The Pub trade is dying - Minimum price for Alcohol?

VinLieger

samapple789 wrote: »

My fave beer to drink is 4 euros a bottle at the moment and it's 10% a bottle of 350ml in the off lieance and from 6.50 to 7.50 in a pub it's extramly rare to find it in a pub.

So how much will I be looking at paying with the new stupid unit prices for drink ?

Firstly theres still a hope that the EU will strike down scotlands attempt at minimum pricing which will mean Leo has to go back to the drawing board, secondly as posted previously €1.10 per unit is the extreme end and is likely just kite flying to make the real amount look reasonable so hopefully it won't end up like that even if it comes in.

Short answer, nobody knows yet

Custardpi

VinLieger wrote: »

Also even at that extreme of €1.10 it won't affect Wetherspoons prices and they arent going anywhere soon

What's the betting that the next thing after minimum off sales pricing will be minimum pub pricing, so that it would be illegal to sell pints for less than a fiver or whatever.

VinLieger

Flex wrote: »

I read this morning in the Health Committee report that NOffLA is in support of minimum unit pricing and advocated a rate of over €1, nearly certain I had read similar in the papers a month or so ago too. Don't think any party or politician is against this, its very much in vogue

Ahh your right, I heard them complaining about the excise hike from 2014 not the minimum pricing http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/price-of-tobacco-and-alcohol-in-ireland-70-higher-than-eu-average-682821.html

Excise on wine is currently 624% above the eu average, yeah higher prices is the way to go :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Atlantic Dawn

VinLieger wrote: »

Not according to them, this is their solution to getting people back in the pubs, screw innovating business models and providing incentives, "we will force them back to us through making it too expensive to do anything else"

The day of the pub is gone, people have Sky/BT Sports HD at home, nice comfy seats, they don't want to go stand in some place with a restricted view to a rubbish picture quality TV and be charged €5.20 a pint for the privilege when they can have much better at home for a fraction of the price. The reason for pubs closing down is lack of investment in what they provide for their customers and a belief that what customers wanted 30 years ago is what they want today.

TrustedApple

Deleted User wrote: »

€3.03 would be the minimum for that.

So more or less it's going to be 7.50 a bottle in a off lieance lol and 10 euros in a pub. That''s just nuts.

No way they will be able to bring them min prices as if they do who will be able to drink anymore ?.

33 euros for a bottle of crap vodka what are they smoking ?.

VinLieger

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

The day of the pub is gone, people have Sky/BT Sports HD at home, nice comfy seats, they don't want to go stand in some place with a restricted view to a rubbish picture quality TV and be charged €5.20 a pint for the privilege when they can have much better at home for a fraction of the price. The reason for pubs closing down is lack of investment in what they provide for their customers and a belief that what customers wanted 30 years ago is what they want today.

Exactly its not about atmosphere anymore, value for money is becoming more and more important

Menas

samapple789 wrote: »

33 euros for a bottle of crap vodka what are they smoking ?.

They are smoking the money of the Vintners association IMO.

Atlantic Dawn

VinLieger wrote: »

Exactly its not about atmosphere anymore, value for money is becoming more and more important

Yes exactly, 10 years ago a 40 inch TV cost more than my car, now one can be picked up for a weeks wages, people have moved on.

macnug

Long Gone wrote: »

What are the chances that they're planning extortionate taxes on beer making kits ? Or to make home brewing illegal and getting the "excise men" going around checking on people ? - You couldn't make this stuff up ! .:mad:

They couldn't tax the raw ingredients such as barley, hops and brewers yeast without affecting the brewerys and therefore pub prices. Plus there's ways round it, you could grow your own hops and cultivate the yeast. You don't even have to make beer fully from barley, you could make a wheat beer and you can make really good cider from cloudy apple juice.


They wouldn't be able to enforce a ban on homebrew but I don't think that many people will get into it for it to be a problem for them. I've tried to get friends and family into it for years but they just couldn't be arsed, they'll drink the beer no probs but they wouldn't go to the trouble of making it. Of the few people that have tried it, they usually give up after a couple of months because tbh it can be hard work and not for everyone.

hatrickpatrick

macnug wrote: »

You don't even have to make beer fully from barley, you could make a wheat beer and you can make really good cider from cloudy apple juice.

Just to clarify here, can't you also make cider from concentrated apple juice sans preservatives? Or does it have to be cloudy?

Geuze

samapple789 wrote: »

So more or less it's going to be 7.50 a bottle in a off lieance lol and 10 euros in a pub. That''s just nuts.

No, the legal min will be 3.03.

You say the current price is 4.00 retail, so no legal requirement on that to change.

lertsnim

Silversack wrote: »

Education is the key, not taxes which just sweeps the problem under the carpet. My daughter is starting school in September, I was delighted to hear that they do " Show and tell" like in the states. I think this could help children build their confidence so hopefully they won't grow up like many Iris people do whereby they can't function socially without alcohol.

Socially awkward people exist in the United States too.

macnug

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Just to clarify here, can't you also make cider from concentrated apple juice sans preservatives? Or does it have to be cloudy?

Oh you can of course its just not as nice.
If you want to make really cheap alcohol and not too fused about the taste you could just make a simple wash from sugar, water, yeast and nutrients and flavour it with miwadi or something.

dr.fuzzenstein

macnug wrote: »

Oh you can of course its just not as nice.
If you want to make really cheap alcohol and not too fused about the taste you could just make a simple wash from sugar, water, yeast and nutrients and flavour it with miwadi or something.

Mmmh, genuine prison hooch!:eek:

macnug

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Mmmh, genuine prison hooch!:eek:

Yea wouldn't be into it myself but you could make a 40 pint batch of say 10% stuff for under a tenner if you were really stuck.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

I would be genuinely concerned if one of my mates did that.

macnug

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

I would be genuinely concerned if one of my mates did that.

So would I, especially considering you could make a batch of good beer for 15-20 a batch.

jobbridge4life

lertsnim wrote: »

Socially awkward people exist in the United States too.

Yeah but they just shoot people when they grow up.

Specialun

It wont be 1.10

They will decrease it to make it sound like their doing us a favour

VinLieger

Specialun wrote: »

It wont be 1.10

They will decrease it to make it sound like their doing us a favour

"Now youve all been good boys and girls so we are only gonna rape your wallets by this much"

jobbridge4life

VinLieger wrote: »

"Now youve all been good boys and girls so we are only gonna rape your wallets by this much"

speaking of wallets... people buy their alcohol with wallets if we put a minimum price on wallets less people will be able to afford them and thus drinking will have to decline.

'Government to take brave step in fight against alcohol abuse and anti social behaviour. MWP Minimum wallet price to be introduced. Minister says minimum price per wallet will be applied in an equitable fashion. "Well we don't want anygroup to be unfairly affected so depending on the amount you intend to put in the wallet the minimum price will be just a bit more, that way we can stop irresponsible drinking... well all drinking really, but we'll still have money so tis all grand in the end". People for the Ethical Drinking of Alcohol PEDA, and other idiots have welcomed the bill'.

rubadub

VinLieger wrote: »

Also even at that extreme of €1.10 it won't affect Wetherspoons prices and they arent going anywhere soon

This was a recent deal in wetherspoons.

https://www.facebook.com/thefortyfoot/photos/pcb.647481058716673/647480955383350/?type=1&theater

many high % bottles were €1.95, 2 were 355ml 6.5% which is 1.8units so €2 with the new price, so they are around the min price already, I think some previous deals might have been even cheaper per unit.

Diceys bar in dublin city still has €2 pints of paulaner some days. That is 2.46 units so would have to increase to €2.70.

If an offie has stock of wine they sell at €5, then the next day when its €10 the government will only see a 93cent increase in revenue, the offie gets the remaining €4.07.

Long Gone

They've got their strategy all wrong - In most other poverty stricken kleptocracies they keep the price of alcohol really low so that the masses have the ability to get seriously intoxicated as a frequent if temporary release from the blatant injustice of their lives.....

BenHK

I think it's absolutely disgraceful how Irish people are more than happy to be forking out these extortionate prices on a weekly basis.

Is anyone old enough to remember the taxi industry back in the day? If you were out in town on a night out, you'd have to walk home because they'd pull up, ask you were you were headed, and if he didn't fancy going your way for whatever reason whatsoever, he say "no" and you'd be walking home at 4am. Thank Christ it was deregulated. No problems anymore....you want a taxi? Well, hey....just your luck there are 100 people willing to drive you to wherever you want to go.....isn't that a novel idea?!

The same with the publicans. You deregulate the industry and you'll have fewer arguments in town as less people will be congregated in one or two particular areas. Prices will fall, variety will soar. Maybe then the majority of you will actually be able to appreciate a real beer instead of the commercial crap thrown at you by Diageo.

syklops

Long Gone wrote: »

They've got their strategy all wrong - In most other poverty stricken kleptocracies they keep the price of alcohol really low so that the masses have the ability to get seriously intoxicated as a frequent if temporary release from the blatant injustice of their lives.....

When I lived in the Czech Republic where beer is comparatively cheaper, I did wonder what was the effect, either positive or negative to society for anyone who wanted, to be able to afford alcohol and get it when ever they want.

I went through some difficult times but there was never a time when I couldnt afford to go and have a beer. At about a euro for a pint in a pub served to you by a waitress, or about 80cent for a beer in a slot-machine casino, or about 40cent to buy a bottle in a shop, or about 20 cent to get a can.

Greenmachine

If this goes ahead at the maximum unit price suggested. We will be the most expensive country in the EU. Our average price is already the 2nd highest in the Europe, with only Finland more expensive. One difference there is anything over maybe 4.7% alcohol must be bought from the state liquor store, so the price of hard drink there is fixed.
40% Vodka there 700ml will cost you €19.99, here it will end up costing you at least €22 for the cheapest stuff going. This will either lead to everyone moving to the cheapest stuff, or the cheap stuff not competing in the market depending on whether the better known brands push an excessive premium onto their products above what they currently charge. I have no issue with them changing the duty on alcohol, banned below cost selling, not allowing retailer to claim a rebate for minimum pricing, but I think the minimum pricing is the wrong way to go. It won't make an once of difference to problem drinkers.
I know a few problem drinkers who are unemployed, in theory they should buy the cheapest of cheap and drink it at home to support their habit, but I will often passing them of an evening leaving the pub after propping up the bar for a few hours.

Faith+1

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

MY holidays will from now on be via Ferry to France and while I'm there, I'll get the year's supply of booze.
I did something similar when I still smoked, fly over to Germany, walk into the nearest Aldi and bring home 20 packs of tobacco, 40gram, at €3.60 each.
My budget for an entire year smoking was €72.

That's amazing! 72 quid for the year!

Bits_n_Bobs

The strategy is clearly to price the proletariat out of the alcohol market.

In this era of austerity we clearly cannot afford ordinary working people going out and enjoying themselves while we owe our troika benefactors money. I expect this to be implemented shortly and we can then send Noonan over to Greece to explain how they now need to follow our good example.

Thankfully this will have virtually no impact on middle/upper income people who can continue to skull a bottle or two of decent vino at home each night.

Long Gone

rubadub wrote: »

Diceys bar in dublin city still has €2 pints of paulaner some days.

I was charged well over €7 for a pint in The Oliver St. John Gogarty in Temple Bar last time I was home - It appears that they put the prices up to an even more extortionate level after 11 PM or something. Realising that I was one of the few (if not the only) Irish customers he had in the bar the barman actually apologised to me for being forced by the management to charge me so much.... Never again !

DEFTLEFTHAND

Long Gone wrote: »

I was charged over €7 for a pint in The Oliver St. John Gogan in Temple Bar last time I was home - It appears that they put the prices up to an even more extortionate level after 11 PM or something. Realising that I was one of the few (if not the only) Irish customers he had in the bar the barman actually apologised to me for being forced by the management to charge me so much.... Never again !

That's right everything goes up, even on weeknights. Tourists already have a bit down by that stage, and probably don't realise how much they're getting fleeced.