Publicans call last orders in droves after budget price hike

Date Published: 19-Dec-2012

The impact of the recent price hike on the pint is immediately resulting in an unprecedented number of publicans across the county not renewing their leases as their trade has hit rock bottom.

Figures suggest that there are just over 300 pubs in rural County Galway and it has been revealed that a huge number who are currently leasing premises are set to bow out of the trade once their leasing agreement comes to an end.

A former vintners’ chief has predicted that half of the pubs in Galway could close within the next couple of years as customers are voting with their feet in the wake of the most recent price hike that was implemented in the budget.

Former Vintners Federation of Ireland President, Paul O’Grady said that publicans were hit with two increases in the space of a month and it would eventually prove crippling for the industry as well as resulting in wholesale job losses.

Mr. O’Grady, who is a Fine Gael councillor on Tuam Town Council, lambasted the Government for the increase saying that it had already resulted in several leases being terminated across the county.

An indication of how the industry has suffered in Galway is reflected in the recent sale of a pub in Loughrea which was acquired for a mere €85,000 which also included the licence. At one time, the licence alone was worth €175,000.

“You couldn’t give a pub away at the moment,” Mr. O’Grady remarked and added that it was one of the worst periods in the industry’s history.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.