Mr Pat Crotty is the owner of The Pantry restaurant in Kieran Street, Kilkenny, and has kept his insurance bills down by building up a claim-free record over many years. The Pantry is a 120-seater daytime restaurant that he opened four years ago. Mr Crotty employs 20 to 25 staff and hundreds of customers pass through the doors every day.

He has always gone through the same broker for insurance and has a combined policy package with Hibernian costing £2,100 (#2,666) per year. The types of risk included are public and employer liability, theft, loss of money, fire and special perils, glass breakage and loss of profit. Computer insurance has been taken out separately.

In his years trading in The Pantry, Mr Crotty has only had to make a claim once when the premises was broken into and damaged. He says he had no problem getting satisfaction from his insurance company for that claim. Mr Crotty has been in business for 30 years and has never had to make a serious claim.

The Pantry has an appointed safety officer who keeps a record of any accidents. "Insurance is one of those things you need but hate paying for, and even though it hasn't happened to me yet, my biggest worry would be a personal injury claim," Mr Crotty said.