Who let the dogs in?

Dogs are part of the family in around 320,000 homes across Northern Ireland – but is it a good idea to allow owners to bring their pooches with them when they go for a meal or a drink in your venue?

Deciding to allow dogs into your venue – particularly those places where food is being served – is a big decision for any operator.

Not everybody is an animal lover, and it often comes down to balancing the potential benefits of the concession against the risk that customers will be put off by the prospect of sharing the space with other people’s pets.

Nevertheless, it seems that a growing number of eateries and bars in the province are making animals feel welcome, and there are even a few places that have built their offering specifically around accommodating man’s best friend.

One experienced hospitality veteran who took the decision to allow dogs to accompany their owners into the lounge bar of his venue is Ken Sharp. Diners and drinkers at The Salty Dog in Bangor can bring their canine companions with them, and Ken says that the facility is very popular with customers, including those who don’t own dogs:

“We’ve done this right from when we opened five years ago, and it’s gone down very well,” he told LCN recently. “There’s no hygiene reason for not allowing dogs into the bar. We don’t let them into the restaurant because they are a trip hazard more than anything else in there, but in the lounge bar there are lots of tables around the edges, and they can tuck themselves in out of the way.”

There can be anything up to eight or nine canines in the bar at The Salty Dog at any one time, and Ken says that some dog-lovers who don’t have pets of their own will come in just to see the animals.

Customers do complain to him about the dogs on occasion – this happened more in the months after he introduced the policy, says Ken – but he has no plans to change the rule on allowing dogs:

“Absolutely not,” he says. “If anyone who doesn’t like dogs does complain, we have another area that we can take them to, so it’s not a problem…we find that people who love dogs appreciate the option to bring them in.”

There are EU regulations which prevent domestic animals such as dogs being allowed into places where food is prepared, stored or handled. But there are no legal barriers when it comes to letting animals sit at the table in a restaurant or bar with their owners.

Colin Neill from hospitality trade organisation, Hospitality Ulster, says that members have approached him who are looking for guidance on this issue from a health and safety and a hygiene perspective. While dogs are allowed in the public part of a venue, they need to be well behaved, says Colin:

“Remember that if an incident does happen, it could hurt your customers or damage your premises or your reputation,” he advises.

Colin says that allowing dogs to accompany their owners to a bar or restaurant has a lot to do with giving customers what they want:

“It goes back again to the diversification of your offering, which is so important,” he adds. “I do think that there is a place for dog-friendly premises, just as you often see children-friendly venues.”

One place that’s made a virtue of dining with your dog is Café Country in Ballymoney. The adjoining store – Pet and Country – has been trading for a couple of years and there used to be a small, pet-friendly coffee shop as part of the main store. It was so successful, however, that 18 months ago it moved into new, larger premises next door.

Glen Thompson has been managing dog-friendly Café Country for the last six months or so, and he says that the idea has gone down so well with shoppers and pet owners that he hasn’t taken a single complaint:

“All the locals know how we work and they will often call in for a coffee when they are out walking their dogs,” he tells LCN. “We have quite a few regular customers now.”

In fact, Glen says the split between customers who own a dog and those who don’t is probably around 50/50:

“This is quite a small, cosy café and there is a lot of interaction between customers and the animals,” he adds. “Even those people who don’t have dogs of their own will come in just to see the animals…This kind of service does seem to be what people are looking for these days.”

In fact, the list of pubs and restaurants across Northern Ireland which now make dogs feel welcome is growing all the time – and considering that there are now about 460,000 dogs in Northern Ireland alone, that might not be a bad thing for business.

It looks like this is a trend that sets to grow.