Wetherspoons Dun Laoghaire (40 Foot)

djburchgrove

*Already posted in another thread (new businesses) but thought might warrant its own thread.

So was in The 40Ft Wetherspoons last night. A little mini review in bullet form - keep in mind it was opening night and crowd might not be the same most nights:

1. Full of Kids, yes it was Tuesday but definitely spotted a few 17 year olds in there. Very Young Crowd overall, a lot of college people maybe?

2. This place is very open, you walk in and feel like everyone is looking at you. It is very bright, lights up full everywhere (not really my cup of tea). Tables/ledges with chairs everywhere, not really any area where you would see many standing, maybe in front of bar.

3. The drink selection is decent, (Obv no Guinness or Heineken) but there is plenty to choose from. 33cl bottle of Brooklyn Lager for €2.45 is ridiculously good.

4. Staff are nearly younger than the kids at the bar! Young = Inexperienced, get frustrated easily and slow service, for the most part. They were friendly though, so can't fault them there. Like any new bar, the team will get better at working together and the work routine will become more refined and service should improve.

These Kids whilst not being great are working for peanuts (I overheard them saying that at the bar, which obviously shouldn't happen) so if you're getting good service, please take some of those savings from the ridiculously cheap drink and tip your servers. They'll thank you for it.

5. Didn't eat personally but everyone I spoke to said the food was awful, one describing a chicken fillet burger like so; "If I'd have thrown it at the window, it would probably have smashed. It was rock hard."

6. The place is more like an Airport Bar, or Hotel Lobby. Hard to get comfortable in the surroundings, and the No Music is just stupid. I won't be going too often but still wish them all the best.

Score out of ten? 3 or 4 maybe (just my opinion).

the groutch

how did you know the "kids" were exactly 17? they could be 19/20 and just look young for their age. and they have just as much right to be there as anyone else once they're not causing trouble.

in relation to the young staff, everyone has to start somewhere, and they should be given a bit of leeway in relation to service, I expect it's difficult too starting 2 weeks before Xmas.

Chinasea

OP,what a fe@kin moanfest. Smacks of sour grapes. Have we an axe to grind.

ted1

Thanks for taking the time to post.

djburchgrove

No sour grapes. Just my honest opinion, think it's fair. Like I said hope the place does well.

Based on 1 night only like I stated at the start, been discussed on this forum a lot by me and others so wanted to give my thoughts. You don't have to agree.

I will not write it off and will go back for 2.50 Brooklyn lager I can nearly guarantee.

Alkers

I was in the one in Blackrock near opening and the service, although polite, was awful. Every part of our three or four orders was messed up: wrong food, wrong change given, food / drinks delivered to wrong tables etc. I was there again last weekend and things have proved dramatically so give them a chance. It's difficult getting a place up and running when EVERYONE is new to it!

errlloyd

Simona1986 wrote: »

I was in the one in Blackrock near opening and the service, although polite, was awful. Every part of our three or four orders was messed up: wrong food, wrong change given, food / drinks delivered to wrong tables etc. I was there again last weekend and things have proved dramatically so give them a chance. It's difficult getting a place up and running when EVERYONE is new to it!

My order didn't come in Blackrock once, it was the pint and meal for 9e deal, I complained so they got my food and refunded me completely. 9 euro back was another four pints.

Richard Hillman

There are 2 PLC colleges within a KM of it so there would be a fair few 18 year olds present.

The layout has always been very open. It's the way it should be considering where the pub is facing.

Larbre34

No music! I knew there was something in the Blackrock one I couldn't put my finger on...

Larbre34

The 40 Foot was radio rental on Friday evening, big office crowds in. Seems a bit rough around the edges or something but that could be due to the fact that the tables werent been cleared for hours and the bar was swamped.

They ran out of most beers and lots of the food options, they should really have anticipated that when they opened ahead of Christmas, not to mention the lessons from the Blackrock opening. Maybe its just the case that its hard to order big volumes of draught not from Diageo or Heineken.

In any case, must do better....

(As an aside, was interesting to hear another DL pub advertising on the radio last week for their weekly trad sessions, they must really be shaken up!)

ted1

Larbre34 wrote: »

(As an aside, was interesting to hear another DL pub advertising on the radio last week for their weekly trad sessions, they must really be shaken up!)

That wouldn't be too uncommon particularly in the Christmas season

strandroad

Which one has trad sessions now?...

Larbre34

mhge wrote: »

Which one has trad sessions now?...

O'Loughlins advertising for some night. Forget the details.

coylemj

Larbre34 wrote: »

O'Loughlins advertising for some night. Forget the details.

Music in O'Loughlins :eek:

I've only been in the place once, bumped into a friend while we were waiting for a take-away in the Lal Qila Indian take-away (sadly long gone) and he dragged me into O'Loughlins for a quick pint - the stony silence that greeted us was like the scene in a western where a stranger walks in to the saloon bar and someone welcomes him by spitting on the ground!

Larbre34

Thats the one;)

Bits_n_Bobs

I popped into the 40 Foot last week. Very sterile, staff kinda grumpy/clueless, food was crap and mixed crowd but **** it - €3 for a nice pint of something or other IPA'ish guarantees my business. I'll be back with a smile on my face.

scotchy

Larbre34 wrote: »

O'Loughlins advertising for some night. Forget the details.

Not O'Loughlins....McLoughlins..Its the old Cosy (Kosi?) beside Walters.

.

.

Kingp35

I had my first experience of The Forty Foot on Sunday evening and it was a bit of a disaster tbh. First of all I was waiting ten minutes at the bar before getting to order as the staff were unbelievably slow and incompetent. I ordered FIVE different beers that were all sold out before finally picking one that they had. Surely the tap should be switched off if the beer is gone. I also ordered a Morgan Spice which the girl had to run downstairs to get but came back up to tell me they were out of that too so I had to order something else! People behind me at the bar were getting very angry about the long wait, one guy in particular was fuming because he was waiting over 15 minutes to order.

We ordered food too after our first drink which they proceeded to forget about two of the meals ordered as well as one of the sides. Two meals came out much earlier than the others so people were finished eating before others had even started. I wouldn't mind but there was only 6 of us so it was hardly a huge crowd.

We complained and they gave us a free round of drinks which was nice of them and explained they were having teething problems and it will be better in the New Year. It can't get any worse tbh but I live in Dun Laoghaire and really want the place to be a success so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and hopefully they will get it sorted but my first visit was not good at all.

Chinasea

Kingp35 wrote: »

. It can't get any worse tbh but I live in Dun Laoghaire and really want the place to be a success so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and hopefully they will get it sorted but my first visit was not good at all.

Posting full on negative comments on an open forum a few days/week after they open doesn't help anyone though.

I hope you fed your criticism straight back to source.

ted1

Chinasea wrote: »

Posting full on negative comments on an open forum a few days/week after they open doesn't help anyone though.

I hope you fed your criticism straight back to source.

It helps people decide if they would go there

Kingp35

Chinasea wrote: »

Posting full on negative comments on an open forum a few days/week after they open doesn't help anyone though.

I hope you fed your criticism straight back to source.

You seem to have a serious problem with people posting criticism. This is a thread about a pub where people post their experiences and if you actually read my post you would have read that I did in fact complain. Seriously you really need step out of the utopian society you live in and realise that every company and business is open to criticism of all sorts.

And I completely disagree with you, posting criticism on an open forum and can be a huge benefit to the company as they will realise they are doing things wrong and will fix them. I have no problem warning people off a business that is not doing things right and I will continue to do so.

djburchgrove

Kingp35 wrote: »

You seem to have a serious problem with people posting criticism. This is a thread about a pub where people post their experiences and if you actually read my post you would have read that I did in fact complain. Seriously you really need step out of the utopian society you live in and realise that every company and business is open to criticism of all sorts.

And I completely disagree with you, posting criticism on an open forum and can be a huge benefit to the company as they will realise they are doing things wrong and will fix them. I have no problem warning people off a business that is not doing things right and I will continue to do so.

Hear hear.

coylemj

Chinasea wrote: »

Posting full on negative comments on an open forum a few days/week after they open doesn't help anyone though.

Excuse me, this is not a tea room set up by a 40 year old who's decided to leave the rat race and start a new small business, it's a UK chain with >900 pubs.

If JDW can't get it right on day one, they deserve every criticism levelled at them. It's not like they have no experience recruiting staff and opening new pubs FFS.

Chinasea

ted1 wrote: »

It helps people decide if they would go there

And that is helpful to a new business trying to get off their feet.

Perfection from the get go only need apply in tumble weed, boarded up city. The Humpty Dumptys obviously never had a learning curb ever, ever.

Chinasea

ted1 wrote: »

It helps people decide if they would go there

And that is helpful to a new business trying to get off their feet.

Perfection from the get go only need apply in tumble weed, boarded up city. The Humpty Dumptys obviously never had a learning curb ever, ever.

ted1

Chinasea wrote: »

And that is helpful to a new business trying to get off their feet.

Perfection from the get go only need apply in tumble weed, boarded up city. The Humpty Dumptys obviously never had a learning curb ever, ever.

It shows that the staff are inexperience had no formal training in the catering and that the manager lacks important skills.

With an investment in excess of 2M euro, there is no excuse for the issues high lighted.

coylemj

ted1 wrote: »

It shows that the staff are inexperience had no formal training in the catering and that the manager lacks important skills.

Which means they have replicated what they did up in the Three Tun Tavern i.e. recruit low calibre staff with no experience, provide little or no training and open a brand new pub after spending millions on a refit only to fcuk it up with crap service.

A metaphor involving monkeys and peanuts comes to my mind every time I go into the TTT. Last time I was there the staff were not very busy so one of them sat down in the seat beside me, whipped out her smartphone and proceeded to play music videos through the phone's speaker! This was several months after they opened so they were long past the grace period for the usual excuses like 'bedding in' and 'teething problems'.

If anything this highlights the difference in the type of staff who serve in British vs. Irish pubs. Across the water they seem to rely a lot on tips ('have one yourself luv') whereas over here they get a living wage and hence it's seen as a proper job and not one for people who are only passing through.

L1011

Chinasea wrote: »

And that is helpful to a new business trying to get off their feet.

This isn't a new business trying to get off their feet - its a new branch of a hugely profitable multinational with approaching 1000 branches!

Chinasea wrote: »

Perfection from the get go only need apply in tumble weed, boarded up city. The Humpty Dumptys obviously never had a learning curb ever, ever.

JDWs "learning curve" was in the early 1980s.

huskerdu

My experience was similar - incredibly slow , inexperienced staff and not enough staff on a busy Friday night, the week before Christmas.

It seemed cruel to get angry with the junior staff, they were so young and trying so hard, but they had no experience of bar work and they were understaffed.

Wetherspoons, a successful and profitable business, made the decision to employ only inexperienced staff and not enough of them. I have the right to criticise that, without being told that I am being mean to people trying to get a business off the ground.

They will be a success, Their pricing policy will almost guarantee that, if they continue to choose locations where price sensitive, passing trade will put up with the poor service and the staff will presumably improve over time.

Reviews, either word of mouth, or in print media or the internet are fair, even in the first weeks of trade, once they are fair. Everyone who has posted a review here has been balanced, so its fair game.

Chinasea

ted1 wrote: »

It shows that the staff are inexperience had no formal training in the catering and that the manager lacks important skills.

With an investment in excess of 2M euro, there is no excuse for the issues high lighted.

Honestly, it really is incredible how short sighted and negative some people are. How the heck are many of these 18 year olds supposed to have EXPERIENCE? We all had to start somewhere. I think it is great to see a business extending the hand to these local young people. Sour grapes, resentment and gawd knows what else all behind this grumbling. Sure lets close the place down and let it add to the vacant lot.

ted1

Chinasea wrote: »

Honestly, it really is incredible how short sighted and negative some people are. How the heck are many of these 18 year olds supposed to have EXPERIENCE? We all had to start somewhere. I think it is great to see a business extending the hand to these local young people. Sour grapes, resentment and gawd knows what else all behind this grumbling. Sure lets close the place down and let it add to the vacant lot.

Very easy, they higher people with experience. Or better stil they higher people with training.
It's ok to higher people with no experience as long as their is more senior people there to train them but that doesn't seem to be the case