Why are alot of bars in spain irish themed?

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BarcelonaMan

First, only a tiny percentage of bars in Spain are Irish themed - but they definitely stand out over and above the Spanish ones, probably because they have the loudest customers and the fanciest decorations.

Yours is a good question but the answer is simple. These bar owners - whom are RARELY/NEVER Irish - know that nearly all of the American, English, Irish, and, Australians LOVE Irish bars everywhere in the world. These bars are huge money-makers.

Irish bars are always PACKED all days in Spain, packed of people with like cultures, languages, and interests - in beer, football/soccer, and rugby. And these same people can't tear themselves away from these things for the 7-15 days they're visiting Spain after paying good money to experience the country and its culture. I don't get it.

Saludos, MadridMan/BarcelonaMan(.com)

agooddub

because the Irish like to party. Bar owners in the Spanish tourist resorts caught on to this fact very quickly in the seventies and realised that the Irish holiday makers were drinking heavily every night in bars spending loads of cash. They discovered that if they had a guy playing a guitar and singing Irish songs, that they were getting ten times the business as the bar next door. So the savvy Spanish kitted out the entire pub as pseudo Irish, renamed it Molly Malone's and the till never stopped ringing. Later in the eighties/nineties the Irish customers realised there was a fortune to be made on the Costas and began opening up their own bars in competition. Now every second bar is Irish themed all competing with one another. Very few of them are authentic and the original music and craic has been replaced with Sky football and Karaoke.

rose1

I think it is simply because they usually look great, some owners pay huge amounts of money for all the paraphernalia that goes into the "look". Theme bars are popular in general like American or Biker bars we have quite a few of those too. Again it is the look and the atmosphere of something different attracting Spaniards and Brits alike.

Now, ask yourself this ...what Brit bar here has a great look?? There are not many, usually they have ridiculous names like "Kath & Ted's from Blackpool" or Wheel tappers etc, you won't get many Spaniards frequenting those. However, a good Irish pub not run by Spaniards but run by the Irish themselves is always popular, they have live music etc and are really a source of enjoyment. The Spaniards cottoned on to this and are shrewd business people so took to the theme bar "look" very quickly.

I for one don't like going into English bars, they usually have no atmosphere but I would definitely go to an Irish one.

I am not Irish by the way!!

Kea

Because the Irish are everywhere and they like their beer. is not something unique to Spain though, is global. I mean there is even an Irish pub in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia and no fast food restaurants like macdonalds

Erin

Lol, that's smart thinking of the Spanish. Anyway I haven't any idea as I haven't been to Spain so my answer is pointless. I just wanted to comment on the comment 2 above from me.

Green L

Being of parents from northern Spain, and having visited Spain various times, my guess would be partly because of a simple appreciation for Irish themes (Spain and Ireland being close neighbors, geographically), and partly because the north-west regions of Spain, Galicia and Asturias (otherwise known as "Green Spain"), share a common celtic heritage and culture with the Irish, just as the Scots, Welsh, Bretons, and Manx.

There are, of course, several other bars, restaurants, etc with themes from other nations, just as you'd find in most other countries. However, I myself would rather frequent the pub!

Cheers

Carousel

There isn't one where I live in Spain. Anyway, I would only go to a Spanish bar.

Happy Murcia

Lack of imagination,

SUE

I think you are only looking in pockets where there are a lot of Irish/British nationals who live/visit. I don't think that's really true if you take into account the whole country. I think, in travelling through much of Spain, I have only seen one or two bars with Irish themes.

To be sure, I have seen plenty more in the city of Denver, than in all the cities I have been in Spain.

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