The Price of a PINT!

The Price of a pint!

The company behind many of the brands of beer in Ireland , Diageo have increased the price of their draught products such as Guinness, Smithwicks, Harp and more. This is the fourth Price increase in two years.Diageo have cited increased production costs as the reason behind the increase, but the company revealed operating profits of €5.5bn in 2024.

Now as a small country publican we are faced with many of the same increases in cost. Our electricity rate effectively doubled in the last 2-3 years, our fuel for heating has effectively doubled in the same period. The increase in taxes and benefits for employee’s have increased and also hardly a week or month goes by without some form of notification from suppliers that another product has increased in cost. And don’t mention insurance, the industry which seems to have multiple justifications for their increases no matter what is done to try and reduce the premiums.

The large lobby groups such as the LVA and the VFI do come out with many outraged members and officials decrying the increases but it all soon settles down and the publicans are either expected to absorb the costs or pass them on to the hard pressed customers. Absorbing the costs is getting harder to do and passing the costs on to an already dwindling customer base is really tough to justify when we are all trying to do what we can to attract and win new customers. 

Changed Times

Drinking alcohol has changed in Ireland, Covid accelerated it but it was already happening. The smoking ban, drink driving and people’s attention to their health are some of the reasons but I do believe that cost is also a major factorA. People are paying higher mortgages, higher transport costs(car prices,fuel, insurance, maintenance), their weekly shopping has increased, just about every domestic bill has increased. There is only so much to go around. Having some extra money for a social night out is tough when the prices in the supermarkets and off licences are much cheaper than the local pub or restaurant.

So what can be done? Nothing, some would say. It is just the way of the world. Many old publicans can recite stories of when the price of a pint passed 10 pence or 1 pound or 2 pound and the customer swore that they were stopping drinking, but they would come back a few days/weeks later and just pay the price.

Is that it, do we just moan a little and then just pay the price? 

Do we just accept that Pubs are nearly a thing of the past in rural areas. I have seen various figures of the closing rates of pubs and nighclubs in Ireland and it is significant. According to data released by the  Drinks Industry Group of Ireland in August 2024, 2054 pubs have closed since 2005, a reduction of 24% in 20 years. It has accelerated more since covid with closure rates higher in more rural counties

What does the loss of a pub mean to a rural community?

Many factors are not even thought about when we see that another pub closes. The social aspect of what is already an isolated lifestyle? Perhaps some part time employment for young people? A place to vent and chat to your friends and strangers? The sponsor for the local event? A venue for reunions and events?

Have there been any decent proposals to try and change the trend? Reductions in VAT for pubs that serve food? I know in our case the pub could definitely not be a food establishment as is the case with many small rural pubs. 

Small grants to help here and there with rates etc.but they don’t have any lasting impact. 

March 2021 an RTE headline of “Pubs to become remote working hubs in new plan to boost rural Ireland” where a Government plan to reinvigorate rural Ireland was announced. How many have done that? Must the pub close down first and then the derelict building be saved?

If you search online there are pages of headlines with government proposals but how many of them have been realised?

 

Here’s an Idea!

I have said on more than one occasion that I firmly believe that more should be done to support indigenous businesses. And many of the true fixes don’t involve direct handouts. If it was made easier for entrepreneurs to do what they do, it would be organic. I firmly believe that I could create more employment if the institutional barriers were lessened.

If a local brewery or Distillery could sell at a reduced cost in the local area due to their costs( mainly taxes) how many more jobs would that create. Where would those employees buy their goods? where would they spend their money? The reduction in taxes to the distillery would be more than recouped from the additional employment and their increased spend.

I would much prefer as a publican to sell local beers and spirits rather than products from huge multinationals. In rural areas if breweries or distilleries in local areas got a tax reduction(Vat, duties etc) then they could pass that saving on to the local bars and hotels that would actively promote those drinks and in turn create more demand which creates more employment. And it is not just in the brewery or distillery that the jobs are created, it’s the suppliers to that production, the farmers , the packaging companies, the couriers and then in turn the local deli’s and cafes where the staff buy their lunches and petrol stations and so on and so on.

It truly becomes a circular economy. It is a reduction in transport costs and maybe refills for the spirit bottles and kegs etc so the environment benefits too.

When was the last time you saw any of the large multinationals sponsor the local GAA team or kids school draw or any fundraising for local concerns. My profits(if I make any) are spent locally again benefiting the local community. The large multinationals profits are usually going out of the country to the various shareholders.

Here is another scenario for you to think about, one of the issues facing rural pubs and bars is transport. It is easy for politicians to say get public transport but what about the many areas outside of the larger towns and cities where they just don’t exist. The only option is taxis but for us as an example it is calling a firm in Dundalk to drive the 6 mile out to drop someone who lives 2 mile from the pub and then return to dundalk so they charge accordingly, over €20 for a small journey. So why don’t I have a courtesy bus? To have a courtesy bus I would need to get a PSV(public services vehicle) Licence and then get the actual vehicle and then get the Insurance. All a massive additional cost and there is only so many hours in a day I can work. 

What about allowing rural pubs and bars to register 3 or 4 local individuals that would be the driver on call. They can charge a nominal amount 5-10 euro and this would be tax free additional income for those individuals. Most cars these days are fairly modern and have to comply with the NCT regulations so they are definitely road worthy. So no special vehicle required. And have the insurance not so punitive and an agreement that using these services would result in lower liability for the driver. This could be really beneficial to rural areas on many levels.

What about planning regulations? How about allowing rural Pubs and bars to open as cafes during the day without the serious restrictions of food service and production being applied. If the locals could bake some products and be sold in the spaces and have it as a meeting spot for many , how beneficial would this be? Having parents meet up for a quick tea or coffee after dropping the kids to school, the farmers dropping in for a quick break on the way to their next task, delivery drivers in the area having somewhere to have their lunch instead at the steering wheel in their van. Imagine the benefits of this to a rural area? To people’s mental health? Having a local Garda or Nurse available in this area to meet once every 2 weeks or so. I think it is called creating a community. We did have it once upon a time, but we could have it again if things were approached just a bit differently.

So we come back to the question? What difference is an extra €0.06 on the cost price of a pint. It’s everything, it’s the relentless increase in the cost of living. It’s the cost of a social life to a newly married couple trying to afford their first home, It’s the cost of a social life for new parents trying to afford everything that a new community member demands. It’s the cost of a social life of the local farmer that has seen his costs increase and his revenue decrease. It’s the cost of a social life of the old pensioner that can’t travel anymore. It’s the destruction of an organic community hub all at the expense of an increased profit and shareholder price of some multinational that doesn’t even know where Kilcurry is.

What cost are you willing to pay?