Future of the pub trade: All about the optics

Almost one in five pubs in County Cavan (45) have shut since 2005, a new report from Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) claims.

However, some publicans are asking if the report tells the full story and point out that many establishments still serving have evolved post Covid and are doing a steady trade. Others say it’s a ‘crisis’ situation and more pubs will close before the end of the year.

The national decline - 2,054 fewer pubs across the country at an average loss of 114 establishments per year, a rate more notable in rural areas - follows equally grim reading from the Restaurants Association of Ireland, which estimates that 283 food businesses closed in the final six months of 2023. A further 212 restaurants, cafés and gastropubs have shuttered so far this year.

It’s almost 20 years since Justice Minister Michael McDowell faced mutiny on his proposal to create new café bar licences for businesses wanting to sell food and alcohol together.

It was a time when Kilnaleck boasted the highest number of pubs per head of population within the British Isles. Now there’s just three.

McDowell’s proposal was met with masse opposition - nearly 70 ministers, TDs and senators - as well as vintners and health professionals who called for the controversial plan to be scrapped.

Hindsight can be merciless. Brendan Fay, a local councillor and proprietor of The Widow’s Bar in Belturbet, admits as much.

While Brendan’s own business has “come back quite a bit” since Covid, he acknowledges the “dogs in the street know” the trade is going through a state of unprecedented crisis. Though not all is of its own making.

Societal change, rising wages and VAT and a double digit hike in cost line items and utilities have pushed many bar owners to the pin of their collar. Couple that to banks not lending, and Brendan says more pubs will close in Cavan - at least five more before the end of 2024 - that he knows of.

“Just after Covid I went to the banks to look for a €30,000 loan,” revealed Brendan of the Government-backed Credit Guarantee Scheme that offered an 80% guarantee on lending for terms between three months and six years.

“I was told, if I were to open a restaurant, they’d give me €300,000.”

Chef Richard Corrigan, owner of the Park Lodge and Deerpark Inn in Virginia agrees the high street is being “sucked dry”.

“There’s no question about it. Utility costs have really screwed everyone. Mortgage increases. There’s no question there’s a crisis. There’s a crisis in people’s wallets. Whatever cash they have at the end of the month, they’re being careful with it.”

He also feels that the younger generations aren’t “drinkers”, and as such the country is facing existential commute.

“I see my own son. He’d rather go the gym. So Ireland is looking at a fundamental change. There has to be something to bring people through the door.”

It was a stop-start beginning for Richard’s Deerpark. The grand vision began after he bought the former Chestnut Tree pub in 2019, in addition to his investment at Virginia Park Lodge and its sprawling 100 acres, which he bought for a reported €1.1 million five years previous.

Last Wednesday Richard arrived from London to check on progress being made on ‘Homegrown’, an exclusive event to celebrate his 10th year as custodian of the 18th-century hunting estate.

The pub was “brimming, doing a lovely busy grown-up trade”.

To be celebrated alongside fellow Michelin star winning guest chefs Angela Hartnett, Valentine Warner, Robin Gill, ‘Homegrown’ is Corrigan’s latest attempt to throw open the doors to his Cavan hospitality portfolio to a global audience.

The ticket only three-day event (November 1-3) is strictly limited to 80 people. Guests will be treated to cooking masterclasses, garden and baking workshops, clay pigeon shooting, still life painting, lough swimming, and live music performances.

He very much sees the relationship between Park Lodge and Deerpark as symbiotic.

“Wednesday night in any restaurant, never mind rural Ireland, to be able to say ‘this is a busy place’, is really incredible.”

He goes on to explain: “We don’t buy nothing in, that helps keep the costs down. Fruit from the gardens in the crumble, a lovely pork chop on a Sunday from our own pigs.”

There’s a prevailing school of thought that pubs that serve food will be what sustains the industry going forward. But Richard maintains that traditional bars play an important place in the wider social fabric. He quickly rhymes off a list that includes “Enagh House out the road, a legendary stop off. Oweny Traynor’s in Oldcastle, a beautiful pub, or McBride’s in Ballyjamesduff. Talk to me about The Seven Wonders in Fore. Unique. It’s important these places don’t die out. These places represent everything I believe is what hospitality in Ireland is about. Our success in Virginia is down to the place and the people we have there.”

A light on at the Stables in Swanlinbar

That prevailing sense of positivity is what’s keeping Dessie Corrigan going.

A builder from the townland of Gubnamadra “about a mile outside” Swanlinbar, he opened The Stables in March just before St Patrick’s weekend. Other than The Swan across the road, all other “locals” in ‘Swad’ have long since closed.

The Stables now opens on weekends, but had been shut for nearly five years before Dessie took it over.

The response has been “really positive”.

“We’ve been really lucky, very well supported. We’ve had no quiet weekends. We only open Friday to Sunday, and Bank Holiday Mondays and there’s been something on the whole time.”

Dessie never dared to believe it would take off quite as it has. “I know we’re only six months down the road but I never dreamt it going as well. Fair enough, we’re not open during the week, the man across the street is, but it’s working good for both of us.”

Encouraged by his success, Dessie has also bought The Welcome Inn further up the street. A former B&B, restaurant and pub, he already has a tenant in K&T’s Kitchen, which currently operates a cafe at Trivia House. They’re expected to move into this newly expanded premises later this month.

“The likes of myself, we’re from the area, and don’t want to see the town go. A lot of people feel the same,” states Dessie. “A light on is always a good thing.”

Benny's back in business

Brian Fitzpatrick from Arva thinks likewise. He took over his father’s bar, formerly Fitzpatrick’s, after the latter retired in 2014. There were 14 pubs in the town then, and just six now.

Brian reopened it as ‘Benny’s’ back in March and, like The Stables, it too has been doing a “steady trade”.

Brian, who works in construction, renovated it in his spare time, adding new toilets and a lick of paint as required.

“People said I was mad in the head, that pubs were finished, a dying trade. The banks were the same. They didn’t want to know anything about a pub. But I said I’d not give up on it just yet.”

That faith has been repaid.

Post Covid Brian has witnessed a resurgence in pub culture, especially among a younger cohort - not fuelled by alcohol but by a chance to experience good times missed out on during lockdown.

“It’s not for everyone,” Brian quickly admits of working in the pub trade. “I did a lot out of sentiment. I said we’d try for a year or two, to start with. See how we go. So far there’s been no regrets.”

Calling time at the Keeper's Arms

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sheila and Brian McKiernan, owners of The Keeper’s Arms in Bawnboy, could be considered in the twilight of their career. They’ve spent 33 years working in hospitality, and recently announced their intention to retire.

There has already been a “good deal” of interest from prospective buyers, predominently taken with the fact that the Keeper’s boasts accommodation upstairs, a state-of-the-art kitchen for meals, and is located smack in the heart of the UNESCO recognised Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark.

“It’s the full package,” says Sheila, swapping her chef’s hat for an auctioneer’s.

Husband Brian believes customer habits are also changing even from what they were less than 24 months ago. “Our pub is going very well at the moment. You’d mightn’t have thought I’d be saying that coming out of Covid.”

Sheila understands the bleak reading in the figures published last week. The numbers don’t lie. “But do they tell the full story?” she asks.

“You turn on the radio and all you hear is the death of an industry. But that’s not the case. Not everywhere. Covid brought an awful lot of changes. Lifestyles for one thing have changed massively. The likes of ours is more like a home, perfect for a family. We’re retiring. That’s not to say we won’t be bawling leaving, we’ve done 33 years. It’s been a big part of our lives. But we’ve brought it as far as we can. To me the next step of the journey is with someone else. It’s someone else’s turn to make a life from it.”

Rural-urban divide

In terms of understanding context, the rural-urban divide is a factor that rankles Brendan of The Widows.

Dublin pubs he claims are “so proud of themselves” to be selling €10 pints, and he feels the government is happy to watch on, collecting 23% VAT regardless of what’s printed on the receipt.

“Can you see that happening down the country? I’ll be long gone before a day comes that I can charge €10 for a pint,” he declares.

“We talked about pop-up pubs before. It’ll come a stage they end up paying publicans to stay in business.”

Previously Brendan put a spotlight on the number of live pub licences in the county - pointing out that they do not necessarily reflect the number of pubs open.

He acknowledges there has been some support for ailing publicans but says more is needed.

Brendan has benefited, as have others, from the Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) grant.

Announced in Budget 2024 the grant gave businesses back half of what they paid in rates in 2023 under €10,000.

However, he recently received a bill from Irish Music Rights Organisation for nearly €6,000, exclusive of VAT.

“If the government really wants to do something to protect rural Ireland and towns and villages, they need to do something to stop price-gouging. I’m listening to publicans in Tipperary, yesterday it was publicans in Wexford.

“We’re all feeling it. The margins are only getting tighter.”

When pubs do close like Flynn’s and The Ducking Stool in Belturbet, and others elsewhere, often times the properties are being snapped up by the council and turned into housing.

“It’s a ‘Catch 22’,” laments Brendan weighing up his own personal feelings regarding the preservation of a trade and the need to address another crisis in Ireland - housing.

“Do nothing and you’ve buildings left idle. Dead towns. People might say we had too many pubs for too long. But we can’t let the pub die either.

“It’s still the céad míle fáilte. Our side of the business now has to evolve. How? I’d love to be able to answer that question,” he says.

“Ask me again in five years time.”