Price gouging by the pub, restaurant & hotel industry

A pub charging €6.50 for a pint is one thing. Far enough, you know what you're getting into, and nobody is forcing you to go.

But the craic in nightclubs of the tills jacking up the price by 50c or €1 automatically every hour was blatant price gouging. I honestly don't know anyone who bothers with these places anymore, and it's little wonder so many have died off.

So people sometimes do vote with their feet eventually.

It's less than 10 years ago I was still getting pints in our local for €4.70, they're €6 now. I was never a big pub drinker anyway, myself and herself preferred to arrange a meet up with the in-laws or a few friends (particularly in the summer months, outside on a few benches), and have a quiet few cold cans and throw on a bit of finger food/sandwiches, do it once a month for a few hours on a Saturday/Sunday. A fraction of the cost and pretty much the same craic.

PS - Is the rise in cocaine use a factor in the rise of prices, as in young people not drinking anymore? Or is the rise in cocaine use a response to drinks prices going through the roof?

Whatever.

I don't go to late night pubs anymore, I'm just telling you the pubs change their prices through the night, something you seemed to be unaware of.

Am I the only one who thinks that these guys in Temple Bar are running great businesses?

They literally open their doors everyday and from midday onwards, people start piling in and spend spend all day long, day in and day out. If you can get it, then why not? There is nothing stopping anyone from walking around the corner to the next place and paying a few euro less. Yet, because of a great marketing campaign on social media, people feel the need to HAVE to go to Temple Bar and get their picture there having a drink. I drink in Dublin, and don't go there, as I have the choice. Not one single person is forced into those places and "robbed". Every pub in Ireland displays its prices at the door and is required to do so under law.

Also, having travelled a lot over the last year, I have had far more expensive drinks thank in Ireland. In NYC with a tip for their "small" pint its around $11. Was in a cool trendy bar in Croatia and the only beer they had was €7 for a 33cl of Crapberg - no thanks. London, when you convert prices in many places is more expensive than Dublin. Paid €9 in Paris for a pint of local beer in a normal not fancy place. My friend was in Dubrovnik and it was €10 for a pint of normal IPA.

On the flip side had a €1.20 beer in Portugal, lovely pints for €2.40 in Croatia, massive measures in Spain for a short for €7. €3.90 in Austria for a Weiss in a beautiful location in the mountains.

So yeah, prices vary. So what. It's the open market. What will be great in Ireland is when we can have more liberal law for bar licences which will allow for people to obtain a licence without remortgaging their homes and set up smaller places and offer competition to these big monster pubs.

One of the pubs/restaurants local to me has jacked up their food prices again, 19 euro for a Sunday roast beef dinner, no thank you.

Nothing fancy about it, no large portions, basically a carvery dinner brought to your table for you .

That's the sort of messing that will close a place pretty lively you can still get 2 courses on a early bird for much the same price in a proper restaurant.

Our family are now the same, used to regularly go out for Sunday lunch/dinner , not anymore, more of a treat/special occasion now

No way are we wasting 19 euro a head for a roast beef dinner/turkey and ham, not to mention the classic bowl of soup now heading for the 6.50- 7 euro mark !

Nope, just north of Drogheda.

@bikeman1 said:

"So yeah, prices vary. So what. It's the open market. What will be great in Ireland is when we can have more liberal law for bar licences which will allow for people to obtain a licence without remortgaging their homes and set up smaller places and offer competition to these big monster pubs."

I agree 100%.

I am looking forward to the licence change also. I really expect it will open the door for smaller, niche bars to flourish.

They wont have to pay stupid amounts for one of the finite licenses held down the country somewhere, attached to a pub that will never reopen.

It will be brilliant for Dublin and the other cities/larger towns and will help bring competitiveness to the market, as well as cheaper food and drinks.

Not so good for the rural ireland pubs that arent sustainable. but if they arent sustainable, then they probably need to go anyway.

It will end up like that taxis and their licence, post deregulation.

The license attached to a pub will no longer be transferrable and so becomes worthless.

For the cities and towns that do have lots of custom but suffer from lack of available licences, that issue will vanish when you go go direct for a cheap license from the council.

It should really drive new business creation in the hosputality industry.

If on a Sunday spin try the newGrange hotel navan. There last Sunday e14.50, top class. Some places I was in recently would have got 2 portions out of the beef I got. The thatch in Drogheda would have got 3!

Regarding the Carlsberg.... Norn Iron Carlsberg is 3.8% whereas it's 4.3% here. And different taste as well.

It was understood by the industry that the vat cut was a device by the government to help them back on their feet after the covid shutdown. So they probably felt no guilt about not passing on the vat saving. This ignores the cash supports they government paid them of course.

So what do you do when prices rise tomorrow? Not much you can do, it will hardly be noticed as everything has gone up since covid anyway. One small thing i do is bring coffee with me from home every morning after the regular place i went to put the price of a large americano over €3.50.

13.5% back tonight

I think smaller restaurants will find it hard

9.45 now for a large big mac meal.....

The chips as photographed were before any were taken.... not being greedy but if you are charging that sort of cash maybe you'd be inclined to want to fill the box ? As depicted in your advertising ? So perhaps people get a slightly better appreciation that they are getting value for money and your staff give a **** ?

Its a good point but from the govts point of view they have rolled over the reduced VAT for a while now.

Its true that other than June, a lot of the summer was a washout, especially in the west, so i think you are right that in that a lot of rural businesses especially will close up shop in the next 6 months, sadly.

You should have gone back up and complained

Prices are not the biggest concern I have. It’s declining service levels and quality and logic!

Really poorly trained staff, slow orders, reheated food etc.

You can stomach the 20 euro carvery when you leaving thinking that was a decent portion at least and the meat was really tender.

Sadly it’s usually “I can’t believe they charged me an extra 2 euros as I askd for an extra scoop of mash and the meat was very grizzly, and the carrots looks like they hadn’t been cleaned properly before cooking, and why did it take 15 minutes to get us a desert menu”.

Local coffee horse box, yesterday a coke zero bottle 500ml was two euro. Today its 2.70. Wow, that vat increase must have been bigger than i thought.

Anyone else out and about and report on rises. I assume takeaway coffees etc gone up