Will you go for a pint when restrictions are lifted?

Had my first one in a pub last night myself, pleasant experience. Everyone was just delighted to be in a normal pub again and not a phone in sight, people just wanted to talk normally. Alot of people never bothered with the 9euro meal shenanigans there was alot of resistance to that malarkey, they waited until the normal pubs were opened again.
 
Well I'm thankful to Covid for one thing - the visiting of twelve pubs of Christmas is history. Nothing worse than listening to some apprentice drinking idiots who can't hold their drink while thinking they're upholding some stupid tradition and butting in on every decent conversation in the pub before they arrived.
 
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Well I'm thankful to Covid for one thing - the visiting of twelve pubs of Christmas is history. Nothing worse than listening to some apprentice drinking idiots who can't hold their drink while thinking they're upholding some stupid tradition and butting in on every decent conversation in the pub before they arrived.
I think that died out most places a long time ago.
 
Restaurants and gastropubs reopen today - here's everything you need to know...
  • A requirement for meals to be prepared inside the restaurant
  • A maximum of six diners per table both indoors and outdoors
  • Multiple booking for the same party are not permitted
  • A substantial meal costing no less than €9 must be served in the restaurant or pub operating as a restaurant under the current guidelines from Fáilte Ireland.
  • Places serving food and drinks also need to close by 11.30pm. There is no live or loud music permitted.
  • A distance of at least two metres is required between tables in a controlled environment such as a restaurant.
  • If tables are just one metre apart, a maximum dining time of one hour and 45 minutes should be in place for diners. This limit is only required for restaurants with less than two metres between tables.

    Restaurants and gastropubs reopen today - here's everything you need to know (thejournal.ie)
 
looks like Helen McEntee going to reform the long outdated licensing laws and allow later pub openings, proper nightclub licences, and proper theater licenses. I think this is really coming from the Greens and Catherine Martin one of the very few Green party measures i actually agree with
 
This is a chink of light for the bar trade.
Pubs have been closed for 11 months so far.
Grub-pubs closed for half of that time.

The latter may not reopen til mid-summer, and for outdoor and take-away service only.
 
i see boris johnson introducing a vaccine passport but pubs will now be excluded from this so you can go to the pub without needing to present a vaccine passport. The UK are opening pubs for outdoor drinking on april 12 and indoor drinking may 17. There is going to be an exodus of young people going to the north and UK for holidays specifically for this reason. Also noteworthy is that you don't need a Covid test to travel from Ireland to UK just one when you are returning except if you re enter through the North.
There is no point in us being silly and trying to shame young people into not going, it simply won't work this summer when the vulnerable are already vaccinated. The government needs to give a timeline of when hospitality can reopen, eg when 60% are vaccinated or such like. It will not be acceptable to have a media circus surrounding nphet and hospitality like last summer.
 
Even if the pubs were to reopen I genuinely think that people have got so used to drinking at home and in friends houses for a fraction of the price they would pay in pubs, etc, they will definitely go to pubs far less in the future. The last 12 months has really shown the cost of drinking in pubs a few times a week.
I'm not blaming publicans in saying this, it's just reality.
 
@noproblem yes true but half the cost of pub alcohol is tax and excises going back to the government. During the lockdowns the government was minus this revenue, the covid and lockdowns will have cost the government 30 billion euros, they are going to have to get this back some way. Pubs and indigenous businesses are already on their knees so they can't go after these like before. Where are they going to get the extra revenue? more taxes on groceries and off sales as they have prospered during the lockdowns possibly, also talk of a delivery tax when you order stuff online.
 
@noproblem yes true but half the cost of pub alcohol is tax and excises going back to the government.

This is false.

Beer excise is 55c per pint approx, and has been steady for many years.

Beer excise is similar to UK rates.

The main reason beer is expensive in Irish pubs is the supplier cost is very high, due to the dominance of Diageo and Heineken.

This is well known. Recall the Aviva stadium planning to buy kegs from the UK, as the price here is so high. Recall the row between JD Wetherspoon and Heineken.

Note that Diageo will sell Guinness to Spoons in GB, as it is a more competitive market, but refuse to sell to Spoons here.
 
Another reason prices are high, especially in Dublin, are rents and overheads.

A large pub in Drumcondra (Quinn's) was 30,000 per month in rent.

1,000 per day!!! That is why the drink is so dear.
 
The main reason beer is expensive in Irish pubs is the supplier cost is very high, due to the dominance of Diageo and Heineken.

Yeah, my brother used to run a pub and often stocked up on bottles from the supermarket as retail prices there were often cheaper than he could buy at.
 
But in fairness to the brewers especially Guinness they have provided a substantial fund and a helpline to help get publicans through this period. It is unprecedented for any business to be forced to close for over a year now, most of the pubs are family run businesses after all.
Who will pay for the 30 billion cost of the pandemic though ? Nobody is really talking about that
 
Who will pay for the 30 billion cost of the pandemic though ? Nobody is really talking about that

Funnily enough, the last €30,000,000,000 was paid, or set to be paid, via austerity measures.

This €30,000,000,000 is just being put on the books, carry on as normal.
 
Funnily enough, the last €30,000,000,000 was paid, or set to be paid, via austerity measures.

This €30,000,000,000 is just being put on the books, carry on as normal.
I suppose there's a hope that this time there will be a coordinated EU response, a kind of Eurobond.
The whole issue of fiscal union was long-fingered after the 2008 crash but it's still there. I find the parallels between what the EU is facing and what the first 13 States of the United States faced in relation to monetary union after independence fascinating.
 
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