Publicans warned they can’t take any more financial “blows” after price increases from Guinness brewer Diageo came into effect yesterday.
Hugh Hourican, who owns The Boar’s Head on Capel Street, said he’s not charging more for a pint of plain just yet but admitted he will have to increase it soon.
The boozer boss told The Irish Mirror: “We’re not happy about it at all. It’s hard to get customers in at the moment.
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“It’s great that people are back supporting us after the last three years and supporting the industry but unfortunately all we can do is pass on the increase.
“It’s making our job harder, all our costs have gone up too like labour and power bills. It’s just leaving it very very hard on a publican.
“We’re hoping this is the last blow, we expected it once Heineken upped their prices in December, hopefully, this is the last increase because we can’t take any more blows.
“We can’t absorb the costs on this occasion, we have done so over the years but the way the whole thing is gone we have to pass them on.
“The days of people just walking in for a pint are gone, you have to provide extra facilities, you have to keep your pub updated, you have to have the proper TVs and channels. Publicans are paying up to €14,000 a year just to show sport.”
Hugh admitted his bar is in a good location which has a lot of footfall but said he would worry about watering-holes in the suburbs or in rural Ireland.
The Boar’s Head was one of a number of pubs in Dublin City visited by The Irish Mirror yesterday.
The price hike from Diageo, who make Guinness, came into effect yesterday just weeks after Heineken raised the cost of their drinks at the start of December.
Many pubs across the capital have not yet passed on the increase to punters and will only do so when their current Guinness stock runs out with several bulk buying kegs after the announcement last month.
Diageo upped the cost of a pint by 12cent excluding VAT with publicans reckoning they will need to hike the cost by at least 30c to keep their current profit margins.
The price of a pint of Guinness cost around €6 in most city centre boozers before the increase.
Across the Liffey, Ha’Penny Bridge Inn owner Mick Ryan said the cost of everything has gone up and admitted revellers may stop going out as much as they used to.
Speaking to The Irish Mirror from behind the bar yesterday, he said: “Look at it like this, if you’re a normal person with a wife, a family and a house.
“Every time you go to the supermarket everything has gone up, if you’ve a mortgage the interest has gone up, your car tax and insurance have gone up, whichever fuel you’re putting into that car has gone up and you have all these bills to pay so something is going to have to be cut.
“So if you have two or three pints after work a couple of nights a week, you might cut back or skip a few evenings.”
Mick said they’ve also lost a lot of trade as more and more people work from home.
The 69-year-old, who has owned the pub on the edge of Temple Bar for 33 years, said they’d go through up to 40 kegs of Guinness a week.
He added: “Everything is going up, no matter what you do it’s gone up. In here, our clientele would be a good mix of locals and tourists.
“But everything after the pandemic has been a hit.”
Mick explained he only made an order last week so will hold off upping his prices until he had to pay the new price for a keg.
He added: “It would be a bit greedy if I bought the beer in at the old price and I started jacking it up on my regular customers who support me 52 weeks of the year. It’s a bit greedy, we’re holding off for now.”
While, The Duke bar manager, Ciaran Gilligan, said: “We’re not going to put up the prices yet until we get rid of all the stock that we bought in at the lower prices.
“Heineken got a lot of backlash when they put theirs up. The price of the pint will need to go up by at least 30c.
“Pubs are trying to keep prices competitive but at the end of the day it’s a business and there are rising energy costs, and the price of food has gone up.
“Everything has been impacted but we always try and do the best for the customer.”
Inesc Ramasawmy, who is the bar manager at O’Neills Pub and Restaurant on Suffolk Street, said she feels the price increase could see a reduction in the number of people who go out and revealed Guinness is their biggest seller.
Diageo also makes Rockshore, Carlsberg, Harp, Hop House 13, and Smithwicks.
Pensioner Norman Moore, who was drinking a pint of Guinness in John Keogh’s pub off Grafton Street, said the increased pint price was not going to stop him.
The 75-year-old explained: “If I don’t get out of the house and have a few pints, I get isolated and it can cause depression.
“It’s a social thing for me, you meet people and I won’t let the price interfere with that because it’s too important, especially for a retired person. I’d come out maybe two or three times a week.”
While Australian man Euan Hart, who is a barman at The Gin Palace, said he is going to be more selective about where he goes out now in Dublin that the cost has increased.
Euan said: “For me personally, I don’t think I’ll go to certain pubs as much as I used to or bring people to places I used to go.
“A night out is a little bit different and you don’t mind spending a bit more but if I’m going for a few pints I’m going to be more selective. The Gin Palace where I work hasn’t increased their prices yet.”
The Grand Social barman Arron O’Shaughnessy reckons the cost increase will result in people drinking more before they come out to offset the cost.
He said: “The price increases to both Guinness and Heineken are getting ridiculous. People are already complaining now before the prices have gone up about how expensive a night out is.
“The little bit of reprieve bars got when they opened back up after the pandemic is gone.
“I don’t agree with the price increase it’s getting way too expensive to go out and have a couple of drinks with friends. It’s getting out of control.”
A Diageo spokesperson previously said: “Like many businesses in Ireland, we are facing significant inflation in input costs across our operations.
“We have absorbed these costs for as long as possible. But, unfortunately,
we can no longer continue to do so.
“As a result, we have written to our customers in the on-trade to advise them of an increase on our draught beer list prices of 12 cent per pint, exclusive of VAT.”
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