Open an Irish Pub
If you’re thinking of opening an Irish pub in America, or anywhere for that matter, including conceiveably Ireland, there’s a feature in the Globe and Mail on the company that built the now closed WJ McBride’s Irish Pub in Overland Park, Kansas.
I especially love the opening, because it has me scanning my memories of my favourite Irish pubs as I re-evaluate if I’ve ever actually drank in a proper Irish pub:
In a proper Irish pub, the bar ought to be no more than 10 steps from the front entrance. It should be large and ornately carved, made of solid, heavily lacquered hardwood that will withstand years of propping up beer-sipping patrons. The pub should be dimly lit with old-fashioned light fixtures, the walls covered with vintage family photos and prints, and shelves lined with whisky bottles, well-worn books and jugs—in all, hundreds of pieces of bric-a-brac. Genuine Irish servers (the heavier the accent, the better) should be pouring the Guinness.
For what it’s worth those “whisky bottles” referred to there should probably be “whiskey bottles” because “whiskey” without an “e” is Scotch.
Prairie Pacific Pubs is the name of the Canadian company who developed what designer Franco Falcone calls the “pub-in-a-box”, and if you root around their website and aren’t using certain browsers, you can get to see photos of WJ McBride’s in a slideshow - and note how the photos have no people in them.
Did you know that authentically Irish-themed pubs pour 33 times more Guinness than other pubs - presumably the non-Irish-themed and the Irish-themed that are non-authentic? Perhaps drinking 33 times more Guinness than I would have done in an American neighbourhood bar could explain why I’ve been somewhat groggy this Monday.
Well it’s also the reason that Guinness have a division dedicated to promoting “the Irish pub concept” and in the article the company’s pub-development manager Sean Fadden, tells us that they’ve helped open 400 Irish pubs all over the U.S. Indeed if you are thinking of starting an Irish pub, Fadden is your man for the advice at a price:
Fadden provides free start-up advice to anyone looking to open an Irish pub (the company mostly deals with independents) and sells a package containing a business plan and operation manual for $1,000 (U.S.). He also sets them up with Guinness-approved suppliers.
Or if you really are interested in starting an Irish pub you could just buy the WJ McBride’s Irish Pub by the speedway in KCK, but you’d want to get a move on. And if you do buy it I’d suggest opening it as a Mexican restaurant themed on an Irish pub.
Remember, as the not disinterested Falcone says, “People are always in a good mood when the pub opens and the cash register is ringing”
See More Irish Pub Talk:
• History of a Pub, an Irish Pub
• Ten Years of Being Authentically Irish
• We’ve never even shoved each other in 35 years
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
funny you should mention…north little rock is about to get its very own pub in a box, although it will be built in ireland, not canada. i hope it will be in business longer than mcbride’s was, but with the way restaurants go in and out of business in this market, we’ll have to wait and see. our local session folk are looking forward to a new place to play,so i imagine they will provide a certain amount of trade. like ireland, arkansas restaurants are now non-smoking, so the only health hazards will be bar food and alchohol.
I miss McBride’s in OP….
someone please buy it and keep it the same way it was….SOON! I would if I had the money and time to start up the business.
I still think there is a market for one (Irish Pub that is) at Village West. But it needs to be a bit more welcoming and a bit more “pubish”.