Rural publicans have claimed the makers of Guinness have turned its back on country pubs by increasing the price of a pint of its products again.<\/p>\n
Guinness owners Diageo have slapped seven cents on the price of a pint effective from February 2.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s up to each hostelry to decide whether to pass it on \u2013 but when VAT and publicans\u2019 margins are included, the retail price of a pint of Guinness and other Diageo products will rise by about \u20ac0.20.<\/p>\n
County Galway publicans claimed the move will encourage people to drink cans at home, and will hasten the demise of rural pubs.<\/p>\n
The other main player Heineken \u2013 makers of Beamish and Murphy\u2019s \u2013 is expected to follow suit.<\/p>\n
The Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) warned this latest price hike on draught products will pile pressure on rural pubs already struggling to survive.<\/p>\n
Galway VFI Chair Joe Sheridan, who runs Tigh Breathnach in Dunmore and whose brother Cathal has Sheridan\u2019s a gastropub in Milltown, said brewery price increases were \u201cbad for business\u201d, and could fuel further rural pub closures.<\/p>\n
Mr Sheridan said costs are already up by 7% for Sky television, for insurance (up to 23%), labour, and his commercial rates are up by 200%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s all feeding into negative pressures on businesses. Turnover is for vanity, profit is sanity. If you reduce profit margin to a point that\u2019s unsustainable, they will close.<\/p>\n
\u201cPubs have closed all over the country in rural areas in the past 20 years and that\u2019s not by chance,\u201d said Mr Sheridan, a former Fianna F\u00e1il County Councillor.<\/p>\n
Miche\u00e1l \u00d3 Cadhain of Tigh Cadhain in Cill Chiar\u00e1in, Conamara, said Diageo had turned its back on rural pubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir snotty answer was the publican don\u2019t have to put up the price. That riled me. Who is working for who here? We are selling their product. Most pubs in rural areas are family business and struggling. People are just about surviving,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said there was a disconnect between Diageo, a multinational, and rural family run bars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a laisse faire attitude to rural pubs and they feel they don\u2019t need to support them because they\u2019re not making them as much money as they did in the past. The saying \u2018a yard of a counter was worth an acre of land\u2019 is no longer true for rural pubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiageo don\u2019t care about rural pubs anymore; they find us a hindrance to their business model. When it comes to rural areas, I\u2019d say they\u2019d prefer to see pubs closed and people drinking cans at home,\u201d Mr \u00d3 Cadhain said.<\/p>\n
Caption: Miche\u00e1l \u00d3 Cadhain of Tigh Cadhain in Cill Chiar\u00e1in.<\/p>\n