The Pub trade is dying - Minimum price for Alcohol?

Biffo The Bare

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

It won't help them at all.

It's priced to accommodate the RRP of the big brands. Sure it means the price of a slab would go up a little. But if you are only buying a few bottles the price difference between heavily advertised larger and craft beer won't change.

It's corporate welfare.

The price of a slab will double. They are usually €24 around Bank holidays and Easter/Christmas.

Biffo The Bare

Biffo The Bare wrote: »

The price of a slab will double. They are usually €24 around Bank holidays and Easter/Christmas.

It's more like 1.5x. Right now, you get 24 cans for €26 at Tesco. That will go to €40.

elperello

Basil3 wrote: »

Sorry, I didn't even know doctors recommended that you should be drinking every day. That's clearly where I've gone wrong in life :P

Seriously though, I think what you and other posters say has summed up the attitude towards booze here. It's classed the same as milk, TV, cinema, books.

I put booze in the same category as smokes, drugs and junk food. Not a necessity in life, not good for you, but have it if you want it.

That's fine you can categorize your own drinks wherever you like but it's not true that a moderate amount of wine, beer or spirits is not good for you.

People who want to consume moderate amounts of drink don't need the government interfering.

Flex

darkpagandeath wrote: »

We do not have a drinking issue in Ireland. Facts are Facts we are middle for consumption in the EU. I would like to see the stats on our Raging alchos vs places like Poland and Finland for example. I will wager we have no higher amount of Alchos per-capita than the EU average. The drinking issue here is a Myth. It's created by terrible Licensing laws. Full nights drink in a few hours as the places close. I'm getting sick to death of Hearing this anecdotal evidence that Ireland is overrun with alchos and we would drink ourselves to death if the price went to the EU average and opening times was 24hrs. It's no coincidence that a lot of TD's are publicans and cannot change their terrible business models and use health to gouge the population. We have the 2nd highest alchohol price in the Entire EU. Putting the price up is lunacy of the highest order it should be brought down by a good bit actually. Amazing they don't interfere in the free market in relation to rent... oh wait loads of them are Rental property owners too.

If its of any interest, below shows alcohol consumption per capita for 17 European countries, figures are from the WHO report on alcohol consumption projections for end of 2015 (which I took from Wikipedia where it was in a vey easy to read table format ).

Rank Country Litres per capita % var vs. Average
1 Portugal 12.5 17.8%
2 Hungary 12.4 16.9%
3 United Kingdom 12 13.1%
4 Finland 11.9 12.1%
5 France 11.6 9.3%
6 Poland 11.5 8.4%
7 Luxembourg 11.2 5.5%
8 Ireland 10.9 2.7%
9 Belgium 10.8 1.8%
10 Germany 10.6 -0.1%
11 Spain 10.6 -0.1%
12 Switzerland 10.4 -2.0%
13 Denmark 10.2 -3.9%
14 Netherlands 9.6 -9.5%
15 Sweden 8.7 -18.0%
16 Austria 8.5 -19.9%
17 Norway 7 -34.0%

AVERAGE 10.6

rubadub

Basil3 wrote: »

Sorry, I didn't even know doctors recommended that you should be drinking every day. That's clearly where I've gone wrong in life :P

you have seriously never heard of it before?!

Maybe it is where you are going wrong alright, you might be healthier if you took it up yourself. And not just physically, but mentally -seeing as you claimed you were depressed about the the thought of people drinking a single can of "crud" per day. Well now you are no longer ignorant there is hopefully no need to be depressed. Sad to think you have had such negative opinons of people all this time.

Most of the time you hear 1 glass of wine recommended, but this doctor recommended 2
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/doctor-prescribes-two-glasses-wine-3720574

Basil3 wrote: »

Not a necessity in life, not good for you, but have it if you want it

-so seems you are happy to now feign ignorance and stay depressed, oh well.

rubadub

rubadub wrote: »

you have seriously never heard of it before?!

Maybe it is where you are going wrong alright, you might be healthier if you took it up yourself. And not just physically, but mentally -seeing as you claimed you were depressed about the the thought of people drinking a single can of "crud" per day. Well now you are no longer ignorant there is hopefully no need to be depressed. Sad to think you have had such negative opinons of people all this time.

Most of the time you hear 1 glass of wine recommended, but this doctor recommended 2
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/doctor-prescribes-two-glasses-wine-3720574

-so seems you are happy to now feign ignorance and stay depressed, oh well.

Oh yeah, THAT doctor needs to be listened to. Classic.

rubadub

Basil3 wrote: »

Oh yeah, THAT doctor needs to be listened to. Classic.

Yeah, only 1 single doctor has ever said it... sweet fucking jesus :rolleyes:

Stay ignorant, suits you down to the ground.

Muahahaha

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

It won't help them at all.

It's priced to accommodate the RRP of the big brands. Sure it means the price of a slab would go up a little. But if you are only buying a few bottles the price difference between heavily advertised larger and craft beer won't change.

It's corporate welfare.

It really is corporate welfare. At the moment you can drink at home for €1.25 a can or you can go to the pub and pay €5 for a pint. Drinking at home is 75% cheaper than going out. So by bringing a can to a minimum of €2 they change the margins to mean drinking at home will now save you 60% on pubs costs.

'Premium' beers like Heineken won't be effected all that much individually as it is already about €2 a can. But if you like to drink some of that German beer like Perlenbacher/Rhinebacher that Aldi and Lidl sell (with far more flavour than Heineken btw) then instead of paying €8 for 6 500ml bottles its going to cost about €12. The days of the slab of beer for €25 will be gone and this will end up costing about €40. If you're having a party/BBQ in the summer that means a massive increase if you want to get a few slabs of beer in for your guests.

As already pointed out people in Ireland are drinking less now than they were 5 years ago. We are on the middle of the EU table for alcohol consumption but almost at the top of it when it comes to price. Now they want to make the price even higher. The new rules are so anti-consumer it is unreal.

Brian Lenihan closed the off licences at 10pm and that was under the health guise of stopping underage drinking. But people who are underage still manage to get drink. It didn't matter a jot at tackling that problem. But it did mean that publicans are the only people licenced to sell beer after 10pm. How long will it be till the publicans get another hour chopped off off-licences and we can only buy beer till 9pm? That'll be the next thing publicans go for after minimum pricing.

rubadub

rubadub wrote: »

Yeah, only 1 single doctor has ever said it... sweet fucking jesus :rolleyes:

Stay ignorant, suits you down to the ground.

I'm far from ignorant, but the reality is that I haven't been to the doctor for any health issues in over 10 years, so they haven't had the chance to tell me to start drinking every day (for the record, I do drink).

If you're going to take the angle that people are being deprived of a health benefit by not having a drink every day, then there are other things that can be done which are more beneficial, and don't cost anything

Fact of the matter is that somebody who doesn't drink won't be told to start drinking for health benefits, and almost anyone who does drink will benefit from drinking less.

Biffo The Bare

Basil3 wrote: »

It's more like 1.5x. Right now, you get 24 cans for €26 at Tesco. That will go to €40.

it was €24 for 24 Guinness in Eurospar last week.
And how is it going to be €40 if the minimum price for a can is €2.00.

Biffo The Bare

Biffo The Bare wrote: »

it was €24 for 24 Guinness in Eurospar last week.
And how is it going to be €40 if the minimum price for a can is €2.00.

If you're talking Guinness draught, then they are 4.2% ABV, and minimum price would be €1.66/can

rubadub

Basil3 wrote: »

I'm far from ignorant.

You really are though, I am amazed you have not heard of it before. Its not like I had to go searching for that previous link, simply good "1 pint of beer a day" or "1 glass of wine a day". I have been hearing this since I was a kid in the 80s, nothing new, it really is common knowledge. In the 80s it was more likely to be wine mentioned.

Is there any other poster who never heard of it before? I am not asking if people agree, simply that they have heard of doctors recommending it?

Basil3 wrote: »

haven't been to the doctor for any health issues in over 10 years, so they haven't had the chance to tell me to start drinking every day (for the record, I do drink)

You are purposely making this sound like drinking a fair amount, if someone says "I was drinking almost every day over christmas" I would not guess it meant 1 pint a day. I would not expect your doctor to say "start drinking every day" they would possibly say "drink 1 pint or 1 glass of wine per day" maybe more, maybe less.

This discussion goes back to the discussion of people drinking 1 can a day. Not the guy drinking 3 flagons of cider a day, 1 can.

Basil3 wrote: »

Fact of the matter is that somebody who doesn't drink won't be told to start drinking for health benefits

Fact of the matter is some are. I have seen the recommendations as low as 1/4 pint of beer, or small amounts of wine.

Biffo The Bare

Basil3 wrote: »

If you're talking Guinness draught, then they are 4.2% ABV, and minimum price would be €1.66/can

And this applies to half litre cans?

rubadub

Biffo The Bare wrote: »

And this applies to half litre cans?

Yes, multiply the volume by the percent by 0.789.

0.5x4.2x0.789=1.6569

A lot of the media reported it wrong, the cynic in my thinks the did it on purpose.

Capt'n Midnight

rubadub wrote: »

Yes, multiply the volume by the percent by 0.789.

0.5x4.2x0.789=1.6569

A lot of the media reported it wrong, the cynic in my thinks the did it on purpose.

Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity

Biffo The Bare

rubadub wrote: »

Yes, multiply the volume by the percent by 0.789.

0.5x4.2x0.789=1.6569

A lot of the media reported it wrong, the cynic in my thinks the did it on purpose.

It is still a wrong thing to do. Prices here are already some of the highest in Europe.

jobbridge4life

Its a sad indictment that we do not as yet have a political party or elected TD who appears willing to fulsomely challenge this nonsense crusade, all the more so given that it is nakedly pathetic as demonstrated so well over the last couple of pages on this thread.

Billy86

Not sure about beer or wine, but a small glass of whiskey (and no more) a day is supposed to be good for people with issues like blood clots.

Long Gone

Billy86 wrote: »

Not sure about beer or wine, but a small glass of whiskey (and no more) a day is supposed to be good for people with issues like blood clots.

I thought that was aspirin and rat poison (warfarin), never heard whiskey mentioned ?

Mr. teddywinkles

If they are so concerned about alcoholism in this country why don't they setup a load of rehab clinics. Oh wait alcoholism is not as prevalent as they let on.

Mr. teddywinkles

Muahahaha wrote: »

It really is corporate welfare. At the moment you can drink at home for €1.25 a can or you can go to the pub and pay €5 for a pint. Drinking at home is 75% cheaper than going out. So by bringing a can to a minimum of €2 they change the margins to mean drinking at home will now save you 60% on pubs costs.

'Premium' beers like Heineken won't be effected all that much individually as it is already about €2 a can. But if you like to drink some of that German beer like Perlenbacher/Rhinebacher that Aldi and Lidl sell (with far more flavour than Heineken btw) then instead of paying €8 for 6 500ml bottles its going to cost about €12. The days of the slab of beer for €25 will be gone and this will end up costing about €40. If you're having a party/BBQ in the summer that means a massive increase if you want to get a few slabs of beer in for your guests.

As already pointed out people in Ireland are drinking less now than they were 5 years ago. We are on the middle of the EU table for alcohol consumption but almost at the top of it when it comes to price. Now they want to make the price even higher. The new rules are so anti-consumer it is unreal.

Brian Lenihan closed the off licences at 10pm and that was under the health guise of stopping underage drinking. But people who are underage still manage to get drink. It didn't matter a jot at tackling that problem. But it did mean that publicans are the only people licenced to sell beer after 10pm. How long will it be till the publicans get another hour chopped off off-licences and we can only buy beer till 9pm? That'll be the next thing publicans go for after minimum pricing.

Total agree, people in this fair isle drinking alot less now than previously. The Irishman is still stereotyped as a drunk here. If people cant have a few drinks at home at the weekend on there own time without being penalized for it.
Fook it.

elperello

Mr. teddywinkles wrote: »

Total agree, people in this fair isle drinking alot less now than previously. The Irishman is still stereotyped as a drunk here. If people cant have a few drinks at home at the weekend on there own time without being penalized for it.
Fook it.

Yes, as the cockney cousin say's they have "done us up like a kipper" on this one. Constant reference to "slabs" of beer, designed to make us sound uncouth and over indulging. Always referring to a drink as alcohol, never acknowledging the skill of the brewer, the craft of the winemaker or the genius of the distiller. And to cap it all every so often they throw in references to the smoking ban which are at best disingenuous and sometimes plain dishonest.

Long Gone

Drinks are already way more expensive in off-licenses in Ireland than they are in the UK or elsewhere in Europe. The price of drinks in the pubs in Ireland is just a joke. (And they wonder why the tourist trade is in decline.......)

And that's all before this kind of ridiculous political paddywhackery which is mainly an attempt at self promotion with the added advantage of trying to force people to spend more money in their publican supporters businesses ....

syklops

Long Gone wrote: »

I thought that was aspirin and rat poison (warfarin), never heard whiskey mentioned ?

Google it, its well reported as being beneficial for a huge range of ailments, from blood clots to dementia.

Sofiztikated

Long Gone wrote: »

Drinks are already way more expensive in off-licenses in Ireland than they are in the UK or elsewhere in Europe. The price of drinks in the pubs in Ireland is just a joke. (And they wonder why the tourist trade is in decline.......)

And that's all before this kind of ridiculous political paddywhackery which is mainly an attempt at self promotion with the added advantage of trying to force people to spend more money in their publican supporters businesses ....

See, this isn't true. Tourism figures rose AGAIN in 2015.

Sofiztikated

Sofiztikated wrote: »

See, this isn't true. Tourism figures rose AGAIN in 2015.

Maybe Irish people think tourists come here to drink pints in pubs?

If you do the Guinness brewery tour, you get a free pint. I've done it a few times with visiting relatives, and you'd be amazed how many tourists sip a bit of their free pint, then walk away.

syklops

Basil3 wrote: »

Maybe Irish people think tourists come here to drink pints in pubs?

If you do the Guinness brewery tour, you get a free pint. I've done it a few times with visiting relatives, and you'd be amazed how many tourists sip a bit of their free pint, then walk away.

At 18 euros a pop, the free pint is not entirely free.

syklops

syklops wrote: »

At 18 euros a pop, the free pint is not entirely free.

Gone up in price since I last did it.

Of course, your comment just further reinforces my point that tourists don't come here to drink, if they're willing to forgo one they've paid for.

Mr. teddywinkles

Basil3 wrote: »

Gone up in price since I last did it.

Of course, your comment just further reinforces my point that tourists don't come here to drink, if they're willing to forgo one they've paid for.

Publicans just screw the general population then. Upping the price of drink after a certain time in my town for the last couple of years now. Never use to do that. Even when things were booming.

BattleCorp

Mr. teddywinkles wrote: »

Publicans just screw the general population then. Upping the price of drink after a certain time in my town for the last couple of years now. Never use to do that. Even when things were booming.

I live in rural Ireland. If one of our local pubs did that, then customers would go elsewhere.