???
Where are you? How much do ya’ drink?
Friggin’ hamsters.
Let’s try that again, shall we?
My husband and I have been thinking of opening a pub. We’re aiming for a friendly, neighborhood pub that is NOT a singles bar, a sports bar or a dive. We’re also aiming for a slightly older crowd - maybe the 25-45 group. We’re thinking jukebox and occasional live music (nothing so loud you have to shout to be heard), pool tables, darts, that sort of thing.
What do YOU look for when you head out for an evening’s R&R?
sounds like what i like in a bar … although sometimes the singles thing happens unintentionaly
You know if its a popular place people looking for other people will congerate there
My advice is check out the laws also
Schooners in lancaster ca learned recently theres all sort of things you can be liable for when someone gets legally drunk at your estiblashiment
pub food.
guiness.
Miles Davis on the Juke Box.
That oughtta do it.
Good music but NOT TOO LOUD.
Enough seats.
Guinness properly poured.
Good food.
Oh, and if you open a pub, don’t drink. Drinking your profits is usually the road to ruinl!
Well speaking as a professional patron of neiborhood bars; I have to tell you; if you want to generate income your gonna need dart boards and pool tables. Put your bar on the list for dart leagues and pool leagues as well. This will generate much bussiness on the nights the leagues are due to play. Alot of nieborhood bars I know of absolutely depend on these leagues to keep their bars thriving. The plus side of doing this is; league players will often come in on their off nights if they like your bar.
lingerie shows about twice a week couldn’t hurt either. The ones I goto normaly have them on Wed and Fri nights. Right around happy hour.
Also you’ll need TV’s with sports playing on them 24-7. I know you said you didn’t want a sports bar but uh… I don’t think that would be wise if you want a sucsessfull neiborhood pub.
nightshadea - after tending bar myself for 15 years, I am well aware of the liability. I’m a pro at cutting people off. What happened at Schooner’s?
Bad Hat - licensing for food handling is stickier than licensing for liquor, but we were thinking along the lines of prepared, frozen stuff we can just deep fry - cheese sticks, stuffed jalapenos, onion rings and the like. We can do that without getting into raw food handling. Also no-cook munchies like chips & salsa and pretzels. We want people to have enough munchies to soak up some booze, but we don’t want to get into the restaurant business. I’ll take other suggestions for simple pub food that doesn’t involve handling meat, though. Miles Davis - absolutely.
jjimm - neither my husband nor I are big drinkers. I drink not at all, and he is content with a Guinness or Sam Adams after dinner once or twice a week. Oh, and… “A pint of Guinness is BUILT, not poured.”
SHAKES - darts and pool tables are a definite - we also want to get one of those old-fashioned skittleball machines. I don’t know if there are any dart or pool leagues hereabouts, but that’s a good idea. Lingerie is OUT, I’m not even going to consider that - there are some lingerie-show type bars in the area, and they can keep their regulars. We figure there’s no way we can get away with NOT having a TV showing sports, but we don’t want to make that our focus. We’ll probably have Super Bowl and World Series and Playoff parties, but again, there’s a number of actual sports bars around here.
All - definitely gonna have Guinness. In fact, we are thinking about NOT carrying some of the crappier beers - the ones that, as a rule, are drunk by young men who have no taste. MGD Light comes to mind. I mean to cast no aspersions on MGD drinkers, but I have observed that’s one beer in particular that seems to be ordered by younger guys. And none of that stupid Zima crap, either.
Please, please, PLEEEEEEEASE, for the love of all that is good and holy, make sure there is at least 60" of space ALL around your pool table for a proper stroke. Having to jack up because of an obstruction kills my enjoyment of the game and I will never play at such a place more than once.
Contact the Billiard Congress of America (BCA) or American Pool Association(APA) for league operators in your area if you want to have leagues play out of your pub. Bars in the Atlanta area typically allow league players to play for free starting 1 hour before match time until the match is over. An APA match usually takes about 3.5 hours and BCA usually about 2.5 hours but a lot of that will depend on the league format which can vary.
I don’t know who governs dart leagues but I could find out from a friend of mine who runs a pool hall.
As for food, the munchies you have listed sound great. I love mozzarella sticks and you can’t go wrong with chips/salsa. Just keep 'em off the pool table. 
Guinness is my favorite beer. I also drink Murphy’s but that’s hard to find around here. Bass, Harp, Pete’s Wicked Ales are all good. Sam Adam’s for some reason seems to give me a headache.
It sounds like I would love your place. I wish I knew of such a place in my area. Good luck.
One thing you might consider is establishing your pub in a two story house. For one you might get lucky and find one with a fireplace, but more importantly, if you have live music, it can be upstairs, with a cover charge, while downstairs remains conversation-friendly.
Your plan sounds good to me. I like the idea of it being not-too-loud. Bass Ale on tap is a must.
If you are looking for a slightly-older crowd, don’t put current top-40 in the jukebox. Your jukebox could be an attraction, even. Make it very eclectic. Johnny Cash, Glenn Miller Orchestra, Blondie…have some fun with it.
What about putting out some games like backgammon and Life? It may encourage people to stay longer.
Another, slightly whacked idea–how about sponsoring a knitting circle on a normally slow weeknight. A lot of people are getting into needlework, and there are groups popping up all over. I would personally rather go to one at a nice pub than one at someone’s house. If you want to do this, keep in mind that knitters need more light than you’d usually find in a bar.
…before you sign anything. Make sure:
(1) you incorporate(2) you have adequate insurance
Do not open without these prerequisites…you will find owning a bar is a lawsuit magnet-you will get letters from lawyers, claiming injuries of all kinds to their clients. My Dad’s friend owned a bar for years 9he just sold it). Made a lot of money, but it was a pain in the ass!
Golden Tee 2003 Tournament Edition. Several of them.
It might tend to a younger crowd than you seem to want (certainly not absolutely), but when they get going they can generate some revenue (you generally split the game fees with the vendor, I think, though I don’t know the cut). They’re popular and addictive – my buddy calls it “the crack machine.”
And I didn’t mention the thirst one develops while playing that only beer can sate.
location, location, location
My wife and in-laws have bars. Had 3 when I met her, now 2 are tits-up and the third is struggling. Reason: Bad location, bad business management, bad “political climate”, but mostly bad location.
No walk up business, these places were out in the boonies. Only way to get there is by driving. In the last couple of years, the freakin’ highway patrol sit out accross the highway from the place and no one will go near it. Pretty much killed the business. No amount of pool, darts and special events can bring people in.
I aint telling you anything you don’t already know, so I’ll just add, good luck! (and provide a steel-tip dart board along with the shitty plastic one)
OK, I am assuming this Golden Tee thing is a video game? I need a little help on things like this, since the only video game I play is the Straight Dope.
Location concerns - yeah, that’s a big one for us right now. Where we live, there’s a downtown area that was the pits forever but is now the focus of an upscale urban renewal project. Some nicer places opening around there, but there’s one central parking lot downtown and very little on-street parking. Alternatively (or do I mean alternately?) there’s a few very suburban possibilities, in strip malls and in the middle of strip mall parking lots. This is going to be up in the air for awhile yet, but it’s very much in our minds.
Liability insurance, licensing, incorporation, etc - check and double check. I am a bit of a dingbat in the business world, but we refer to the hubby as “Mr. Responsibility-and-Caution” so he’s all over that stuff. Me, I’m in charge of pouring drinks and flirting with the guest guitarists.
breaknrun - THANK YOU – as I mentioned, I’m not much into games, and never would have thought of pool stick clearance, although it makes perfect sense. Thanks also for the info on who to contact for pool stuff.
Green Bean - I dunno about sponsoring a knitting circle, but having board games might be kinda cool. I have a friend who makes these wonderful oversized wooden games - mancala, tic tac toe, checkers and such. I’m adding that idea to my list for certain-sure.
Keep the ideas coming and you’ll all be invited to the grand opening!
Oh, I forgot - I have a jukebox question. I plan to do some research on this anyhow, but if I can get some ideas here I’ll take 'em.
Can I put CDRs in a jukebox, does anyone know? Because I have a pretty eclectic music collection of my own, and would love to put the best of it onto CDRs and load up a jukebox. I’m wondering: A) if this is even legal, and B) if in general jukeboxes are leased and stocked, or if they’re usually owned by the bar/pub/whatever.
Sorry. It is indeed a video game. A large floor console video golf game. The manufacturer is at www.itsgames.com, for more accurate and official information on the game.
Anyway, the tournament edition allows players to engage in a monthly tournament in which players of different skill levels are competing against one another for cash prizes (In order to maintain a tournament edition machine, it must periodically access (daily?) ITS for score updates over a phone line). It’s popular, like I said. Folks commit significant amounts of cabbage and time to the game, motivated both by joy and avarice (anywhere from $3-5 for 18 holes, depending on where the player is and the options he or she selects). You can get non-tournament editions as well, I believe, but again consult the man about that one and for other questions. I don’t play tournaments, but still put probably $40 or so in the thing a month (let’s call it $42 to make good math) at $3 a pop, and rarely play alone (up to 4 players at a time). And I’m a casual player.
And here’s a link addressing some of your second issue re: music…