The White House Pub Closes

wigsa100

I'm very excited by it. From what I gather Varley is going to be very hands on with this and is going to work extremely hard to make it a success. It's a huge investment for anyone - it's not like he can afford to hand it over to someone to run and hope it works. He's put a hell of a lot of money into this.

They are putting a restaurant in downstairs which should add a bit of traffic and it'll be great to have a new venue to dine in up at that end of town. It's not in the Georgian Quarter but it's a bit closer to it which means it will hopefully get more people spending time in the nice, historic part of town. The selection of restaurants in Limerick is brilliant I think for a city this size so it's great to see someone else throwing their hat in the ring.

I liked The White House, I went to a few poetry nights and open mic nights there, but it was small and it was dark. A new layout will breathe a bit of life into it and make it more appealing.

Why the bitterness?

Garry123

wigsa100 wrote: »

I'm very excited by it. From what I gather Varley is going to be very hands on with this and is going to work extremely hard to make it a success. It's a huge investment for anyone - it's not like he can afford to hand it over to someone to run and hope it works. He's put a hell of a lot of money into this.

They are putting a restaurant in downstairs which should add a bit of traffic and it'll be great to have a new venue to dine in up at that end of town. It's not in the Georgian Quarter but it's a bit closer to it which means it will hopefully get more people spending time in the nice, historic part of town. The selection of restaurants in Limerick is brilliant I think for a city this size so it's great to see someone else throwing their hat in the ring.

I liked The White House, I went to a few poetry nights and open mic nights there, but it was small and it was dark. A new layout will breathe a bit of life into it and make it more appealing.

Why the bitterness?

Because

it's easy to whinge
they haven't invested anything but know everything about business
they're begrudgers

I could go on

zulutango

wigsa100 wrote:

It's not in the Georgian Quarter

Yes, it is! Georgian Limerick extends down to the Abbey River.

Insect Overlord

bennyl10 wrote: »

The poetry is seemingly more important in some eyes than a business staying open..

Did you see the Facebook page? :pac:

zulutango

Who is whinging? People are just lamenting the end of the pub's current incarnation and are hoping the charm of the place isn't lost.

bennyl10

An File wrote: »

Did you see the Facebook page? :pac:

Which?

Do tell...
I feel ill regret this :P

Insect Overlord

bennyl10 wrote: »

Which?

Do tell...
I feel ill regret this :P

Nope, you wouldn't regret it at all. :P

There's a page to "save the White House bar". A chunk of it fits your description from earlier about some people being more interested in tradition than success.

bennyl10

An File wrote: »

Nope, you wouldn't regret it at all. :P

There's a page to "save the White House bar". A chunk of it fits your description from earlier about some people being more interested in tradition than success.

Found it.. Holy lord almighty..

When people are legitimately saying they'd prefer a business keep tradition than stay open you know things have gone mad..

Absolute lunacy!!!

Any pub in the city can host poetry! Let's try and keep one from closing shall we?! Can logic prevail in this city just the once!!

wigsa100

For the record, this won't be a "sports bar", at all.

zulutango

Didn't see the Facebook page. No doubt there's plenty of lunacy in there. I would imagine that Varley bought the place, at least partially, because of its charm and tradition. It may well become like Tom Collins when Nancy's took it over, i.e. different crowd but substantially physically intact. That wouldn't be a bad thing. With the work to O'Connell Street on the cards in the next two years, Varley might have made a very good investment. I just hope he doesn't rip out the interior. I don't see any need to.

wingnut

Varley is a gent, and a great man for a sing song. Isn't it better having someone locally invested than some anonymous company.

Townie_P

Varley is a keen singer and musician himself. Not a rugby fan at all myself and if anything I steer clear of rugby pubs as I have absolutely no interest in the game. I'd say the White House is in good hands though and I don't think it's going to be the sports bar that everyone thinks it will be. If I were to guess I'd say music will feature and it'll be more like the bars you see in Galway/Clare - Irish pub with a mixture of music, food, sport and craic. Link below is the man in action himself.

http://www.joe.ie/sport/video-in-case-you-missed-damien-varleys-brilliant-performance-last-night-on-the-saturday-night-show/383263

FWIW there are plenty of pubs in Limerick showing sport but 95% of them are ****e. For Euro 2016 just gone it was hard work finding a decent place to watch a game, and I'm still looking....

squonk

That makes me hopeful. Limerick city center is pretty shíte for good session pubs, which is strange as there's Clare on one side, Sliabh Liucra on the other and Kerry to the south. If he is going to bring in proper sessions then I'd be delighted.

testicles

This post has been deleted.

OfTheMarsWongs

I'm sure people said similar things when they heard Barry Murphy was in a band. Look at Hermitage Green now!

bigpink

Sounds positive so
But you can see why i and people think it would change for the worst rugby players have a rep and image.
Dont know the player myself but if he a musician aswell it bodes well
Has Limerick no session trad pubs?
Guess being a rugby player will make it easier to get it up running and people will flock in there

bigpink

OfTheMarsWongs wrote: »

I'm sure people said similar things when they heard Barry Murphy was in a band. Look at Hermitage Green now!

How they doing now?Loved thrm in Curragower but then they started getting a jock L4 kinda following who just talked at gigs

zulutango

OfTheMarsWongs wrote: »

I'm sure people said similar things when they heard Barry Murphy was in a band. Look at Hermitage Green now!

Is that a backhanded compliment? :pac:

Cookiemunster

bigpink wrote: »

Sounds positive so
But you can see why i and people think it would change for the worst rugby players have a rep and image.
Dont know the player myself but if he a musician aswell it bodes well
Has Limerick no session trad pubs?
Guess being a rugby player will make it easier to get it up running and people will flock in there

In your mind maybe. Not every rugby player is a jock.

phog

It was only reading it here that I knew of the restaurant next door. Passed there today and had a look, it seems to have won a few awards a few years back.

Anyway, I hope the new venture is a success, it's always hard to see a sports player retire through injury so it would nice for him if his next stage in life is kind to him.

vkid

Best of luck to him imo. I couldn't care less if he played rugby or tiddlywinks tbh. Limerick needs a serious kick in the arse night life wise and anything new is welcome. A pub playing trad is sorely missing so if he does something like that it should do well. It's a lovely building, a bit run down in recent times though so a few quid spent on it won't do any harm either. It's a great location.

OfTheMarsWongs

zulutango wrote: »

OfTheMarsWongs wrote: »

I'm sure people said similar things when they heard Barry Murphy was in a band. Look at Hermitage Green now!

Is that a backhanded compliment? :pac:

Ha, no! Just meant he defied the rugby player stereotype. It's not everyone that gets to be famous in two totally different ways.

cocaholic

Haven't been there often but on the few occasions that I have been there, I have enjoyed immensely.

Sad to see it go, a part of Limerick city and Limerick culture.

badboyblast

phog wrote: »

It was only reading it here that I knew of the restaurant next door. Passed there today and had a look, it seems to have won a few awards a few years back.

Anyway, I hope the new venture is a success, it's always hard to see a sports player retire through injury so it would nice for him if his next stage in life is kind to him.

Are these awards you talk of the ones you see in every restaurant from god knows what awarding body.

I`m sure it will be a great pub but where are all the Wetherspoons we were promised, I want cheap beer like they have in Blanch in Dublin : ) and a steak for a fiver.....

bigpink

Cookiemunster wrote: »

In your mind maybe. Not every rugby player is a jock.

Yep its an hard earned opinion and know many others that feel the same.

Cookiemunster

bigpink wrote: »

Yep its an hard earned opinion and know many others that feel the same.

Well it's a BS opinion. Most rugby people (especially in Limerick) are not jocks. Your basing your opinion of the whole rugby community on a minority of the type of idiots that you get in all walks of life.

Pandiani

testicles wrote: »

How many Irish caps have you then?

I understand the building next door, or at least what was the restaurant in the basement has been taken over too.

I don't have any?? Good luck to him. I hope it goes well for him but he's not a big name that he can trade off that.

Cookiemunster

Pandiani wrote: »

I don't have any?? Good luck to him. I hope it goes well for him but he's not a big name that he can trade off that.

I haven't seen anyone other than Bigpink (who seems to have a pathological hatred of all things rugby) even claim that he planned to trade off his name or reputation. The company he's created to run the pub is called The White House Bar Limited, so he's not renaming it after himself.

Poxyshamrock

Cookiemunster wrote: »

I haven't seen anyone other than Bigpink (who seems to have a pathological hatred of all things rugby) even claim that he planned to trade off his name or reputation. The company he's created to run the pub is called The White House Bar Limited, so he's not renaming it after himself.

Company names are often different from trading names.

e.g. La Cucina's company named is brulor ltd.

Bored_lad

I will certainly never be supporting this new sports bar no matter who the owner is and I really think they made a bad decision alienating a regular customer base, when they're are loads of other bars in Limerick they could have bought.