Comments on: Whatever happened to the theme pub?

By: Gareth

Gareth — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 10:46:40 +0000

‘You could say that every Irish pub outside of Ireland was a theme pub! ‘

I probably would, especially having worked in a few.

By: Leigh

Leigh — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 07:57:58 +0000

What about when a pub holds a themed festival (Spoons, various smaller pubs doing ‘Irish’ weekends, or ‘World Cup Festivals’, that sort of thing?
As for Craft….maybe. Like much else, depends on your definition. Craft, or North Bar, say, wouldn’t say that serving ‘craft’ beer is a theme – it’s just their market.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 22:23:30 +0000

Then there was the Firkin chain, where the theme (apart from ‘big open spaces with long tables and benches’) was fidelity to the building’s previous use, whatever it was – so you got the Flea and Firkin (a former cinema), the Footage and Firkin (another former cinema) and, er, many others.

On second thoughts maybe the theme was ‘converted cinemas’.

By: ATJ

ATJ — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:48:40 +0000

It’s not a bad Spoons, I normally go there when I go back, saw the Exorcist and Clockwork Orange there when I was in school so I get some pretty bittersweet memories.

By: Sid Boggle

Sid Boggle — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:38:49 +0000

I dunno about the craft thing. Isn’t it the difference between ‘theme’ and ‘brand’?

By: Sid Boggle

Sid Boggle — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:38:06 +0000

Make it so, Luke…

By: Martyn Cornell

Martyn Cornell — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:09:09 +0000

I remember in the mid-1990s interviewing a guy who owned several pubs in Cornwall – he said he had tried opening an Irish theme pub in Falmouth, but the Cornish, feeling their own Celtic heritage was perfectly good enough, thank you, stayed away in droves.

By: compassbeerdray

compassbeerdray — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:25:54 +0000

I would have said Atkinson’s was where ONU is now- i.e. to the left of the Stephenson Street entrance to the Midland and it was at street level. A brilliant place to wait for and meet visitors off the train in the 80s. All gravity dispense I think.

By: Paul kemp

Paul kemp — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 14:03:41 +0000

I quite like the Palladium, a Wetherspoons in a former theatre, in Llandudno.

The front bar of my own pub has my Butlins memorabilia on the walls, including a framed redcoat. Not a theme as such, just an identity.

By: tania_nexust

tania_nexust — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:16:21 +0000

Thanks Roger for the info, didn’t realise the decor at Bacchus only dates from 92-93, will keep digging to see if I can find any info on why that decor was chosen – i.e. was it intended as an actual theme bar at the time, or just something a bit opulent! I heard Atkinson’s Ale House was where the back entrance to Waterstones is now; are parts of Bacchus the same areas that Atkinson’s occupied behind the street level?