The old Newport Cafe in Paul Street plaza and gonna throw 1.5million at it according to indo!!
Good or bad thing chaps?
The owner of Weatherspoons was interviewed on Who's Buying Ireland last Monday. He sounds alright to me.
http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/10231693/
He does laugh a lot on the show!
However if I owned 900 pubs so would I :)
Good as far as I am concerned. The Newport has a nice location, but has always been a bit of a poisoned chalice, so hopefully they will have more luck with it.
Certainly interesting stuff.
it'll make no difference to me. It'll turn from a cafe i don't go to , to a pub I dont go to.
Quote from: LordEoin on December 13, 2013, 10:40:28 PM
it'll make no difference to me. It'll turn from a cafe i don't go to , to a pub I dont go to.
You never know!
Can't do any harm. craft beer or 'crafty' beer is growing and somewhere in the middle of town may start getting people trying something different. Newport wouldn't be my place but may sex up the craft brew image (never been in a weatherspoons so I'm assuming it would have a reasonable choice). Was in the porterhouse (near the mardyke) a couple of months back and it's not a bad spot - except the staff don't have a clue what they are serving.
Dara
I've a story about the newport I'll save for the next rebel brewer meet up.
Wetherspoons are good and bad. Good beer but ambience of a slot machine parlour.
Weatherspoons is an odd sort of a place depending on where you find it. A few years ago when I was in London (think it was near Southwark tube station) at a weatherspoons they were serving what could only be described as a disgusting breakfast imho. However when I was in Chester last year they had good value for money pint and meal deals of half decent food. I have mixed memories of the company. A lot depends on how much effort the franchisee manager puts into running the place. I don't think that the owners of Amicus and other places on Paul St will be happy about having such a company operating next door!
Is it the pub equivalent of Tesco/Tescopoly?
Ok thanks for pointing that out tube. I stand corrected on thinking they operated franchises.
Quote from: iTube on December 16, 2013, 08:29:26 PM
BTW, they also have the Lloyd's No. 1 Bar chain aswell. It's a bit like the Lexus-Toyota relationship. More upmarket but if you look closely you'll see they have a lot in common, like the prices.
The Lloyd's in Derry is pretty rubbish. I'd go in the odd time during the day but it's nowhere near as nice as the Wetherspoons. At weekends they have music and sometimes a DJ. It does have 6 cask engines compared to the 5 in the Wetherspoons though.
A lot depends on the clientele that the pubs are receiving. The legal eagles around Lincoln's inn like cheap decent beer same as everyone else, but their wetherspoons , the knights Templar is a very good, we'll run spoons.
Whereas the sports themed spoons in highbury is a plastic glasses affair
Quote from: TheSumOfAllBeers on December 17, 2013, 02:52:12 PM
A lot depends on the clientele that the pubs are receiving. The legal eagles around Lincoln's inn like cheap decent beer same as everyone else, but their wetherspoons , the knights Templar is a very good, we'll run spoons.
Whereas the sports themed spoons in highbury is a plastic glasses affair
This is the same in Derry. The Lloyd's pub is where a lot of young ones go for cheap drink and a dance and it also seems to be where a lot of daytime drinkers go. The Wetherspoons attracts a lot more families, daytime eaters and has a regular crowd of OAPs that keep the cask pumps flowing. At night it still fills with people out for cheap drinks before they head on elsewhere but it is a lot more spacious and doesn't have music blaring. The furniture as well is all in better nick in the Wetherspoons one.
It might mean that you can get something decent to drink before 3 or 4 o'clock, which can be tricky in Cork. Will be interesting to see what type of punter they attract.
Quote from: irish_goat on December 17, 2013, 02:55:10 PM
Quote from: TheSumOfAllBeers on December 17, 2013, 02:52:12 PM
A lot depends on the clientele that the pubs are receiving. The legal eagles around Lincoln's inn like cheap decent beer same as everyone else, but their wetherspoons , the knights Templar is a very good, we'll run spoons.
Whereas the sports themed spoons in highbury is a plastic glasses affair
This is the same in Derry. The Lloyd's pub is where a lot of young ones go for cheap drink and a dance and it also seems to be where a lot of daytime drinkers go. The Wetherspoons attracts a lot more families, daytime eaters and has a regular crowd of OAPs that keep the cask pumps flowing. At night it still fills with people out for cheap drinks before they head on elsewhere but it is a lot more spacious and doesn't have music blaring. The furniture as well is all in better nick in the Wetherspoons one.
IG is that the one on the Diamond, I was in there on 11th July having pints with Cara and earlier in the year with Mr D. And documented my experiences here
http://www.beoir.org/community/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10008&start=30
My impression was that although it had the least amount of character I have ever experienced in a pub it had some really great beer in offer, and I am hoping the selling of non macro beers in Cork will fast track the adoption of local micros into the general trade.
Quote from: Bzfeale80 on December 16, 2013, 08:03:48 PM
A lot depends on how much effort the franchisee manager puts into running the place. I don't think that the owners of Amicus and other places on Paul St will be happy about having such a company operating next door!
I can't see the local manager wanting to directly apply the UK selling model, why would he, look at Tescos, Argos or any other international retailer that has set up here, they pitch just below domestic retailers, probably the reason Weatherspoons are so attracted to this market.