Pub Museums

Irish pubs are globally recognized cultural icons and significant pieces of local history, many of which treasure priceless stories and valuable heirlooms. Pubs continue to play a fundamental role in the communities they serve, and their heritage deserves to be preserved to safeguard both their history and their communities. To help showcase these pubs’ value and importance, Heineken® has opened virtual Pub Museums across Ireland.

For this innovative campaign, conceived by creative agency LePub and Publicis Dublin, each pub taking part in the initiative has been transformed into a virtual museum, including historical artifacts, audio guides, and even souvenirs. A plaque at the entrance of each pub reads “This pub is a museum,” welcoming its visitors. By scanning a QR code placed on the plaque, pub customers are transported into a virtual experience, discovering the history of each pub. An augmented reality overlay tells stories and local legends about each pub, recreating exactly the experience of being in a traditional museum.

The experience started on April 4th in the iconic Toners Pub in Dublin with a launch event with local celebrities and influencers and has expanded to Sean’s Bar in Athlone and Mother Macs Public House in Limerick. The Pub Museum in Sean’s Bar, which is believed to be the oldest pub in Ireland and possibly the world, allowed users to discover the legendary history of the pub, shrouded in mystery and supported by archaeological evidence.

Seamless for the users, the tech behind the experience was created by combining complex elements to achieve what is an AR-navigable museum. Indoor navigation alongside the pub's geolocation has been paired with training a model to recognize ancient objects present in the spaces. Each artifact was left untouched, instead being turned into a digital 3D object recognizable at 360° through tracking, built with the use of photogrammetry. Users can visit the pubs with their mobile phones, moving among virtual objects to discover their history, an immersive experience where technological complexity results in ease of use.

The campaign aims to safeguard pubs for generations to come, protecting the "home of socializing," as being an official museum would provide pubs with the opportunities and resources usually reserved for other cultural landmarks. Heineken® is exploring how these pubs can apply for official museum accreditation via a national accreditation program in a bid to have them formally recognized as museums.