Pedro Capó, The Blarney Stone: "The customer is the one who tells you what he wants, what is needed"

Itziar Lecea/Cala Blanca-  25 years have passed, but the Blarney Stone is, and will continue to be, for the citizens of Ciutadella, "the Irishman of Cala Blanca". He was a brave young man, and with a lot of drive, who decided to set up a place in the style of an English pub, at a time when globalization was not as extensive as it is now. Pedro Capó is no longer as young as he was twenty-five years ago, although he retains an adventurous and affable spirit, and keeps intact the love he feels for this corner by the sea that has been a large part of his life adult Today he enjoys it from a different perspective, sitting at a table with a coffee and an ice cream shake, we chat quietly while Pedro Capó son takes care of the customers.

We travel with the time machine 25 years back. What pushed you to dedicate yourself to hospitality?
I started with the Nautilus bar, even though I had been working in a shoe factory since I was 14. I can't explain why I didn't tell my father before that I wanted to work in a bar, because I really wanted to. I spent 10 years at Troquelats Menorca, a garage opposite Bananas. And I had to spend a few years combining the factory with the bar, which I opened when I was 21. At that time I was helped by Esther, my wife, and my sister. And my mother also wanted to help me by selling a flat she had, but in the end I made her join as a partner. The best thing is that we started without having any idea, or serving a gin!

And how do you learn to serve a gin?
We learned based on trial and error, although the first year was already good for profit. After a while I left for England with a friend, and we went to another friend's house, who took us through Manchester, Liverpool, London... It was there that this English friend took us to a pub for a Guinness. The first impact was important: music, very good atmosphere, many people, a special decoration, with antiques... I fell in love from the first moment. They still hadn't finished pouring the Guinness we had ordered, and I had already decided that I was going to buy the premises facing the sea to open a pub like that.

Was the Nautilus not enough?
We already had part of the current premises, which was used as a warehouse. But it was clear to me that I needed more space, the one at the corner. It was landing in Menorca, and as soon as I arrived I told n'Esther that I wanted to buy the premises to set up the pub. That same morning I stayed with the owner, with whom we reached an agreement. That's how I decided to expand space and give this pub offer, at a time when there was a lot of Irish customers in the area. After a couple of weeks we left for Ireland with Esther, my brother-in-law and my father to see bars and get in touch with Guinness. And, after a year, we were open.

What did Guinness ask to open a place under its brand?
We had to adapt to their requirements, which meant having a cold room, storage, bathrooms for people with disabilities... So we had to consider going down to not lose space above, and they leave more than 100 square meters more. The Guinness ones were very strict. They made me a budget for decoration and renovation that reached 20 million pesetas, with the condition, moreover, that only I could see it while they were doing the renovation. In the end, I decided to make it myself, with the ideas I could get from a decoration fair, although Carme Carretero, the decorator, also helped me.

You opened on June 4, 1999. What was that day like?
I had been given Guinness on June 4th to inaugurate, because at that time pubs of this style were very fashionable and many were opening. This forced us to rush to have the renovation done, to the point that at two in the afternoon on the 4th, the carpenter left. We had to run to hang all the decorations, which had come from Ireland. In the end, Guinness representatives, around six in the evening, removed the plaque and made it an official bar. The opening was at seven! It wasn't until the next morning, when I re-entered the place, empty of people, that I saw how it had turned out.

And how was the reception?
It was spectacular, because we only served drink, and there was a lot of it. We must think that we came from the Nautilus, where we had to do everything to square the numbers. On the other hand, at the Blarney Stone, we used up the Guinness quota that had been marked for us in less than four years, when the term that had been set for us from the mark was five years.

What did you like so much about the pub?
the music Now, here, we hardly put any, but when we started we did concerts with live music. And Irish music was always playing. But everything has changed, because the type of tourism has changed, and we also work with people from Ciutadella.

How did the people of Ciutadella take it to have a pub in Menorca?
When we opened, we did a lot of work with British tourism, and we didn't have a local audience in 1999. But little by little, people here started to know about it, and in 2005, we also opened during winter At that time there weren't too many establishments to choose from during the winter months either, so we started to offer a more focused offer to Menorcan people. And that meant changing Irish music for other things.

Did it also mean starting to cook?
Food was a demand that we had to supply when the all-inclusive tourists started arriving. Thus, we included a bit of cocktails, ice cream, fast food... But with the 2009 crisis, we realized that we had to bet on processed food, because we were losing customers for not offering it. It also happened that they were doing the works on the desalination plant, and they had everything on top of us. That's how I told n'Esther, and he told me to do whatever I found, that she would freak me out. So we included a menu that we had to adapt to suit the tastes of the people of Menorca, but also the English. For example, we put in a "fish & chips", but made with good cod. We had to strike a balance between the two types of customers. The customer is the one who tells you what he wants, what is needed. If it is not listened to, it is a problem because you lose customers. Here we have always tried to listen to them, to be attentive to their demands. Did it happen to us with the sunsets too?

what do you mean
That a few years ago, no one went to see a sunset. But I noticed, before I had the Blarney Stone, how the English would come in the dark, leave their beer on the table, and leave in the promenade square, which was not like the one there is now. The bar was empty for half an hour, with the tables reserved, because everyone was going to watch the sun set. I had seen it in Ibiza. But not in Menorca. It was an idea that we set out to promote when they built the desalination plant, which took away our views, so in 2009, I went to the tourism council to talk about how the issue could be promoted. In this way we started the promotion of sunsets, which now it seems that we lack a place to see how it sets!

What does not look like putting on is the success of the place.
For now, it seems not. But I'm not the one in charge anymore. Last year, and also due to the opening of the indoor hotel we have in Es Mercadal, they took over the reins of the place from Dani Abelaires, who has been working at Blareny Stone for eight years and is a person with a lot of head and with special attention for the customer, and my son, Pedro Capó Cervera. I sell occasionally, because I like to be there, but now it is in their hands to maintain the essence of being Irish.