons a Greene King and some form of a Mitchell and Butlers, same goes for the chain restaurants. I was shocked when I travelled outside London and found cities twice the size of Limerick with half the choice.

BeerNut

Blackrock never seemed as busy as Dún Laoghaire or Blanchardstown, and certainly not as busy as Abbey Street. I reckon it was an experiment and what they've learned is that big is the way to go. Now that the admin office can move to Camden Street they can offload that and reinvest the couple of million elsewhere. I wonder if they'll do the same in Cork: I'd be surprised if The Linen Weaver is paying its way.