‘One of our competitors is people’s front rooms’: Cork publican on challenges facing sector

A CORK publican has spoken of the challenges facing the sector, and voiced his concerns around the increasing number of people socialising at home instead of in bars, saying: “One of our main competitors now is people’s front rooms”.

Michael O’Donovan of The Castle Inn on South Main Street said price increases, the current Vat rate, and taxi availability are all impacting publicans in Cork.

“The main challenges are the costs that the Government is impoon us,” he said.

“Labour costs, employer’s PRSI, the 13.5% Vat rate for that do food is really cumbersome.”

Mr O’Donovan, who has been confirmed as the president-elect for the Vintners Federation of Ireland, noted that former minister for finance Michael Noonan had said over a decade ago that the Vat rate for alcohol moving from 21% to 23% was only temporary, but it has not changed since.

“That’s a big challenge at the moment, it’s causing a lot of problems,” said Mr O’Donovan.

Price rises 

Price increases by the breweries are also creating “a bit of nervousness”, he said.

Guinness owner Diageo and Heineken are increasing their prices by 3%, or approximately six cent, this month.

“A very small proportion of people would complain about the prices to the pub staff, most understand it’s not us, the publicans, putting up price — it’s the breweries,” he said.

“Still, it’s very unfortunate for us when there’s increases that we have to on to the customers — years ago, many publicans would have absorbed these increases, but now, with all the other costs, we can’t.

“Where people might go out three nights a week, it’s gone down to maybe one night a week, so any increases causes a bit of nervousness in our trade, and we’d be asking the breweries to hold steady.”

People drinking at home 

Mr O’Donovan said that figures show that 60% of all alcohol is now consumed at home through the off-trade, adding: “We’ve also seen the statistics of pubs closing over the last number of years.”

The recently published ‘Alcohol: Availability, affordability, related harm, and policy in Ireland’ report shows that in Cork, pub licenses reduced from 1,052 in 2012-13 to 927 in 2022-23, but off licenses have increased from 363 to 383 in the same period.

“This is of huge concern to us, there’s nowhere safer to drink than with professional people to mind you, and we’ve seen the rise in social problems as a result — drinking in a bar is far, far more controlled than it is at home,” said Mr O’Donovan. “One of our main competitors now is people’s front rooms, so when they come out, we need to really look after them and entertain them.”

Mr O’Donovan said that there has been an increase in antisocial behaviour since covid, but said: “For the most part, people are very respectful and cordial, they go out to enjoy themselves — but a very small minority do engage in this sort of unsocial behaviour. There is, unfortunately, costs associated with that, hiring door staff or different aspects of security, but it is for a very small minority of people.”

Taxi availability 

Another issue impacting the sector is the availability of taxis, with recent figures showing 168 fewer taxis in Cork since the pandemic.

“People can get to your bar, but it’s getting home that’s the issue — we’ve seen a drop in taxis in Cork over the last number of years,” he said.

“Lots of taxis are doing day work on Government contracts, but at the critical pinch points in the night time there’s a shortage of taxis, or in rural places no taxis at all.”

He called on the Government “to supplement the taxis so that people have the confidence to come out and know that they can get home again.”