The five pieces
What we would actually do
Each piece below is a real pub problem, then a way to fix it that a manager can live with on a Saturday. Jump to one, or read them in order.
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01
A real website
French first, English too. The one page Google and ChatGPT should quote.
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02
Newsletter and a stamp card
People who said yes. Quiet nights: ten visits, one on us.
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03
Slides on the TVs
When there is no match: tonight, the rooms, the food.
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04
Facebook and Instagram drafts
Your voice. A manager says yes. Nothing publishes itself.
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05
The upstairs rooms
Easy to find, easy to ask. No online booking, no deposit.
01
A real website
Anyone who searches for an Irish pub, a match, a quiz or a room in Bordeaux — on Google or by asking ChatGPT — should get you, not a leftover page from 2004.
The problem today
There is no working commercial website. Google still sends people to connemara-pub.com, which looks like 2004. The page you have been using as a “site” is an English-only Adobe brochure. Hours do not agree: Google and that brochure say Monday closed; Instagram still says Monday open. Other English pubs in town already have real sites with menus and calendars.
Facebook (~11,000 people) and Google reviews (4.4 from more than 2,500) are strong. They cannot replace a page that tells the truth in French and English — hours, menu, allergens, what’s on this week, how to phone, how to ask about a room. ChatGPT and similar tools cannot reliably cite you, so they guess or they cite a rival.
Why this is worth it
You stop leaking people you already earned the right to have: the tourist who searched “irish pub Bordeaux”, the group who asked ChatGPT where to watch rugby, the birthday that never found the upstairs rooms. The site does not replace Facebook. It is the spine everything else in this project hangs on — events, rooms, newsletter signup, later extras if you want them.
How we implement it
We build the site. We do not squeeze it into Squarespace or Wix. Those look fine on day one and then fight bilingual legal pages, a weekly calendar, and the extra marks Google and ChatGPT need. You get a simple private editing screen: change the hours, this week’s band, a dish, a photo — without calling us every time.
Pages, in both languages, French first:
- Home — what it is, where, tonight’s useful fact
- Menu as real text (not a PDF phones cannot read), plus the 14 allergens the law wants in writing
- What’s on — quiz, trad, open stage, bands, comedy
- Sports — Irish pub, rugby and football, seven screens, Bordeaux (a page-per-match factory can wait)
- The two upstairs rooms (piece 05)
- Frequent questions, contact (map, 05 56 52 82 57), and the legal pages France requires
Cookies: Accept and Reject are equal. The newsletter box starts empty; sending a room enquiry is not a signup. If a happy hour names alcohol, the same deal exists for a soft drink. We put on the site whatever you confirm for Monday — we will not guess.
This is not a booking website and not a shop. Dinner stays walk-in. Lunch stays on the phone.
How you use it
Guests type, they ask ChatGPT, they tap from Instagram. They see the same hours and the same week. A manager, Monday: open the editor, type this week’s band, save. When hours change, change them once; we align Google; Instagram is updated by hand so it does not fight the site again. Staff can say “it’s on the site” and mean it.
02
A newsletter, and a simple stamp card
People who asked get a useful email. Regulars who come back on quiet nights get “10 visits, one on us” on their phone — not a paper card that dies in a jacket.
The problem today
Facebook does not reach everyone, and it does not belong to you. There is no email list we could find, and no simple reason to come back on a dead Tuesday instead of “we’ll see.” A clipboard at the bar after three pints does not work. An old Bordeaux payment app (Lyf Pay) used to do stamps. It is dead. We will not recommend a ghost.
Why this is worth it
The list is yours. When Ireland is on Saturday, you can tell people who already like you — not hope they saw a story. The stamp card fills the nights that are not already full. Together they keep regulars as a habit, without a “club app” you have to explain for five minutes.
How we implement it
Newsletter. A box on the new website, wired to Brevo (a French email tool — the post office for marketing mail). We do not build a mail system. Those fail, and then nobody can leave the list. French law: the box starts unchecked; you keep proof they said yes; one click and they are out. Asking for lunch or a room is not permission to mail them. A manager sees the list and presses send. In this first project, a human still presses send.
Stamp card. Before we buy anything, we look at the till. If it already does stamps or points, we use that — one system at the bar. If it does not: a small French wallet card (Apple Wallet / Google Wallet). The manager taps or scans once. After ten off-peak visits, a pint or a dish. We do not stamp sold-out Ireland nights or a packed UBB Saturday. The manager can always say no. We do not start WhatsApp newsletters.
How you use it
A guest ticks the box on the site and gets a mail when there is something real — not every Monday for the sake of it. A regular at the bar opens their phone; someone stamps; that is it. Once a week or less, a manager writes or approves a short mail: this week’s trad, or “Ireland Saturday 15:00.”
03
Slides on the TVs
The seven screens are for sport first. When there is no match, they can sell tonight, the rooms, and the food to people already in the building.
The problem today
You already paid for the hardware. Guests already look up. When football is off, the screens are often wasted: a logo, a mute menu, or nothing. The upstairs rooms and the quiet-night week have no place in the room except a conversation at the bar.
Why this is worth it
This is the cheapest audience you have: people who already walked in. A slide that says “Friday trad, 21:00” or “two rooms upstairs, ask at the bar” does the pitch before anyone has time. You use dead air on screens you already own. Sport always wins — we will not cover a match.
How we implement it
We rent a simple player (PosterBooking or Yodeck) and put a small stick or box on one to three screens that can be promo-only — entrance, behind the bar, upstairs landing. You tell us which. We do not hang a second computer on every match feed. That is how you lose the rugby.
We design a short pack of slides from the same facts as the website, so the Saturday band cannot be wrong on the TV and right on the site. Six to ten seconds each. French drinks rules: no lifestyle “party pints” video. Safer slides are the night, the food, the rooms, a match listing, a happy hour that also names a soft drink.
A half-time takeover on a sport TV is a later physical HDMI button, if you want it — one press, not a login during service. Not in the first install unless you ask.
How you use it
A guest walking in sees tonight before anyone pitches. When the week changes, a manager replaces the Saturday band slide. Staff do not open an app in the crush. If you later add the half-time button, they press it, slides run, the match comes back.
04
Facebook and Instagram — drafts you approve
Posts in the voice you already have. A manager reads them and says yes. Only then do they go out. Nothing publishes itself.
The problem today
Facebook is the big channel (~11,000). Instagram is smaller (~3,000) and still useful. The voice already works: bilingual, human, not a tourist brochure. The pain is time — sitting down to write, remember the drinks-ad rules, find a photo, post at a decent hour. Then nine days go by and the page looks asleep even when the room was full.
Why this is worth it
You keep the voice that already built that audience. You stop the hole where nobody posted. You never wake up to a machine that published the wrong hours or a drink ad a lawyer would hate. Fifteen minutes, once or twice a week, instead of a Sunday night at the kitchen table.
How we implement it
We write a short voice pack from about twenty posts you already published: words you use, words you never use, no stock clovers, French and English, no “party pints” lifestyle. A calendar called Metricool talks to Facebook, Instagram, and if you want, Google. We (or the tool, after the pack exists) draft three or four posts for the week: quiz, trad, a dish, a room, a match you are really showing.
A manager opens the calendar, edits, rejects, or taps approve. Then it posts. If nobody approves, nothing goes out. That is the point. We do not build a private Facebook robot — those break when Meta changes the rules. Live stories on a full night still go out by hand.
How you use it
Once or twice a week: read four drafts, change a time or a name, tap yes. If something is wrong, skip. The tool does not argue. Safer posts under French rules: the gig, the food, the rooms, the listing.
05
The upstairs rooms — a page and a form
Easy to find and easy to ask about. A guest sends a message. A manager writes back. Nobody pays online. Nothing is held until you say so.
The problem today
Two rooms upstairs can be privatized. They are useful for an afterwork, a birthday, a small meeting, a stag — and as overflow when a match fills the ground floor. They are under-sold. People who would hire them cannot see them. Phone-only “is the upstairs free?” dies in the Saturday crush.
Why this is worth it
Quiet-night hire is money you are not currently advertising. A page is enough to start that. Saying out loud that a big match night may turn the rooms public avoids “but I booked upstairs.” You keep the same judgement as today — yes or no — with fewer “I couldn’t get through.”
How we implement it
Built into the website (piece 01). One page or one page per room: photos, roughly how many seated and standing, what the room is for, and that honest match-night line. A short form: name, email, phone, date, how many heads, which room if they care, a message. It goes to an inbox a manager already reads. An automatic reply says we have the message and will get back — not a confirmation, not a hold.
No online calendar, no deposit, no Stripe, no TheFork, no Calendly. Those are booking machines. They fight a walk-in pub. If you ever want deposits, that is a later, separate conversation.
How you use it
A guest finds “rooms” on the site or on Google and sends the form instead of hoping someone picks up at 14:00. A manager looks at the diary and replies. Same decision as today. On a final Saturday the page already warned that the rooms might be public.