Win 3 tickets to the Irish Pubs Global Conference

Posted by barblog on Aug 12, 2010 in Bar Marketing | 1 comment

Irish Pubs Global is an organisation that was set up earlier this year with the aim of uniting Irish Pubs around the world. It’s aim is to empower owners and managers to develop their business skills, source Irish food and drinks and develop a real Irish atmosphere and experience for their customers around the world.

I was thrilled to be asked to be part of this venture back in the planning stages and helped them develop their management tools and owner resources used by their members.

I will also be speaking at the first Irish Pubs Global Convention which will be held from September 21 – 23 in Galway, Ireland which will be amazing for networking opportunities, social outings, useful seminars, exhibitions and more as food industry professionals, tourism professionals and service providers share their expertise.

To celebrate their first conference and the launch of the venture, we have 3 full delegate packages up for grabs in our Facebook competition.

The prizes are:

3 X delegate tickets to the event which includes:

· Gala conference Dinner

· 2 night’s B&B in the Galway Bay Hotel

· Full conference participation

· 1 year basic membership of Irish Pubs Global Owners & Managers Association

· Golf Tournament Entry

All you have to do to be in with a chance to win one of these great prizes is the following:

1. Go to our Facebook page: http://facebook.com/thebarblogger
2. If you’re not already a fan you’ll need to click on the “Like” button
3. Go to the Wall Post that says “Win 3 Tickets” and leave a comment that tells us what your customers love about your bar! Why do they come back again and again. Don’t be afraid to go into detail.
4. Make sure to add the name of your bar to the comment too!

That’s it. We’ll be picking the three winners on Friday night so get commenting. Oh and you can enter as many times as you like, if your customers come back for different things!

Note: If you win this prize, you only have to find your way to Galway. Everything else is covered (see above)

Irish Bar Owners Upset With New Drink Driving Limit

Posted by barblog on Jun 24, 2010 in Bar Management | 2 comments

Tough new legislation was passed in Ireland last night that takes the take blood alcohol allowance from 0.08% to 0.05% or roughly one drink. This is just over half of the US drink driving limit as it currently stands. Anyone caught driving above this limit will face a three month mandatory ban. According to bar owners in Ireland, this is the “final nail in the coffin for rural bar owners”.

Vinters’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) chief executive Pádraig Cribben said today publicans were extremely disappointed with the move, which he said would do nothing to save lives. He said the Government had underfunded speeding enforcement which was the biggest single cause of road deaths in this State. “It will further marginalise rural Ireland and it will criminalise people who don’t need to be criminalised.”

Should bar owners be fighting a bill that saves lives? Ireland has done a tremendous job in the last five years of reducing road carnage to a level that is now one of the lowest in the world.

I understand that rural bars depend on a handful of old souls to come in for their pint or two of Guinness every night, but surely there’s a way around this. So publicly and heavily lobbying against the bill does nothing for the perception of the bar trade. I would advocate for more pro-active solutions such as:

- A local transport initiative paid for by locals and the bars.

- A range of activities, events and promotions that don’t hinge on alcohol only and offer non-alcoholic substitutions.

What are your thoughts on this?