:shock: And imagine the rent in that location! :shock:
When The Shannon opened, the manager said he would never have a “happy hour.” He said he didn’t want to reward a person for simply showing up at a particular time, but that he’d rather build up a loyal clientele and give an occasional free beer to the regulars. Methinks it hasn’t worked out, given that he is offering “happy hour pricing… all day and night” on July 2, 3 and 4. Expect this to become a regular feature.
Here’s a question for you: If the owners said, “Hell, this isn’t working,” and fired the manager, do you think you could step in and “save” the place? Do you have the insight and skills to turn it around before it joins the Titanic? If so, what would you do?
(And I am not the Shannon’s manager’s shill; I have never even been there. As a management major, it seems like an interesting case study.)
First of all, I’d make it a no-panties bar. Second … I don’t think there’d need to BE a second. 
Alls im tryin to sez here, is dat wit friends like youz, aill never come out me cubby hole fer fear yell whack me wit yer sheliegh. jayhsus, gives a kid a break will yez. Were just tryin have some good crack.
specially dat alien. ye sounds like sum angry boid from south carolina whose mammy never fed da breast milk to ya. wat is wit cha child, spending all your time in 45, and qbar, ya forget der is udder people in dis town what enjoy’s a good pint a the ol liffy water ever now and den.
Chou O’dofu
Wolf,
I have no experience running bars, but if I were manager, I would not treat in the following manner people who are regularly paying NT$200+ for a pint…
~~~ flashback ~~~
I’m in The Shannon for a club event. We are given little stickers that entitle us to cheap beers until 9 PM. At 8:50 PM, several of us go to the bar to order another beer. The waitress takes ten minutes or so to get our drinks. She then tells us that we have to pay full price because it
I would like to hear from the current manager. I applied for the position, believe it or not, and got a call from Hong Kong to arrange for an interview in Taipei. The guy was very nice on the phone, but that was the last I ever heard of him. Maybe being Irish was a prerequisite (I thought there was a little bit of Ireland in all of us 
).
My question is: Is it the upper management that is tying your hands to do the right job or is it you that have tried your best, but it just doesn’t seem to be taking here in Taipei?
Wolf,
It’s a good question, but in the case I gave above, it’s hard not to blame the manager as (1) the staff were slow and I assume he trained them, and (2) he could have simply said something like, “I’m sorry about this. How about if you fellows pay the full price for this round and the next round is on the house”? Not only would he have earned a great deal of goodwill, but he would have kept us around all night putting profits into the establishment. Insted, we left and, at least in my case, rarely go The Shannon any more.
Wolf, that’s hilarious, you actually applied fer the position? The guy that you spoke to from HK was probably an Irish bloke called Mickey. He’s very successful now as the head of a bar consultancy firm. Me and him actually worked together in Lan Kwai Fong about ten years ago as managers of a bar/restaurant.
What made you go for job? Or was it just a piss take?
It was a Philippino I spoke with, I think. Maybe he was vetting people.
I applied because I have a degree in business management, have worked as a manager of a full-service restaurant in the US, have tended bar and think that I know what those in Taiwan expect from a bar in terms of service and product (probably not much I could do about pricing since that is set by the pub owner gods).
I may seem like a grouch online, but actually I am a grouch in person too…did I just write that?
The reason that I asked the question about upper management interference is that from personal experience, many times the right thing to do is clear and the people on the ground are ready to make the changes to introduce these things, but the powers-that-be quash any “bright ideas.”
DV8 is the most “Irish” pub in Taipei.
I think the Shannon is much better than those sports bars with TVs etc, putting a TV in a pub is its ruination. I also think the decor is first class for Taipei and the layout of the place is excellent. I love the ‘snugs’ which are a decent copy of Irish pubs back home. I like the lounge mixed up with the snugs and the fireplace and an open area. It’s a pretty good mix.
The American owner is an asshole who hit on my girlfriend on Paddy’s nite. That was the only day he can get away with it! Most of the irish people I know think they did an alright job on the place.
The Guinness is good and from James Gate Dublin. The head on the pint is pretty spot on. The staff are fairly friendly and the Irish music I’ve caught there isn’t too bad. If you hit it on the right night you will have a good time , a pub is after all about the patrons! If it is showed Gaelic games or the irish soccer team it might have a pretence to more of an irish hangout but alas that is not likely soon.
All in all it is a good alternative in Taipei. Plus most people I met actually liked the food there and it’s not a bad imitation of Irish food for a pub in Asia. The food in Irish pubs at home is worse!
The trick is to go in with low expectations. As far as mcIrish pubs go this one is not too bad.
I doubt the Guinness is from Dublin, more likely to be from Malaysia like all the other Guinness in Taipei.
What is it about “Irishness” that makes people want to pay an extra NT$100 for a pint of Guinness ? Do you think if I opened an “Irish Restaurant” and charged 160% of the going rate for food it would be a goer ? Just a thought…
The Shannon is just a pub that serves Guinness. And it’s not a bad one. Damn sight better decor than most pubs in Taipei. But hanging a few bicycles from the roof and putting up posters of Paddy’s Whiskey doesn’t make it an “Irish” pub any more than Mr Wong’s takeaway on the Sligo Road is a “Chinese” restaurant. I’ll happily have a pint of Smithwicks in the Shannon, or a No.6 in Mr Wong’s, but I’ll also know restaurants in China and pubs in Ireland are very different from those two examples.
I also called in to the Shannon.
It was ok nothing special, the prices were extremely high not only for the guiness but even more so for the shorts. I am not sure I would go back again, I think I will stick to the pig and whistle.
Shame on the Shannon. The half-price rip-off last night was priceless…ho ho ho. Shame on me for breaking my word and patronising the establishment. Shitty, surly service, as usual. Lovely beer - real shame. Mind you, with the money I save by not drinking there, I’ll be able to afford a flight to Dublin in no time.
In what way was half price a rip-off? I wasn’t there but half price sounds good or was it half price on selected stuff only? Tell us more…
Well for one the beers that might
Oh, I see, so it was basically like a happy hour anywhere else. With “shitty, surly” service thrown in. I think I’ll go home and have a private half way through the day party.
They probably figure it’s just a matter of before they make a bundle as that other traditional, authentic, make-you-feel-almost-as-though-you-are-in-Ireland establishment, Sean’s, closed.
You will no doubt remember the night you waited 45 minutes for a pint, despite three reminders to the incompetent, uncaring barmaid. Whether that was better or worse than the raw chicken night at Saints and Sinners, or the pouring of the 18 year-old Macallan down the sink incident at My Other Place is debatable. I have always found that as prices go up, service levels go down.