While there are still plenty of Irish theme pubs going strong, this report in the Irish Times suggests that the boom years may have dried up for the world’s shamrock and boxty bars.
A major pub interior design company, which has fitted out hundreds of Irish bars all over the world, has had a meeting with its creditors and the paper sees this as a possible indication that the Irish theme bar craze has run its course.
Many reckon that Kitty O’Shea’s, which opened in Paris in 1986, was the first Irish theme bar. Most bars that are determined to stay ahead of the pack change their decor or rethink their appeal every two to three years. It would be asking a lot of Irish bars to remain fashionable twenty-three years after the first one opened.
If we accept that the Irish bar is facing last orders then what is next? Charan Gill is hoping that his Indian-themed Slumdog bar and kitchen could be the start of a wave of ventures where the bar part of the operation is as important as the food menu.
A few years back, there was a brief appetite for Eastern European themed bars and, while there are still plenty of bars that cater for actual, ex-pat Eastern Europeans, the theme bars never gained the mass popularity that Irish bars once had.
Could Scottish theme bars ever take off? Perhaps. This is an intriguing article from The Scotsman about a couple of former St Judes employees who left Glasgow and have just opened a bar called Highlands in New York’s West Village.