How did they do it

ilovesleep

80s recession - i was born early 80s so was only a child during the 80s recession and things were ok. My mam tells me that the pubs were busy almost every night of the week. Now pubs are empty at the best of times.

the purple tin

Drink was dirt cheap back then.

bullpost

Unenforced drink/drive laws, smoking, no cheap booze in supermarkets/offlicences,Irish traditionally reluctant to entertain at home ........................

rebel10

I think alot of it has to do with the fact that back then, as said above, drink was cheaper, but also there was very little else to do for entertainment compared to the options we have today.
Now when someone can't afford a night out, they will go to the cinema, go on the internet to pass the time or watch something like Xfactor.

There weren't as many options for people to socialise back then.

iPlop

It was a different type of recession ,back then people could work and be paid straight into the hand ,which was the case in a lot of places ,these days technology has put a stop to that kind of thing so it's harder to employ people and get away with it.Also people helped each other back then ,people don't give a fcuk anymore.

Biggins

All the above - also there was a factor for some of working in a "cash" blackmarket economy.
There was a lot of undeclared jobs done which to some extent, also contributed.

There is a MUCH greater thinking now that one better hold onto what ever cash/savings ye have and so, there is a lot less spending, even on drink.

hiscan

People didn't have as much money borrowed back then.

Smartypantsdig

hiscan wrote: »

People didn't have as much money borrowed back then.

You have it spot on there... people did not have 300% mortgages and negative equity, and credit cards maxed to the hilt. The 80s recession was bad, but this one is Armageddon in proportion.

orourkeda

It wasn't verging on €5 euro or their equivalent for a pint. In addition the pub was by far and away the most central social outlet. more so than it was today

Besides, they were probably too bust getting f*cked to worry about it

cleremy jarkson

- People drank maybe 2 or 3 pints slowly and spent 3 or 4 pounds instead of drinking 6 or 7 pints and a short and spending about 35 - 40 euro.

- Deals on drink in supermarkets / off licenses weren't as readily available or good value as they are nowadays. They were only slightly cheaper than buying in a pub.

- Little else to do

probably other reasons aswell..

jimmycrackcorm

We had the six million dollar man, Blakes 7 and 80's music on top of the pops and Corrie didn't have CGI. Such a classy recession then.

Absurdum

porn was something that only happened in foreign lands as well, therefore men had many more hours of the day to spend drinking

Nolanger

More sense of community - people working together in factories or living in same area.

vintac34

People are now drinking at home, alcohol consumption has increased by an alarming degree and Govt getting less in revenue and pubs are closing down particularly in rural areas...People now drinking every night rather than on w/ends as previously.

Any increase in duty will encourage cross border shopping which will cause further loss of revenue..
Its the old story ....Close one door and another opens!!!

Sadly this is a trend which will be difficult or impossible to reverse!!!

Nolanger

Also, pubs back in the '80s were 'genuine' family run affairs instead of the theme/super/sports/karaoke pubs we have now.

Sanjuro

Those Vintners Association ads on the radio may be making people think 'fuck the pubs.' Every time I hear that smug bitch telling me how the pub is a place to gossip about people, I want to drive my car off the road just so I don't have to listen to it any more.

That, or I just switch channel.

brianthebard

cleremy jarkson wrote: »

- People drank maybe 2 or 3 pints slowly and spent 3 or 4 pounds instead of drinking 6 or 7 pints and a short and spending about 35 - 40 euro.

- Deals on drink in supermarkets / off licenses weren't as readily available or good value as they are nowadays. They were only slightly cheaper than buying in a pub.

- Little else to do

probably other reasons aswell..

Hang on you saying people paced their drink and didn't get pissed in the eighties? Hard to believe that one.

craggles

ilovesleep wrote: »

80s recession - i was born early 80s so was only a child during the 80s recession and things were ok. My mam tells me that the pubs were busy almost every night of the week. Now pubs are empty at the best of times.

This is rubbish, I don't know what feckin pubs you're going to that are empty.

Sink The Banana wrote: »

Also people helped each other back then ,people don't give a fcuk anymore.

Myth.

Come on lads, stop talking sh1te.

Dudess

Very misty-eyed all right - and some would say the 80s was the decade when people didn't care!
Plenty of people still help others out, plenty didn't help others out back then. It all depends on the type of community, not the era. That said, there are far more anonymous transitional type communities (apartment blocks and the like) now than there were in the 80s.

Pubs being empty? the centre of Cork told a different story last night. And tonight will be even busier (not that I'm making a "Recession? What recession?" horse-sh1t claim by that). I'm sure at non peak hours, pubs are very quiet but I don't see how things would have been any different in the 80s.

The 80s recession was a struggle for many, but the cost of living was cheaper and people had simpler tastes and were far less extravagant. Going for a meal was a huge event, now it's run-of-the-mill. Lots of households didn't have a car or a phone or either. People didn't holiday abroad. A good summing up I think is Dunnes Stores: for those of you who only know Dunnes as it is now, back in the 80s, it was the epitome of dreariness and it was something that got joked about - the Lada of the retail world. It was utter greyness. There were those big steel basket things filled with socks and jocks etc, none of your fancy shelving lay-outs.
Or even going for coffee - it was plain black coffee, none of your different coffee types; a sandwich was ham, salad, cheese or chicken and it was on sliced pan bread. Salad didn't have sundried tomatoes and pesto and rocket and hummus. It was plain as fook.

As someone else said, there was far less variety. But I'm not going off on a "Things were simpler but better in my day" one - that's bollocks, things are far better now imo. I'm just comparing now to when I was a kid - and the difference is enormous.

iPlop

Dudess wrote: »

A good summing up I think is Dunnes Stores: for those of you who only know Dunnes as it is now, back in the 80s, it was the epitome of dreariness and it was something that got joked about - the Lada of the retail world. It was utter greyness. There were those big steel basket things filled with socks and jocks etc, none of your fancy shelving lay-outs.

Not to mention the state of crazy prices ,yellow pack everything and then the change to kvi brand ,just horrid and dark and like a feckin warehouse

Sonnenblumen

ilovesleep wrote: »

80s recession - i was born early 80s so was only a child during the 80s recession and things were ok. My mam tells me that the pubs were busy almost every night of the week. Now pubs are empty at the best of times.

Few alternatives other than drinking in the pub, but still despite my kids thinking they must have been sad times, they were very different but actually great!

Now it seems the fun has been legislated out of life.:(

BengaLover

People didnt pay for babysitters either.. lots of folk left their kids at home in bed whilst they went down the local!
Think about it, no mobile phone bills, no internet bills, no gadgets..

Dudess

Sink The Banana wrote: »

Not to mention the state of crazy prices ,yellow pack everything and then the change to kvi brand ,just horrid and dark and like a feckin warehouse

Lol, I still preferred Crazy Prices/Quinnsworth to Dunnes though as all that yellow gave it a bit of colour. Dunnes was just one bit block of drab.

But the 80s was pretty good if you were a kid/teen as youth/pop culture was fantastic.

HavingCrack

Main reason was off licences weren't much cheaper than pubs I'd imagine. That and the fact that younger people these days just prefer drinking at home rather than in pubs, to an extent price isn't really a factor.

iPlop

BengaLover wrote: »

People didnt pay for babysitters either.. lots of folk left their kids at home in bed whilst they went down the local!
Think about it, no mobile phone bills, no internet bills, no gadgets..

I remember my dad driving into dublin city centre to get a chinese the very odd time there was a few quid extra ,can't imagine that now ,take aways everywhere

iPlop

Dudess wrote: »

Lol, I still preferred Crazy Prices/Quinnsworth to Dunnes though as all that yellow gave it a bit of colour. Dunnes was just one bit block of drab.

But the 80s was pretty good if you were a kid/teen as youth/pop culture was fantastic.

Yeah I remember my mam bought NOW 4 and she would play it constantly in the car ,I think Elton John ,UB40 and U2 were on it:pac:

Jack Daniels I

BengaLover wrote: »

People didnt pay for babysitters either.. lots of folk left their kids at home in bed whilst they went down the local!
Think about it, no mobile phone bills, no internet bills, no gadgets..

funny isnt it.parents would get locked up now for leaving their kids at home while they went on the piss,common place back then

PrincessLola

Is going out for a meal/takeaway regularly the norm? Maybe its just my stingy family but even in the 'good times' we only went to a restaurant about twice a year lol. Not all of us 'went mad' in the celtic tiger years;)
I would think takeaways and such should be more of a once off treat, not a once a week thing.

upandcumming

The recession back then wasn't bad because we had nothing to start with.

Agricola

As well as the price of drink, the advent of communication technology etc, Irish society has become more insular and isolated in recent years, which mirrors what has happened elsewhere. The whole community spirit thing that was at the heart of Irish society is slowly peetering out.

People are just less inclined to be gossiping down the local than they were years ago. Its not directly recession related because I know that my local has been dead on week nights for about 10 years, whereas 30 years ago it would be have been fairly busy most nights.
A good example would be the annual group water scheme meetings in my area. Its headed up by a bunch of pensioners and nobody else really wants to take on the responsibility. Similarly, the meetings are mostly attended by older people. Young people just aren't bothered, they just want to use the water! In a few years time, the admin of the water scheme will be handed over to the county council because of this.

Rabble Rabble

There was actually no recession in the 80's. Proper answer.

Rabble Rabble

Dudess wrote: »

Very misty-eyed all right - and some would say the 80s was the decade when people didn't care!
Plenty of people still help others out, plenty didn't help others out back then. It all depends on the type of community, not the era. That said, there are far more anonymous transitional type communities (apartment blocks and the like) now than there were in the 80s.

Pubs being empty? the centre of Cork told a different story last night. And tonight will be even busier (not that I'm making a "Recession? What recession?" horse-sh1t claim by that). I'm sure at non peak hours, pubs are very quiet but I don't see how things would have been any different in the 80s.

The 80s recession was a struggle for many, but the cost of living was cheaper and people had simpler tastes and were far less extravagant. Going for a meal was a huge event, now it's run-of-the-mill. Lots of households didn't have a car or a phone or either. People didn't holiday abroad. A good summing up I think is Dunnes Stores: for those of you who only know Dunnes as it is now, back in the 80s, it was the epitome of dreariness and it was something that got joked about - the Lada of the retail world. It was utter greyness. There were those big steel basket things filled with socks and jocks etc, none of your fancy shelving lay-outs.
Or even going for coffee - it was plain black coffee, none of your different coffee types; a sandwich was ham, salad, cheese or chicken and it was on sliced pan bread. Salad didn't have sundried tomatoes and pesto and rocket and hummus. It was plain as fook.

As someone else said, there was far less variety. But I'm not going off on a "Things were simpler but better in my day" one - that's bollocks, things are far better now imo. I'm just comparing now to when I was a kid - and the difference is enormous.

One of the problems with this view of the 80's is this: it wasnt the view the 80's had of itself. People then compared to the poverty of the 50's with much greater claim: the 80's had restaurants, high street stores, electronic gadgets - it was in fact the start of the electronic gadget age - and lots of shopping. Kids were demanding at christmas. Just like now. For people in work, it was fine.

amacachi

Jack Daniels I wrote: »

funny isnt it.parents would get locked up now for leaving their kids at home while they went on the piss,common place back then

Never stopped being common in some place. In fact up til the mid-90s plenty brought their kids to the pub with them from what I remember.

Dudess

Jack Daniels I wrote: »

funny isnt it.parents would get locked up now for leaving their kids at home while they went on the piss,common place back then

Was it actually commonplace back then? And would a parent get locked up for it today (as opposed to not back then)?

Rabble Rabble wrote: »

There was actually no recession in the 80's. Proper answer.

Way less money though.

Rabble Rabble wrote: »

One of the problems with this view of the 80's is this: it wasnt the view the 80's had of itself. People then compared to the poverty of the 50's with much greater claim: the 80's had restaurants, high street stores, electronic gadgets - it was in fact the start of the electronic gadget age - and lots of shopping. Kids were demanding at christmas. Just like now. For people in work, it was fine.

Well yeah obviously - I never said things were hard in the 80s... just comparing it to now to answer the OP's question.

General General

I thought everyone drank at home nowadays 'cause everyone is smoking joints.

Then again, that might just be Dundalk.

Run_to_da_hills

Why go to the pub and watch a footy match on a 50" flat screen TV when you can watch it on a 62" at home

denballs

Every guy was either a priest or an alcoholic........and the women did,nt say anything like.......stop drinking tommy,s college fund away..........we are simply a better generation.......

Dont get me wrong we are spectacularly better screw ups than them but were equally better educated and generally improved..........:D

iPlop

denballs wrote: »

Every guy was either a priest or an alcoholic........and the women did,nt say anything like.......stop drinking tommy,s college fund away..........we are simply a better generation.......

Dont get me wrong we are spectacularly better screw ups than them but were equally better educated and generally improved..........:D

One thing I remember was the smog in the winter ,everyones chimney would start billowing smoke at about 4pm and by 7pm you could barely see anything if there was no wind

bladespin

Came through it and as said many thime above:

Everything was a lot cheaper,
Cash was king, you worked for it, you paid it and you saved it.
There was nowhere near the levels of today's debt, a mortgage was a feared thing back then, I remember thinking my dad was mad for signing a HP agreement on a car.
Most had reasonable aspirations, driving a 10 year old car was ok as was a patch on your jacket or a resoled shoe.

Contrary to some points above:
Shocking as it may seem there were cinemas, restraunts and niteclubs in the 80s, the difference was the prices.
We had a workforce hungry for work, they'd take a job doing whatever was going rather than sit it out for something in 'their' field.
We had manufacturing and construction industries then, there were small but they were there.

sheesh

my teenage years were late 80's early ninties my memory of it were that there was not alot of money around, Going to a restaurant was very ocassional and usually for a special occasion (things like Graduations but not birthdays) I still remember going to the take away as a special treat.

I remember it being very hard to get a summer job there were people with arts Degrees working on the checkout in Quinsworth.

I remember all my friends being in the same boat so it wasn't so bad.

opinion guy

People seem to forget when the trade in the pubs actually started to fall off also. It was way before the recession hit. My recollection of pubs in the mid to late 90's say is that every pub was jammed to the rafters, every pub had a queue outside it and you could never get a taxi home for love your money. This all changed in the early 2000's. I think in direct response that the publicans were charging ever higher prices for their drink. In particular I think the insane prices charged for the millenium pissed alot of people off and in the years that followed house parties steadily became more and more popular. Pre 2000 we hardly ever did house parties - why would you the pub was the place to be and drink was cheap. Post 2000 it was a different story - it was whose house are we drinking in now before the club - mostly driven by pub prices

desertcircus

Stuff was a hell of a lot cheaper - Captain America's in Grafton Street has a collection of their old menus along the staircase to the bathroom, and one of them offers a bowl of fries for twelve pence.

And I second the mention of the early-to-mid 2000s as the point when pubs started getting quiet. The first time I bought a pint in college was in Isaac Butt's in October 2001, for £2.70; the last one almost certainly cost over a fiver. In five years, the cost went from €3.40 in the middle of the city for a pint to €5.50 (at least in the city centre; I suspect the figures are different for the suburbs or outside Dublin). Things are rolling back now - an Erdinger in the 51 is four quid, which is actually less than 20c more expensive than it was in 2001. The places that seem busy are the places that have either cottoned on and started reducing their prices, or the places that have something different to offer (the Porterhouse has a huge range, the Market Bar has good cheap food).

Loveless

orourkeda wrote: »

It wasn't verging on €5 euro or their equivalent for a pint. In addition the pub was by far and away the most central social outlet. more so than it was today.

I remember being in the pub with my dad and a pint was £1.70.
Once it went up to £1.72 and customers would outright refuse to pay the extra 2p.

filthymcnasty

bladespin wrote: »

Came through it and as said many thime above:

Everything was a lot cheaper,
Cash was king, you worked for it, you paid it and you saved it.
There was nowhere near the levels of today's debt, a mortgage was a feared thing back then, I remember thinking my dad was mad for signing a HP agreement on a car.

have to disagree- for example a lot of consumer items items were far more expensive in the 80's compared to today. I remember video shops where you hired video recorders for a week or month or whatever because they were way to expensive to buy.

If you look at the Argos catologue from 1985 that someone posted recently some ot the prices are insane- £199 for 14" tv.. wtf!!?

Also the waffle about the 'better sense of community, people helping each other' in the 80's is simply false- no worse or better than today I reckon.

You can be guaranteed in 2035 somebody will be talking about how things have changed since 2010 when even though we were skint we all looked out for each other etc etc

Royale with Cheese

I had this conversation with my uncle in the pub a while back and ended up working out that the price of a pint compared to the average wage in the 80s was a hell of a lot cheaper than it is now.

Wompa1

Pubs around Galway seem to be doing alright

bladespin

filthymcnasty wrote: »

have to disagree- for example a lot of consumer items items were far more expensive in the 80's compared to today. I remember video shops where you hired video recorders for a week or month or whatever because they were way to expensive to buy.

If you look at the Argos catologue from 1985 that someone posted recently some ot the prices are insane- £199 for 14" tv.. wtf!!?

Also the waffle about the 'better sense of community, people helping each other' in the 80's is simply false- no worse or better than today I reckon.

You can be guaranteed in 2035 somebody will be talking about how things have changed since 2010 when even though we were skint we all looked out for each other etc etc

Lol, I can remember renting a video box, it was the height of new technology back then But I doubt it had much of an effect on the actual cost of living, as in my point.

A pint of milk was 14p in 85 (if I remember right).

iguana

sheesh wrote: »

Going to a restaurant was very ocassional and usually for a special occasion (things like Graduations but not birthdays) I still remember going to the take away as a special treat.

I'd say if I gave it a little thought I can remember each and every time we ate in a restaurant during the 80s. Including fast food. My aunts used to take me to Burgerland for my birthday when I was little, one year we had lunch in a supermarket restaurant on Xmas eve. When I was 9 we spent the day in Galway as it was my dad's birthday and he had a rugby match there so we had lunch out. Back then pretty much every single restaurant in Galway was seafood and my mother didn't want to eat fish so we went to Supermacs (the one and only at the time). We may have eaten out on days we went to the zoo or Fota wildlife but mostly my mum would have brought sandwiches, she always did if we went to the beach/woods. And on a trip with the Brownies we went to McDonalds.

That's it! My parents only ever went to dinner if it was a dinner dance organised by my dad's rugby club if they won some tournament and also on my great-grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary.

I don't think I eat out that much compared to most of my generation, but I'd say I eat out 2 or 3 more a year than everyone on my family did in the whole of the 80s. And I don't think we missed it as we never had it.

dominatorsorus

I used to work in a pub at the end of the 80s beginning of the 90s.

The craic back then compared to the atmosphere that is lacking in so many pubs now is palpable.

During the halcyon days of Euro 88 and Italia 90 - there wasn't a space to be had in the pub - nobody had house parties or get togethers at home back then - the craic was in the pub.

I didn't watch one of this years world cup in the pub - every single one I sat at home with family and friends and got food/drink in - too much hassle getting everybody to the pub - back again, people heading out for a smoke and missing goals - it not what it used to be.

Run_to_da_hills

Supermarket in the UK selling 4 pack lager for 79p Thats equivalent of 25c a can. :eek:

We are in the wrong country.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337949/Co-op-supermarket-condemned-selling-packs-lager--just-79p.html