A pub in Loughrea has launched an all-out war against mobile phones, offering free shots if groups of punters lock up their gadgets and this weekend declaring the premises a mobile-free zone for three hours.
What started off as an experiment to encourage people back to the ancient art of just speaking to each other when out for apint has spiralled into a sentimental longing for simple times.
Gary Kilcar of Whiskey Joe’s posted a rant on Facebook about the overuse of mobiles. He had noticed that groups of people out socialising could spend most of their night talking on their phones instead of chatting together or other punters in the bar.
Gary Kilcar of Whiskey Joe’s Bar, Loughrea. Photo via IrishMirror.ie.
“I started off working in Spain’s Bar in Duniry at age fourteen. There were no mobile phones, the TV was in the lounge and was only switched on for GAA, soccer or Boxing matches and there was no jukebox. When we use the word craic, that was what it was all about,” he recalled.
“I remember some Monday nights I would be bent over laughing with the banter, everyone slagging each other off, catching up over the weekend.”
It came to a head one night after Christmas when he could barely get a word or a smile from a group of four girls sitting at the bar, as three out of four of them were engaged in their own chats on the phone.
The 29-year old publican, who has leased the pub for nearly five years, offered a complimentary drink to all members of a group in the pub the following Saturday night who would agree to lock up their phones for thirty minutes.
As word of the mobile ban spread on social media, a crowd of 200 gathered that night, Gary estimates just ten people refused, many of them for legitimate reasons such as having babysitters.
It cost him 190 drinks which was more than worth it for the publicity the stunt generated at home and abroad. The crowd was also much larger than usual for a Saturday night in January.
This Sunday he is gong one step further, declaring Whiskey Joe’s a mobile free zone from 6–9pm. This time there will be no imbibing encouragement. But there will be live music for the duration. Those who want to use their phone have to go outside along with the smokers.
“If you do use your phone it will be confiscated and your phone will be put in the cash box locked away until your departure or given back to you at 9pm,” he promises.
His anti-phone stance has attracted the attention of the national media—and not for the first time.
Last year he made headlines for offering a free shot if one of the main characters, Siobhán, was whacked in the penultimate episode of the RTÉ underworld drama Love/Hate. If the gang boss Nidge got a bullet, there would be a free bar.
He decided on the gimmick after noticing the bar would completely empty on Sunday nights as people rushed home to get their weekly fix.
Of course Gary dodged a bullet himself on that particular happy hour as both characters ultimately met their maker on the following episode, the finale of series five.
