Call to the Bar: ACKEE TREE BAR ... High on service, low on prices

August 08, 2019
Ackee Tree Bar in White Horses, St Thomas.
A patron enjoys a game of pool with Peter Moore, owner of Ackee Tree Bar.
Peter Moore opened the bar some five years ago.
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Peter Moore loves to imbibe and he would oftentime go to different bars to get a few fortifying drinks. He even opened his own bar and thought about drinking as much as he wished from it.

“Getting the bar to drink for a cheaper money was the aim at first, but after it became a great business, I decided that I would not drink the profit out of my own a bar,” said Moore, whose joint, Ackee Tree Bar, is located in the seaside community of White Horses in St Thomas.

“I thought, at first, I would just be drinking the cost for the liquor and not drinking the profit. But I realised the more mi drink is the more me a guh drink out my profit, so I started to save and it help me to slow down on my drinking,” Moore added.

The bar owner said that his place has the cheapest rate per drink in Jamaica. Selling a drink of rum or campari for $100, he said this helps his bar to always have customers.

“It has been about five years since have this bar. I sell the cheapest liquor, not only in White Horses, but probably Jamaica. When a customer comes to buy, they don’t just want rum, so I sell other things for a higher price, but I sell the rum cheap so I get more customers,” he said.

The liquor price is not the only attraction at Ackee Tree Bar. The joint boasts a pool table and gaming boxes.

When THE STAR visited the bar recently, it was in full swing. Patrons ordered their favourite drinks while vibing to music that blasted from the sound systems. Two women enjoyed themselves in a game of pool, while another woman took her chances at the cherry gaming box. Patrons say that Ackee Tree Bar is the best bar to be in the area because of their prices which, to them, are reasonable.

Sasha Dixon, who works in the bar for about two years, said people are always talking about the good customer service they give. She said the years she has worked there, people are always coming back for that reason.

“It is a nice place and they are nice people to get along with. They are people persons and people love that they can connect with them like that,” she said of her employers.

For Dixon there is no other bar like Ackee Tree Bar because it is the poor people’s bar. She said that their rate is cheaper than the other bars and people like to know that they are getting value for their money.

“People like to know that they can come and drink, relax and chat with the workers and feel satisfied when they are ready to leave. They are always complimenting us on our customer service,” she said.

Moore, 34, holds an associate degree in general agriculture; a teaching diploma, and a bachelors of Science degree in environmental science.

“When I left college, there was a vacancy at Coconut Industry Board. I started there as a field assistant where I did general maintenance work. Right now, I am a field officer who supervises the whole maintenance work for all Coconut Board properties, and I still work in the advisory department there. With all of that additional work, it helps me to drink less,” Moore said.

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