A CO GALWAY PUB has come up with a novel way of encouraging customers to talk to each other instead of scrolling through Twitter or Facebook.

Whiskey’s pub in Loughrea is offering customers a free drink – if they can stay off their phones for 30 minutes.

The phones will be locked away for a full half hour. CAN YOU IMAGINE? Facebook / Whiskey's Loughrea Facebook / Whiskey's Loughrea / Whiskey's Loughrea

Landlord Gary Kilcar got the idea one night at the bar, after witnessing a group of friends staring at their phones instead of talking to each other.

He wrote on Facebook:

To me three of the four girls had missed the point of going to the bar to socialise and to interact, not alone with their friends, but with the rest of the customers.

Kilcar decided then to take action against what he calls “the epidemic of over-usage” and confiscate phones from groups of friends entering the bar, for at least 30 minutes.

If customers are successful in staying away from their phones for a half an hour, Kilcar will reward the group with a free drink.

“Who knows, you and your friends might even have a good laugh, chatting without distractions,” he quips.

Worth a shot, right?

H/T her.ie

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