Irish pubs closing Down

Quitelife

https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2025/0601/1515918-irish-publicans-on-the-bar-trade-the-show-is-basically-over/

seems like the Irish pub scene will soon be over.

Young people having no money left after paying rent to their landlord is one big reason plus in rural ireland pubs taken over by cocaine dealers meaning old lads afraid to go to local pub anymore is another

ebbsy

I hate the way some people go on about the price of pints etc, with no mention of the actual costs of running a pub.

Allinall

They’re worse than farmers for whinging.

Collie D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505259#Comment_123505259

To be fair the two guys in the article seem to be doing their best to keep prices down.

growleaves

"a country known for its affiliation with alcohol, the average Irish person has seen the ravages of addiction first-hand, meaning the process of indulging in a night of drinking may have lost its initial appeal"

I would like to know which generation of Irish people hasn't seen the ravages of (alcohol) addiction first hand?

The article is on more solid ground when it mentions that a lot of younger people are gym bunnies. The explosion in weight training as a lifestyle is competing with drinking.

Calahonda52

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058413297/irish-pubs-closing-down

The no money piece as a catch-all panacea for the ailment is BS.

Booze sales are down across the world.

In US RFK will see to cancer causing labels on booze like on fags, the mere policy announcement has hit the stock-market values of big booze

Vineyards are shutting up shop

This is the MOT for big booze as it was for big tobacco years ago: how to make a cancer causing product sexy.

Garfin

Cocaine replacing alcohol as the drug of choice.

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505253#Comment_123505253

And I will continue to go on about the price of a pint as overcharging for a pint is what's keeping customers away. Running any business in Ireland is difficult, pubs are not the only ones facing challenges. Pub's are not doing enough to get customers back.

ongarite

Good to any gig or festival & you will see no shortage of alcohol being consumed.

The majority of it is not pints though, it's mixers & cocktails. Those drinks don't make for a great pub experience, better enjoyed at home.

Quitelife

Plenty of people went to pubs for a few pints and met their neighbours and had the chat which had a lot of social connection benefits . Obviously some people went beyond that and ended up alcoholics .
The closure of the rural Ireland pub leaves little else for isolated people which is leading to huge mental health issues .

Quitelife

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505321#Comment_123505321

sad but true , most towns in county Limerick are controlled by traveller drug gangs - Askeaton Rathkeale, NCW , Abbeyfeale. Kilmallock

Quitelife

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505336#Comment_123505336

The other bill’s particularly rent is taking a far bigger percentage of peoples wages than 20/30 years ago leaving people with a lot less disposable income to socialise

GNWoodd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505259#Comment_123505259

If two of their businesses are closing every week of the year it can hardly be described as whinging .
The decline in rural pubs was easily predicted. When it became a disqualifying offence to drive home after just two or three drinks the closure of rural pubs was inevitable. The Healy Raes and others spoke out about it ,but to no avail. In fairness to FF , no FF TD voted for the 2018 RTA amendment.

cap.in.hand.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505356#Comment_123505356

That's amazing.…but it does look that way

893bet

the question is really “is less pubs a bad thing”.

I see good pubs, with a good food trade thriving. Standalone pubs are more tricky. Especially in rural areas. Change in culture.

tayto lover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505259#Comment_123505259

And even greedier.

Atlantic Dawn

Minimum unit alcohol pricing helped kill them off, people with less money in their pocket for alcohol will spend less down the pub.

George White

The weird old Ireland is dying.

HazeDoll

The idea of a pub being a welcoming social hub filled with craic and chat is a bit of a Bord Failte fantasy. I find them quite dismal a lot of the time. I worked in a well-known rural pub when I was 18 (late 90's) and even on a busy night it was a depressing place to be. Mostly locals getting methodically and joylessly drunk. The odd tourist, who usually talked to the bar staff because the locals weren't willing to engage. I saw plenty of people who would come in at about 8pm with the goal of silently and morosely consuming as many pints as they could before they staggered out the door again at closing time, sometimes seven days a week. That was enough to put anybody off pubs.

Manky toilets, sticky carpets and a certain amount of 'accidental' groping were just part of the scene too until relatively recently.

An awful lot of my past students in their late teens or early 20s have no interest in pubs (and, tragically, have never been to a nightclub). They socialise in a completely different way. I asked some of them recently where they went to meet people and be amorous, and pubs or clubs just didn't come into it.

There's a cultural change in that not drinking has become much more acceptable, in fact it's unacceptable to try to pressure others into drinking.

elperello

Another thing that helped to fuel the decline in rural pubs was the trading of pub licences.

If you ever wondered what happened to the licences of those closed down pubs the answer is that they were sold.

Most likely to a convenience store or garage shop in a local town that wanted to sell liquor.

If the licences had been tied to the premises many of them would have been sold as going concerns and could have had a chance of survival.

GNWoodd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505426#Comment_123505426

Stand-alone pubs in rural areas that once thrived are finished , thanks in most part to Government decisions.
That seems to be what society wants which is a strange phenomenon. The easy availability of cocaine as a replacement , on the other hand , seems to be acceptable.
Strange country !

Orban6

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505481#Comment_123505481

Are off sales the same? I don't think so.

Orban6

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505449#Comment_123505449

No. MUP has no effect on the price of the pint in the pub.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505514#Comment_123505514

All the original pub seven day licences were for the sale of intoxicating liquor for consumption on or off the premises.

The shops had no interest in the on premises part so just sell takeaway.

They just wanted to sell beer and spirits and it was the only way to get a licence. A wine only licence is easier to obtain and you'll still see a few places that just sell wine.

https://www.donedeal.ie/all?words=pub%20licences

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505523#Comment_123505523

I know but the punters budget allocated to booze spending is hit if their €20 crate of beer now costs €45 as a result of MUP, that's €25 less to spend down the pub.

hawley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505504#Comment_123505504

I found the tone of the article to be one filled with glee at the idea of pubs closing. I don't have a huge amount of respect for publicans, as they often let families starve and still took all the breadwinner's money, but they do provide a social outlet for people. Also, no mention of the fact that weed and cocaine use is rife across the country.

Pauliedragon

There are publicans taking the piss with prices but a lot are not. Take a €6 pint for example. €2 goes to revenue, wages are usually about 20% so that's 1.20. Out of the 2.80 left you have sky, insurance, rates and all the utility bills and as we all know utilities have gone through the roof in the last few years then add on the breweries hiking prices. It's a tough industry for a lot of them.

Mister Vain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505465#Comment_123505465

I think a lot of people would agree with that. They were certainly overrated but it was difficult to say anything bad about them back then because binge drinking was so ingrained in our culture. I often wonder did a lot of people just go along with it because it was the thing to do and didn't want to be seen as a dry shyte.

BP_RS3813

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505398#Comment_123505398

Don't argue for drink driving...just dont.

Culture has changed, people will always drink but young peoples drink of choice is mixers and shots, not pints.

Their social spots are the gym, run clubs, cafes, festivals. Not a weekly chat in the pub. Even if licensing was changed, even if costs were reduced - the pub would still slowly die off.

Raichų

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505398#Comment_123505398

aye those poor devils can’t drive home drunk now. It’s all the governments fault, of course.

Gooser14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123505449#Comment_123505449

Prices in pubs are too high to be affected by Minimum Unit Pricing.