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IRELAND’S FIRST JD WETHERSPOON pub has officially opened its doors and locals in Blackrock, Co Dublin have already been trying it out.
The Three Tun Tavern had its first customers this morning, about seven months after it was announced that the 800 outlet British pub chain was entering the Irish market.
The former Tonic Bar is the first of Wetherspoon’s Irish branches, employing 60 people, with the discount pub chain also planning to open a premises in Cork city.
Josh Powell who lives nearby was one of the first to try out the Three Tun Tavern this morning, getting a full-Irish breakfast and a pint of lager for €9.
Powell is from England but moved to Ireland three years ago and says that the pub is much nicer than many of those he’s used to in the UK, adding that he has no complaints from his first visit.
“This one is a lot different,” he said. “It’s a lot nicer and obviously it’s newer so it’s really clean. The decor is much nicer and it’s not as plain and white as some in England. The staff were lovely as well so they’ve definitely done a good job on it.”
“It was busy, there were a lot of people in suits actually checking their emails, so they must have wi-fi,” he added.
Wetherspoon’s move to Ireland received a mixed reaction when it was announced, with some pointing out that local Irish pubs are an important tradition and source of employment and should be protected from larger chains.
A number of Facebook campaigns were launched against Wetherspoon’s decision and there was also questions asked recently when the company confirmed they will not be serving Guinness in their Irish bars.
“I understand that there is a difference over here,” says Powell. “I’m quite used to the chain pubs because there’s many chains in the UK and Wetherspoon’s wouldn’t have the best reputation among them.”
“The price of a pint is so expensive here, anyone who serves a pint for under €5 is going to get business here,” he says.
There has been much speculation about where Wetherspoon’s next acquisition in Ireland will be.
The company confirmed last week that they will not be buying well-known Dublin pubs Café en Seine, The George, The Dragon and Howl At The Moon as had been suggested by some media reports.
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I couldn’t care less if they are chain pubs or are not in the “traditional Irish mould” as anything that brings a bit of competition to the rip off merchants in Dublin is to be welcomed. The snide comments people are making about Weatherspoons were the exact same things you heard said about Lidl and Aldi when they first came to Ireland, and look at the how they have changed the Irish supermarket scene in the last decade.
Revenge Pat, for all the shit Irish theme pubs that blight English high streets. I’m glad they’re not selling Guinness, it’s way overpriced for a locally produced product. Small craft brewers will have an outlet for the their beers. Now people can sample real beer and not the keg stored, mass produced dross sold here every day of the week.
Since I got charged 3.35 for a can of coke in The Temple Bar, I’ve been looking forward to some competition in this industry.
I was charged 7 quid in there for a pint one night. Bunch of greedy pox bottles.
A pint of Heineken with a fry.He’s probably still sitting on the toilet right now.He will have the place destroyed.
Very funny comment!
Breakfast and a beer for €9… Not bad at all!
Yeah, beer with your breakfast and Obesity will rocket. Buy a bag of sugar, bottle of fat and drink it. It’ll be cheaper.
Just one sausage!!
Christ, that’s a disgrace.
That’s more of an outrage than the whole Garth Brooks debacle!
Yeah, as far as I’m concerned it’s five sausages or none at all!
I’ll be visiting that area later this month – and will definitely sample this establishment. Anywhere in Dublin that serves pints for €4 or thereabouts will thrive. No sympathy for existing pubs and their extortionate prices – adapt or die …
Our local weatherspoons charges less than £35 for two chkwings starters (10/portion) 2 x 14oz steaks, a bottle of Faustino (€35/40 in any Dublin restaurant). Plus you get two free pints of your choice.
Great value, with change from £35.
With a breakfast like that everyday won’t be long before everyone in Blackrock weighs 3 Tuns…before they keel over from a heart attack that is.
From €9.95 for a steak, chips and a beer. Not bad. Similar prices to Wetherspoons in London. Prices start from £8.09.
Its €9 for a pint and breakfast. What were ya expecting a massive feast?
Yes.
At least 2 sausages.
Just out of interest, did you have to get the pint to get the deal for breakfast and a pint for €9 or could you just get the fry for like a fiver or whatever?? Looks like a tasty feed for about a fiver..considering a fry anywhere else in Ireland for about the same amount if good is at least €9.95
Why go to the trouble of making a big crispy hash brown if you’re going to dump it on top of the baked beans, making it soggy before you’ve even touched it?
The employee handbook forbids staff from talking about politics, religion or s*x.. sure that’s half the point of going to a pub!
There has to be scope for locals to link up with craft beers at low prices, how come imported are so expensive? Erdinger & Hoogarten are double the cost than on the continent & it can’t be all transport costs.
Hoegaarden is hardly a craft beer, considering it’s made by the biggest brewing company in the world (Anheuser Busch).
Why the hell would anyone want a pint with breakfast?
Night staff ?
Holidays?
Tourists?
Choice?
There’s four reasons
Alcoholics = a 5th reason.
Also hair of the dog, no better hangover cure than a big greasy fry a beer.
Great news I hope they cut the tripe out of the greedy publicans particularly in Dublin.
Keep reminding Yiz dubs , pint of tennents 3.40 , Guinness 3.90 here in carlow…it’s not fecking cheap in New English pub ! Jeasus…
Lads,
While wetherspoons are cheap, I will not be going there by choice, it feels like drinking in a airport lounge… Wish them the best and they will probably do alright in Dublin where some bars are more that way…
I suppose at the end of the day, I go to pubs to socialise rather than drink…
These are great pubs – and different.
No – music/juke boxes, pool, darts, sitting at the counter, TV sport (except the World Cup etc.) or kids (except on strict rules/times).
In the UK, they open 8am/midnight – 1.30am, at weekends. Food 8am/11pm.
And don’t expect a chat with the bar
person. He/she will be too busy serving the next customer.
You’re not really a bar person are you.
No – doh. I just give facts and info m8.
They must not be into the old irish custom , chatting to customers & crack
They’re not there for the craic! Just to give good/fast service. Some may be surprised – its just how they operate.
No Guinness and beans for breakfast. Truly an English pub.
Beans are essential for any cultural breakfast – 1 sausage is weird but u could prob swap 1 of those hash browns for an extra
You can get Guinness in all English pubs now and it’s imported from Dublin. I was in the green in shepherd’s Bush on Sunday and the Guinness was as good as at home in Limerick
Considering all the shitty Irish pubs blighting the rest of the planet, it’s about time the Irish had a taste of their own medicine.
So how much are pints roughly ?
Average pint is €4. They will have some beers and Ale on offer for lesss.
That’s good – was i London recent and the variety is brill – sure some drinks are hit/miss but found some lovely ciders – £2.20 a pint
No Guinness though is strange.
Because Guinness wont let them sell the pints for cheaper. they couldn’t work out a deal so the pub told them to feck off
Sure the likes of the Porterhouse have been not selling Guinness for years. Not like it’s something new.
I didn’t know that about Guinness, surely in the long term Irish pubs will have to compete with pint prices.
Simon Diageo told them to feck off. No guinness, carlsberg etc is a problem for your average drinker. No reason why they should get it cheaper than the other pubs. The can then charge what they like.
Don’t you get bored with the same drinks in Irish pubs. Guinness, Heineken, Budweiser. Every pub sells the same drinks. Wetherspoons will bring a huge range of drinks. Something Irish pubs never offered.
Lots of pubs doing varied rsnge of craft beers. They should still stock carlberg? Heino, bud and Guinness.
ah??? Not that I want to teach you the geography of Ireland or anything but I think you’ll find this new opening IS NOT “Wetherspoon’s first IRISH pub”. There are 9 in the north, OF IRELAND, making them Irish too. Now if you said Wetherspoon’s first pub in the REPUBLIC of Ireland , that would have been a first!!!
Oi, Powell. Get in to work.
That plate is far too busy. What’s wrong with a white one ? It’s as if they try to look cheap haha
Wouldn’t stop me eating it, good value.
Thank God, at last we now have a franchise to drink cheaper beer and more processed food. Isn’t it a wonderful thought that we can start the day in Starbucks, pop to Subway for lunch, nip into Boots, grab some deals in Tesco on the way home, then into Wetherspoons for a burger and a pint and maybe a McDonald’s for a midnight snack. I hate local businesses and their high prices anyway. Those shop keepers and cafe owners are better off working in a nice big corporation.
this is news? does every new shop get a news article or is it just too easy to pander to Irish drink culture which I thought was a bad think.
Well edna kenny took time off work to open a uk owned shop in berlin and you didn’t complain!
everything Enda does is dumb, no point commenting about him anymore. This is about everything about beer in this country being sacred and holy because “we” are a population of oikes
It’s a market entry by a large UK chain which could seriously shake up the status quo of the Irish pub scene. That’s why it’s news.
@Dee4
Speak for yourself, buddy
Boooo
Watch out Ryanair, there’s a new discounter getting plenty of free column inches in town…
I can get a pint of Tuburg or Bavaria in my local in Balbriggan for €3.30. Three pints for under a tenner. Happy days. They also do a quarter pounder meal deal (not from frozen) either beef or cajun chicken breast with chips/wedges, side salad and pint for €10. Granted, its county Dublin and not city centre. But shows it can be done, and that publicans in the city centre and suburbs are greedy and are fleecing their punters. I also think Witherspoon in Blackrock could be cheaper.. €3.95 is cheaper, but not cheap.
I lived in Brighton in the south of England and surprised my girlfriend with a bus trip to bognor Regis and a curry and pint in witherspoons. We then went for a walk on the pier. The prices were great. Only problem was no music in the pub. Heard it’s due to royalties. Anyway we broke up shortly afterwards.
Walking distance from my house….must give it a go!
How come there aloud to sell alcohol at 8 o clock
David – under UK law, its legal. Don’t know about here?
Irish law 10.30 a.m – 11.30 mon – Thursday 10.30 – 12.30 fri – sat serving alcohol
Well JDW will open all those hours – and apply for more, it that’s possible here. Very few UK pubs open at 8am – but all of the c900 JDW pubs do (even before, at airports).
UK ( or EU?) law allowed them to apply for the longer hours – which has allowed them to create a totally new market, just for themselves. As no competitor has gone for longer opening.
And of course, this applies to food and drink.
Well we will see what sort of clientele it attracts , it won’t suite Blackrock
It doesn’t suit a lot of places that JDW are in – but they seem to do well wherever they go. Frequently putting competitors out of business. The Irish publican should be wary….
UK law does not apply here. We got our independence some time ago.
Hmm a pint with a fry. Not so sure about that, the after effects would not be good :)
No Guinness = no business from me
Well judging by that belly of yours Peter, they might regret their decision. But you seem to have been tipping along nicely without them anyway.
Very unhealthy breakfast deep fried sausage,hash brown,black and white pudding, the egg fried
In lots of oil. That should go down well with a pint of Heineken
It’s not a health farm.
Here’s to another 800 years.
Hope they don’t bring their larger louts with them
At least its well out of reach from Temple bar.
They plan to open up 50 more branches in Ireland
So I would say that Temple Bar is on their radar
Wont work here!!!! Most people like their branded beers.guinness.bud etc etc thats why they go to pubs also the craic and banter.all you. will get in dunlaoire and new jwd pubs are the local dipsos in for cheap gargle.they,d drink piss from a tramps boot..
€9 for a Breakfast including a pint.
In reality this is the Devil encouraging people to start drinking from the early hours.
You talk about that lad alot dont you frank.
FYI he is no more real then santa
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise”. Proverbs 20:1
“He who believes in religious shite shall be a tool amongst themselves and others”
Eye 1:1
Never saw advertising in London for breakfast with a beer. Maybe its just the journal putting the price of the 2 together. Wetherspoons menu will have breakfast with tea or coffee.
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