Changing pub scene goes down well in Cork city
A look at any headlines regarding the pub sector over the past few years has generally made for depressing reading.
Before the last budget, the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland claimed that, in the last five years, over 6,000 jobs had been lost in the industry, with an estimated 2,000 in jeopardy this year.
With both the economy and consumer confidence on the floor, the view was that people had turned away from the pub. It was too expensive for a relatively poor offering in return.
Increasingly, people socialised with friends at home with cheap supermarket alcohol, rather than spending any disposable income in pubs they felt took advantage of the boom years by overcharging to the hilt. As a result, the trade has taken a hammering.
However, in Cork, a number of publicans seem to be bucking the trend. Far from being gloomy about the industry, they are striving to offer people something different.
One of Cork’s best known publicans, Benny McCabe, said the reality was that the boom years made it too difficult for people to do business or to offer a product to discerning pub goers.
As owner of hugely popular and widely diverse Cork venues like the Bodega, Sin É, The Oval, Crane Lane, The Mutton Lane and Arthur Maynes, Mr McCabe said the last couple of years has allowed people to enter the industry even if the cost of doing business is still high.
“Effectively we were locked out of the game during the mad years. It wouldn’t stack as prices were too high. Over the last couple of years as the dust has settled, the actual threshold of entry into business — the gate keeper price — has returned to an acceptable level, so you get to open the door but the actual cost of doing business and ridiculous amounts of sometimes illogical and indeed often contradictory compliance are actually sniffing out entrepreneurial spirit,” he said.
However, he said from “a design to opening” point of view, it has become a far less risky business to enter. As a result, he plans to open five new outlets in the next year, three of which are in buildings that were previously not pubs, a prospect “unthinkable during the boom”.
Mr McCabe states that while the boom years brought unimaginable wealth to Ireland, it did not transfer to pubs and restaurants. As a result, the downturn has allowed entrepreneurs to refocus and offer something a little different than just a pint on a Friday night.
“The result is that we are at 2006 levels of turnover. Cork is about to become a serious player as a city break destination. There will be a requirement for more accommodation. In effect the downturn has allowed the city to reset, retrain and refocus. There are many talented young people in Cork striving for this in music, food, the arts and film. Listen to them. Silk purses out of a sow’s ear might just be the result of the last horrendous five years,” he said.
Ernest Cantillon, who operates Electric on South Mall, the nearby SugarCube café, the VooDoo Lounge nightclub and The Bróg on St Oliver Plunkett St said people want more from a pub they choose to spend money in on a Friday or Saturday night.
As one of the city’s newest entrepreneurs in the sector, he cited Benny McCabe as an example of someone who attempted to try bringing something different to the city’s pub experience.
“The pub trade now is not just about where people meet for drinks. We all sell the same drinks. I think Benny McCabe was probably the first to do it in Cork in terms of serving different craft beers, candles on tables and generating something different in terms of atmosphere. Not just handing out a pint of Heineken and asking you for €5.”
Mr Cantillon said the recent revamp of The Bróg was an example of the confidence brewing in Cork’s pub and nightclub sector.
“The Bróg was a tough one as it wasn’t failing. It was still very popular but it had become a bit stale. It’s actually much easier to start afresh than to change people’s perception of a place.
“I’m one of the people who remembers seeing the Frank and Walters there for the first time in 1996, it has that type of place in people’s memories.
“With Voodoo, we hit the ground running and it’s been a big success. It gave us the endorsement to do something with The Bróg and it’s been a success.”
That success has led Mr Cantillon and his business partner Niall Kearney to buy the old Redz nightclub — something he couldn’t have envisaged during the boom years.
“We have no idea what we are going to do with it yet. That was on the market at one stage for €4.3m. We got it for €700,000. The reality is that not a lot of people were that interested. With prices back to a more realistic place, you can put more money into giving people a better experience.
“We can put the guts of a million into the place. Ultimately, you have to answer to a bank account at some stage but if it’s at the top of your list, like it had to be during the boom years, then you are just providing a drink factory nothing more.”
It’s clear the recipe of offering pub goers something a little fresher and a little more unique is paying off.
The Sextant on Albert Quay is a prime example and one Mr Cantillon points to when highlighting what the newer Cork pub has to offer.
“For example, when I think of The Sextant, I think of the atmosphere — the Fishy Fridays and the Pig on a Spit. It’s not just a pub where you get your pint of Heineken. You get more than that. You get an experience,” he said.
Along with its famous Friday night free food offerings, The Sextant now even offers harbour cruises for a two-hour trip around the harbour complete with booze, a DJ and pizza.
Even smaller, family-owned pubs are trying something different. For example, the Cotton Ball on the northside of Cork City has built a micro-brewery in the basement and launched a range of craft beers and stouts.
Owned by the Lynch family since 1874, the pub is offering its own creations Lynch’s Pure Cork Stout, Mayfield Golden Lager and Kerry Lane Pale Ale.
And former county chairman of the Vintners Federation of Ireland, Con Dennehy has just bought The Venue Bar in the south city suburb of Ballintemple.
The premises had been unoccupied in recent months but Dennehy aims to have the pub refurbished and reopened in the coming weeks in time for the Live at the Marquee concerts at the Ballintemple/Marina Showgrounds.
Whether it’s large-scale operations like those run by Benny McCabe or Ernest Cantillon or the traditional family-run local pub like The Cotton Ball, Cork City is offering people a different way of experiencing the traditional Irish pub experience.
It’s going down well.
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