Pubs to keep staggered opening hours even when restrictions lift

Remaining restrictions — including those on indoor hospitality — are due to be lifted next week

The pub trade is expected to take a long time to recover to pre-pandemic sales levels, with many bars still likely to voluntarily close on certain days of the week, due to staff shortages and other issues.

Remaining restrictions — including those on indoor hospitality — are due to be lifted next week, but this has been thrown into doubt after Taoiseach Micheál Martin said yesterday that he cannot guarantee society will reopen fully as planned on October 22.

He said that a “very serious” presentation by health officials about a spike in Covid cases, is “having an impact”. He added that a meeting would be held next week with government and health officials on whether nightclubs and other indoor venues can reopen as planned.

A spokesperson for the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) said the planned lifting of remaining restrictions will be the starting point for any recovery, but suggested some pubs may opt to continue to stagger their opening hours due to staffing shortages and uncertainty over consumer demand and confidence.

They also said while the number of permanent pub closures, due to the crisis, hasn’t been as high as feared, the true impact on businesses will be more evident once the main business supports are finally phased out.

The slow pace of recovery in Ireland’s pub industry is in stark contrast to the UK, where brewer and pub operator Marston’s has become the latest to report a return to pre-Covid sales levels. 

Rival UK pub group Mitchells & Butlers — which owns the O’Neill’s bar chain and is partly owned by Irish businessmen JP McManus and John Magnier — reported a rebound to pre-Covid trading levels last month.

The VFI has said “significant challenges” remain for the pub sector and branded the extension of the 9% hospitality Vat rate only to the end of next August as “short-sighted”, saying the sector will remain impacted “for years to come”.

It said the 9% rate should remain in place until at least 2025. The VFI said November and December will be good barometers of the pub industry’s recovery chances.

However, it warned that a sustained recovery relies on a number of issues such as improved staffing levels, the return of in-bound tourism and consumer confidence around returning to indoor drinking.