People afraid to have a pint

TWO elements of infrastructure which have undergone major change in rural Ireland over the past decade have been post offices and pubs. Both are regarded as integral to rural communities, acting on one level as essential to warding off rural isolation.

Figures produced by the Department of Finance last year showed that 833 pubs in rural Ireland did not have their licences renewed. The decline of the pub business has been well documented, but there is little doubt that it has impacted on the quality of life for men, in particular, living alone in rural Ireland.

Gerry Mellett is the proprietor of the Ardattin Inn in the village of the same name, four miles from Tullow, in Co Carlow. He cites changes to drink-driving laws for one of the biggest impacts in the trade’s decline.