Freeze on price of pints ‘useless’
Pub owners said the move would do little to reverse the decline in business caused by higher taxes and the smoking ban.
Con Dennehy, council member of the Vintners Federation of Ireland, said he was extremely sceptical about delaying increases until June 2005.
“Diageo are freezing the price now but they’ve already imposed a price increase this year. So what?”
Diageo will freeze any price increases until June next year, rather than its traditional date in March. It increased draught beer prices by four cent in 2002, four cent in 2003 and six cent in June this year.
The move by Guinness follows a decision by Beamish & Crawford to freeze the wholesale price until next January.
The price of a pint of Guinness has risen to around €3.50 outside of Dublin and €4.20 in the capital itself.
