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A young pub owner is challenging punters to go half an hour without their phones tonight [Saturday] as he takes action against the technology “epidemic”.

Whiskey Joes, a pub in Loughrea, Co Galway, is offering a free SHOT for anyone who can manage to keep their eyes off their screens.

The brains behind the operation is manager, Gary Kilcar, who said the move “might be a bit extreme” but remembers a time when revellers talked instead of tweeted.

He told the Irish Mirror: “Every Saturday, I’ll walk through the bar and see groups of people taking selfies, taking snapchats.

“That’s something beneficial for the bar with people checking in so it’s all good, I understand we all use phones.

“But I had four girls in last week – three were on their phones. One girl was making faces into her phone – she was probably doing a snapchat video – and two girls were scrolling through their news feed.

“But there was one girl sitting there without a phone who seemed open to conversation.

“It’s just silly to see a group of girls like that out on a night, not talking to each other.

“I did go over saying: ‘are you texting each other?’ as a kind of a dry joke and they did put down their phones. It was all good, it was a bit of craic.”

The 29-year-old added that “our phones are in our hands all day” and remembered a time before smartphones took over.

He said: “In the first pub I worked in, there was no TV, no jukebox, no radio. People came in and had a conversation.

“They were all involved in the one big talk, telling stories. It was great. But that was back in east Galway in 1999.”

The publican revealed the offer on a Facebook post today which said: “I know we all love our phones and for most people it’s the best invention of all time.

“But sometimes when I’m behind the bar on a Saturday night surveying the crowd, I wonder is it by far the worst invention of all time?”

He added: “If successful I will reward the group with a complementary drink and, who knows, you and your friends might even have a good laugh chatting without any distractions.”

He admitted: “Originally I wanted to go longer than half an hour but decided I don’t want to go overboard.

“I said on the post I was using a money box but I’ll actually put each phone in a freezer bag with labels and table numbers and keep them in a safe keep behind the bar.

“There’ll be no problems and everyone will get their phone back at the end of the night.”

The Galway pub first hit the headlines during Love/Hate’s finale in November when they offered a free shot for all customers if Siobhan died and a free bar if Nidge died.

And at Christmas they hosted a successful ‘10 Steps to Christmas: A guide to surviving Christmas in Loughrea’ for road safety.

Tomorrow night, the publican looks set to get his customers talking again if brave groups dare to give up their selfies from 8pm to midnight.