Publicans want 15% levy on off licence sales....

adocholiday wrote: »

Oh and just my 2c on the café-bar proposal. I'm glad it died because those establishments are soul sucking. Go to Rome or Valencia for example where there are loads of them. There's no atmosphere and no mingling because of the way they are. Too sterile or something. Last thing I would ever want to see is these kind of places replacing the Irish pub.

It was never going to replace the pub and I do tend to agree that I'm not a massive fan of them either but they would have been an alternative here.

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Question: Why is it that Dublin pubs are so much more expensive than country ones? I mean surely pubs in a city like Dublin are getting more traffic than pubs out in the middle of the country, so how can it possibly make any sense that the Dublin sometimes charges over €1.50 more for a pint?
Seriously we're talking about the difference between a €3.50 pint in some places and a €5.20 one in Dublin. What's up with that?

Why charge lower when you can charge 5.20 and people will still pay it because they're not going to drive to outer Dublin in order to get a cheaper pint.

I was once told that our alcohol organisations (VFI etc.) are like Irelands answer to Americas gun lobby. They are a group that have become entrenched in our political system. Look back a few months were Diagio hinted they would invest less in Ireland if the government banned alcohol sponsorship in sport. They employ bully boy tactics to pressure the government on various issues.
Pubs have had less customers drinking in them during the recession, one reason for this may be that people have less money to spend so they drink at home instead. Cue Minister Reilly (no doubt after some pressing from the drinks industry) saying drinking at home is dangerous as people don't know how much they're drinking and they should drink in a pub instead. This to me is incredible, that a health minister would encourage people to go to the pub. It is laughable yet it shows the power the drinks industry has.

I used to look in wonder at America and I could never understand how the NRA could influence policy so effectively, looking at how our government interacts with the alcohol industry I think it's sadly a similar dynamic.

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Question: Why is it that Dublin pubs are so much more expensive than country ones? I mean surely pubs in a city like Dublin are getting more traffic than pubs out in the middle of the country, so how can it possibly make any sense that the Dublin sometimes charges over €1.50 more for a pint?
Seriously we're talking about the difference between a €3.50 pint in some places and a €5.20 one in Dublin. What's up with that?

Good question. I don't agree with the usual answers, higher rent, extra staff cost etc. Dublin pubs will have far more customers than a country pub to offset any such additional costs.

There are fewer industries I'd be happier to see go to the wall than these pub-owning arseholes who have the tv blaring, usually with foreign soccer and a group of morons screaming at the tv, while I'm trying to have a quiet chat with a friend. Obnoxious, intrusive, anti-social industry. "Traditional Irish pub" my arse.

Long live tv-free pubs and the art of conversation without noise from tv/radio in an Irish pub, as rare as it now is.

The idea that 50k jobs are at risk unless the government step in and charge their competition more is laughable. They were also against the smoking ban. They were against any new drink driving laws. They were against the Cafe bar idea. When the inflation rate went negative, they pretended they were doing us a favour by introducing a "price freeze".
I don't go out as often now, but during the 00's it seemed that every time I went down to the local bar, prices had gone up 5 or 10 cent. In the 90's it was a big thing for pints to go up in price, you knew exactly how much you'd need for 5-6 pints. That went completely out the window.
Fúck the pub owners/LVA/VFI if they can't adapt. I'd have about as much time for them as I would for taxi drivers.

flutered wrote: »

actuall if the goverment got rid of below cost selling of booze by the muntiples it would make a massive difference to the exchequer, but it is a nettle they do not want to grasp.

I doubt it. Looking at how people are turning to the black market when the price of cigs is rising, I'd wonder how behind the drinkers would be?

Cabaal wrote: »

This is a worrying aspect of many people in this country, we are certainly nothing like the French or Germany when it comes to drink. We drink to excess as a country.

Rumour has it that more of them introduce kids to alcohol in a family setting at a younger age, as opposed to the Irish "turn 18 and now you must get sh|t faced or have your peers question your sexuality" mindset?

Cabaal wrote: »

Your defense is like smoking and then claiming you don't cost the HSE a penny. Yeah not now, but later life is a different story.

If you use smoking as an example, the levy the VFI wants will give the cigarette companies even more money to cause even more harm, without giving any money to the HSE.

Stephen Fast Missile wrote: »

This isn't really the case. Craft beers etc are still a niche

Thankfully it's not so much of a niche as it used to be.

From what i hear, it's getting more popular in Ireland which is great for the Irish brewing industry and the local economy.

Where I live in Vancouver, it's a huge industry and the huge varieties of beers are amazing and delicious too :-)

Stephen Fast Missile wrote: »

There are plenty of craft beer pubs etc around

This is a good sign, more variety is always good.

Stephen Fast Missile wrote: »

For most pubs it isn't worth their while having stuff out of the ordinary on tap

For rural pubs with smaller, older or more conservative populations, this would be the case.

The rural pub trade is struggling so they are afraid to take risks and that's understandable.

This is a stupid suggestion and I hope it doesn't get passed. It'd be a dangerous precedent to be setting: what next, taxi drivers asking for a tax on public transport? Cinemas asking for a tax on television sales? Shops looking for a tax on online sales?

First of all, the government should owe nothing to the publicans. Business is business, and while I hate to see jobs going, adapt or close. If the public just don't want to go to pubs anymore, that's unfortunate for them - why should the government be trying to save them? Hundreds of shops and restaurants have closed since the recession began and the gov't did nothing to protect them; why are pubs any different?

Secondly, their excuse that it could fund sports is just stupid. Sports organisations have not been banned from advertising, just from advertising alcohol, so some other companies will snap up that chance to advertise. (not that I agree with the ban - even as a non-drinker I think it's nanny state tactics - but that's a whole other debate).This is clearly a self-serving measure and can do no good for the citizens of this country.

The link between our government and publicans needs to be severed. With several TDs and their relatives being involved with the pub trade, we're always going to have vested interests in the government and a dangerous level of privilege for one sector over another.

Caliden wrote: »

Why charge lower when you can charge 5.20 and people will still pay it because they're not going to drive to outer Dublin in order to get a cheaper pint.

Unfortunately this isn't even the case. It's one thing having tourist trap pubs in Temple Bar charging exorbitant prices, or city centre pubs arguing that they have to charge high prices to meet rental payments.

But something that's frankly bizarre about Irish cities, compared to cities on the continent, is that bars and restaurants in residential suburban areas often charge equivalent prices to those located in central locations. If anything, lack of competition in some areas leads to even higher prices.

Driving to outer Dublin is no guarantee of a cheap pint or soft drink, especially in many South Dublin suburbs.