Industry in crisis - Impact of pub closures is significant

FAR too many Irish lives and families have been ruined by drink. Far too much talent has been squandered, far too many fortunes wasted. Far too many relationships or businesses have been destroyed too because of the malignant influence of alcohol.

Though one tragedy is no more heartbreaking than another the number of lives lost on our roads because of drunk drivers may be amongst the most harrowing. Though it is no longer socially acceptable to drink and drive the death toll suggests we still have some way to go on this issue. However, it must be acknowledged that considerable progress has been made in this area, especially amongst younger people.

Despite those truths the vast majority of Irish people have enjoyed a positive relationship with drink. Many of us made — and sustain — lifelong friendships in pubs. Many more of us met our wife or our husband in one of the tens of thousands of pubs that punctuate and animate communities right across this country.

It is not so very long ago that having a busy pub in the family was almost as good as having a good farm in the family. How those certainties have changed. Just as farming is going through a crisis so too are a huge number of publicans. Who could have foretold, or even imagined, that in Ireland, pubs would be closing faster than you could say “same again, please”.

Yet, that is the situation with well over 1,700 watering holes closing in the last five years. Yesterday the Vintners’ Federation said 4,800 jobs have been lost in the last year. They warn another 5,000 are in jeopardy. Almost half of publicans have cut opening hours as a result of a loss in trade of between 10% and 20%.

There are many reasons for this — growing unemployment, a lack of consumer confidence, tighter drink driving regulations, the smoking ban, lifestyle changes and home drinking. But, whether publicans accept it or not, cost is also a huge factor. By the time a couple have paid a babysitter, a taxi, possibly a meal and a few rounds of drinks, the night’s bill is not inconsiderable. It may not be fair to compare pub and supermarket prices but the price gap, especially for soft drinks, is so very great that it inevitably annoys consumers, as do the lower prices experienced on some foreign holidays.

Publicans will counter that a huge proportion of their turnover is earmarked by the taxman. It is because of this that the VFI yesterday suggested that VAT rates be cut from 21.5% to 15% and from 13.5% to 10% in an effort to sustain struggling pubs.

Such cuts are unlikely and very many publicans will be left in a quandary, especially those who borrowed to buy businesses at the height of the boom. Like so many businesses they have become uncompetitive.

Though pubs are businesses first and foremost they are culturally very important as well. Those who do not visit pubs regularly may not be aware how important they are in the social lives of so very many people who have a perfectly functional relationship with drink. They offer opportunities for social contact that are not easily found elsewhere and, despite all the damage drink does to the minority who abuse it, each pub closure is a blow to the community it serves. This is especially true in rural Ireland. The impact of pub closures on community spirit, on those who live alone or in relative isolation should not be underestimated.