Chain reaction?
The date is set. In a little over six weeks - on 19 July to be precise - another English invasion of Ireland is due to begin. This time, Ulster's drinkers are the targets. Watford-based pub chain, JD Wetherspoon, is ready to follow the large UK supermarket groups, which crossed the Irish sea four years ago, and open its first Irish unit in Ballymena, County Antrim. When it opens, Wetherspoon's will be the first English pub chain in the province.
Although continuing peace has played a major part in the process, Wetherspoon's regards Northern Ireland as a fertile market it is prepared to invest in heavily. The company has straightforward and practical reasons for making the move now, according to company spokesman Eddie Greshon. "It is a new market for us and we always wanted to come across. On a very simple level, people in Ireland eat and drink the same as over here," he says.
More than £1m is being ploughed into the Ballymena pub, which will be run along the same operational lines as the company's 403 UK-based pubs. Specific Irish touches will include the serving of local food and drink, and real ales - not usually a favourite tipple among Northern Ireland's stout and lager drinkers - will also be included.
The Ballymena site is merely the start of Wetherspoon's plans. A site in Coleraine, County Derry, is ready to go ahead, while another in the city of Derry is waiting for planning permission. A further 47 sites should be up and running by 2010. These are ambitious plans, and Wetherspoon's knows it. "I think, from our point of view, we are being bullish when we say we would like to have 50 pubs in the next 10 years, but I genuinely mean it," says Gershon.
Being English and on their own doesn't, bother Gershon. "We are not going over to hold a torch for anyone else, we are going over because we have always wanted to."
New tradition?
The absence of pub chains, be they English or Irish, is easy to explain, says Bass Tavern's public relations manager, Brian Houston, who is based in Belfast. "The tradition over here has always been for family-run pubs; we are more individual," he adds.
Houston's English-based colleagues in Bass Leisure Retail have had first-hand experience of this individual mentality. As Bob Cartwright, director of communication at Bass Leisure Retail, explains: "We did have eight premises but sold off seven, mainly to individuals. It was a relatively small estate in a fragmented market and there were disproportionate management costs. It also reached a stage where there was large investment, in Belfast city centre in particular, and we either had to expand or sell."
Regardless of its nationality, Wetherspoon's decision to open in Northern Ireland reflects the growth in Ulster's, and particularly Belfast's, pub scene over the past four years.
While the actual granting of new licences isn't high (licences tend to be transferred rather than created and the pub has to be closed before the licence is moved), with only eight new pubs opening between 1997 and 1999, there has been a gradual move of country pub-granted licenses into the city. And, more importantly, the bars that already exist are rapidly expanding their premises.
Maurice Regan, chairman of the Federation of the Retail Licensed Trade in Northern Ireland says there are about 1,857 pubs in the province, 233 of these in Belfast. He adds: "Although the growth of new pubs doesn't seem dramatic, a lot of existing pubs have doubled or trebled in size. Trading area in Belfast has grown significantly. Put it this way: nobody is getting smaller." The development of the Belfast pub scene even has Houston going so far as to call it "unbelievable".
At the centre of this growth is Jas Mooney, managing director of Botanic Inns. Mooney already owns several key bars (the Fly, the Botanic Inn, McHugh's, The Rotterdam) plus hotels (Madison's and Drumsill House Hotel, Armagh, County Armagh). He plans to open three more bars in Belfast's citycentre over the next three months and eventually hopes to increase this to 17 in Belfast alone.
Mooney is aiming these new developments at what he terms "the premium market" and, with an overall investment of £5m, they are set to "mirror the modern culture." He says: "This is the most we have ever expanded. The time is now right because Belfast's city centre is returning to normality." Normality is, of course, intrinsically linked to the IRA ceasefires and the peace that has followed. Every publican knows peace is one of the main factors behind the developing pub market. Not only has it helped encourage the likes of Wetherspoon's to come to the six counties, but it has brought confidence to business people and, subsequently, huge financial investment.
Mooney is not the only one banking on the future. One bar that opened recently is Tatu, which cost its owner, Bill Wolsey, £2.5m. It was money well spent. Wolsey, who also owns several other pubs in the city, wanted a completely different look to any bar he had ever seen. To achieve this aim he chose an architect who had never designed a pub. The result is an ultra-modern bar, with a 40ft high ceiling and permanent seating. And the people of Belfast love it. Since opening seven weeks ago, the 400-capacity premises has been taking £50,000 weekly.
Wolsey wanted to attract the 26 to 35 age group, but he also wanted a pub where any one of any age could feel comfortable. In fact, it was crucial to him that his pub appealed to the local people.
A legacy of the first IRA ceasefire five years ago was that Northern Ireland's hospitality industry anticipated a large increase in tourists. Tourists did come but the 12% increase from 1998 to 1999 was not as high as some expected. It may still go higher but, as Wolsey puts it: "It's a very foolish person that opens a pub here and looks for tourists… because, in the end, Belfast is not going to be another Dublin."
Wolsey admits he has a pessimistic view of the projected influx of tourists. But he is not alone in wanting to build the internal market rather than rely on what might happen in the future.
Mooney is one bar owner who sees tourists as being good for the industry, especially in helping weaker businesses survive. For his own premises, however, he wants, "the Belfast people and the internal tourists from surrounding towns."
While bigger, more modern pubs will pull in these much-wanted customers, Mooney intends to rely on excellent service, given by top-quality staff. He is passionate in his desire to achieve excellent service.
Of his new concepts set to open, he says the right formula is good design, but has to be backed up by good service, otherwise people won't go into the pub - and that applies to both English and Irish, chains or individuals.
Licensing in Northern Ireland
To get a licence in Northern Ireland, the applicant must prove that there is a need and demand for a pub in the area. Licences are then purchased by one person and costs can vary, but the average price is £70,000 plus any additional legal fees. This also varies and can be as high as £20,000 if the licence application faces any objections.
Once the licence is obtained getting premises in the central of Belfast can also prove very expensive. The average cost of a buying an existing pub now stands at about £2m, regardless of turnover.
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 8-14 June 2000
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