Minimum alcohol pricing is nigh

Thats a very dubious claim given the restrictions on pub licences for starters. Its not a free market. A lot of the demand in Dublin city centre comes from tourism and events.

I disagree that its just the price. Younger people simply don't view the pub as the weekly social outing like the older generation did(emphasis on older - not that much older but still a distinction).

I know young lads (20s) who are proper into sport and make a trip to the pub maybe 5 times a year, only for special occasions really. I'd say at most they drink 20 units a year (10 pints worth). Even if you removed excise duty and made it 2 quid a pint they wouldn't come.

Yes some who put off the pub due to price would come back however attracting new customers is the issue. Pubs are dying, you could prolong it via cheaper beer (bring back lost old customers) but it will happen.

No I understand that "pub culture" is fading away with the younger generations (I'd consider myself to be of that generation at early 30's) due to mainly health concerns.

However, it's also being greatly hit by the older generations as well due to price. Take my in-laws for example they used to go religiously every Sat and Sun for food and drinks and be there for pretty much the day. This has now been reduced to only on Sunday's and it's not even every week since COVID as they firstly got used to drinking at home and secondly their trip to the pub costs them around €200 every time they go.

This is true, but the majority of people out in the packed bars in Dublin are still under 35.

The percentage of under 35s drinking is no doubt lower, but the sheer population and tourism growth in Dublin means that the bars are still mostly populated with under 35s.

Where is a key factor too obviously, as other posters have pointed out, a lower % of young people are drinking but when many of Irelands young is located within the greater dublin area and dublin itself you can grow/do good business.

A pub in clare lets say, will have very few customers never mind younger ones.

In fairness, that would have been for two bottles. Still ridiculous though.

Call this a conspiracy theory if you will, but from a drinking point of view, I can easily put away 3-4 pints in a sitting(my record is 11), and if someone lands one more pint down in front of me, I will drink that too. With soft drinks or even Guinness zero, 2 maybe 3 in an evening is my limit and then Im inclined to switch to water. So yeah, publicans don't want non-drinkers. Plus if I'm on soft drinks for the night, I won't be wanting a double jemmie come last orders, if anything I'll just want water.

Every attempt to launch an "alcohol free pub" has flopped because people simply don't drink as much.

The most recent attempt at an alcohol free pub in Dublin now claims to be "low alcohol" but has beers in the 5% range, normal wines and some normal cocktails on the menu so it, well, isn't. It's just a pub with a bigger range of 0% stuff than usual now.

This might not be the correct thread, but its kinda falls under the tooic. I have a BBQ party planned for next month, friends, family and a few neighbors. I ordered 6 boxes of wine from Portugal, each box is 5L. I expect as its EU to EU purchase, and its less than the personal allowance (revenue allowance), I expect that I will not pay any duty on my delivery. I'll see how this first order goes, and might move to online from Europe for wine shopping.

That's luck alone.

If stopped you will be asked for duty. If you do it frequently they may even seize the product.

Until maybe four years ago it was seizure only, no chance to pay duty

Personal allowance is for when you are physically with the product.

Thanks Rocket & L1011.

We take the ferry to France most years, and bring back a good bit of wine, over the years, customs at the Irish ports stopped us a few times and ask what we had in the back amd we said wine for ourselves, and they waved us on.

But I'm not sure how it works brining it in via a courier service, hence I was asking. Technically its below the personal allowance, so I cant see how they can hold it. Its not like a pallet of wine. We have EU free trade between EU countries, except of course Ireland who screw you for alcohol and cars!

I'll see how this goes, I'll report back in a week or so when its due to arrive. Cheers