Questions about working in a pub in Ireland

I've never worked in a pub, but I have drank in several

Here's a link about opening hours in Irish pubs:
http://vfi.ie/News/normal-trading-hours-100

Those are the official times! In country areas they will often open later, even though this is technically illegal. This has given way to the tradition of the "lock in":
- https://www.afar.com/magazine/the-late-night-secret-irelands-pubs-dont-want-you-to-know-about
- Here's Saoirse Ronan on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=938Q8uBpR5k

Pubs are closed on Good Friday and Christmas Day. There's some talk about getting rid of the Good Friday ban.

Alcohol in supermarkets and off-licenses is only sold until 10pm.

Breakfast will normally be served from opening time until about midday, sometimes later at the weekend. Some places even do "all day breakfasts" (usually a fry up).

Tipping isn't such a big thing in Ireland. You might tip 10% for a meal. Drinks don't normally merit tips, maybe a round-up to the nearest Euro. American tourists of course are great tippers

The rounds system is Serious Business. A person who doesn't "get their round in" is considered a sneaky no-good cheapskate. If there's a large group, or if some of the party are skint, or people just want an easy life, they might agree to "skip on rounds" and buy their own drinks.
http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/a...em-to-ordering-a-guinness-167819855-237525721

It depends on the pub. Are they in a tourist area? Do they do accommodation as well?(Most don't). Are they also a shop, gas station or post office? Some are. Is the pub run by a family or a manager? In the small country town my wife comes from there are pubs that only open for Friday and Saturday, the bar is like someone's front room. Tipping is not much of a thing in pubs.

My uncle used to run a pub in England. A lot of the questions you're asking, it would depend on how the landlord runs it. If it's a family run business, it won't be that formal in terms of shift patterns for employees. It's usually a matter of hiring staff who are relatively flexible and fixing the schedules around who's available when, i.e. you could end up with any shift pattern and it'd be plausible. And staff would swap shifts or do an extra shift if someone's off sick and stuff like that. Generally, the landlord does a lot of the duties, and family members who are old enough. It may be that they only hire one or two other people. Or, if there's enough family members to help out, they won't employ anyone else. Granted that I'm talking about England, but it's not going to be that different to Ireland in regards to pubs run as small, family businesses.

If the pub's part of a larger business or chain then it will be more formal and you'll have more staff. And there may be more UK/RoI differences.

Opening times are mainly down to the landlord. There are some laws regarding opening hours, but they've changed now, and would be different in Ireland. They had to close at 11pm back in the day in the UK. No idea of opening times in RoI, past or present.

Also, Northern Ireland or Republic of Ireland? One's part of the UK and the other's an entirely different country.

Do they put on live music, run a quiz or anything else to bring people in? Some pubs have a function room attached for this. Catering for funerals can be a huge business if they have the space. There's usually a meal provided for mourners after the funeral (120 people for my f-i-l) and this could happen several days a week.

Does the town have a mart (livestock market)? That will be busy at lunchtime.

micaro84 said:

Yes I was thinking that the pub would have live music on the weekends, that would work very good for my story

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I visited Ireland once for a few weeks and went to several small town pubs (mostly along the west coast). At a couple of them there was live music that was scheduled with a specific band. But at at least two that I can remember there were local regulars who just showed up with instruments and played together. It was really great.

And as an aside, I learned the word 'craic' on one of those nights and I think it is the best word ever! I overheard someone say what sounded like "that's good crack!" and I asked what they meant because, to my American ear, it sounded like crack cocaine. But it's basically used to describe a festive, good-vibes, fun time, especially with music. You may already know the term but whenever I think of Irish pubs, I think of 'good craic' so I figured I'd mention it.