JD Wetherspoon premises in the UK are often repurposed buildings, with cinemas, banks and churchs popping up quite frequently - an example of each is in The Sun's "10 weirdest Wetherspoons" listicle that you can find yourself if you want to read it; and of the cinema and bank variety in the far more wholesome Londonist "11 of the Best Wetherspoons in London" listicle that I am willing to link to.
Their rollout in Ireland hadn't had any of these, yet - all premises were already pubs or nightclubs until this one opened. And they've managed to get a two-for-one here, as this was formerly a bank AND a church. The former Dublin Savings Bank comprises the bulk of the pub, with the former Gospel Hall next door giving more a more dining room styled area - if anything can be more like a dining room than a normal Wetherspoons layout!
This is a vast premises when all areas on the three floors are added together, and it has the standard lack of character that Wetherspoons suffer from. Its quite hard to say exactly what the issue is - possibly the small identikit tables festooned with menus and condiments might be part of it. Slightly disinterested staff could also be part of the problem.
The standard of food in the Irish branches has been poor to mediocre so far; but I would hope that with the very significant quantity they'll be able to flog here that they might put a bit more effort in. With the low prices - "premium" pints under a fiver, pints available for under €3 - it should be a decent place to get a meal with a few drinks; but it needs to change to be somewhere you'd want to go for a few pints. And I'm not quite sure what the changes required are.
The price competition is welcome, at least. Dublin is an expensive city to do business in but some prices nearby are clearly out of step with what they could be.
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