More than 270 Irish pubs closed last year, while the three main categories of off-licences were also down, according to data from the Revenue Commissioners on the number of licences issued.
The number of pub licences issued last year fell by 273, a 3 per cent drop on the 2011 figure, while the number of wine-only “on-licences” also fell marginally from 1,773 to 1,763 between 2011 and 2012.
Analysis of the number of publican licences issued by Revenue since 1968 shows that the number of pub licences issued last year was the fourth lowest on record. Between 2000 and 2001 the number of pub licences jumped by more than 51 per cent from 7,466 in the millennium year to 11,303 in 2001.
This was partially due to changes introduced in the Liquor Act 2000 which relaxed rules around pub licences allowing them to be transferred between District Court areas. Furthermore, in an urban area if a licence could not be obtained locally the Act allowed a rural publican to purchase and “extinguish” two rural licences which were then replaced by one urban licence.
There were 3,000 fewer pub licences issued last year than in 2001. When compared to 1995 the decline is even more apparent. There are just two-thirds as many pubs now as there were in 1995, and 60 per cent as many as there were in 1980, when 13,716 pub licences, the highest number on record, were issued.
Gerry Rafter, president of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland, said he feared the figures may fall further still.
“We may be in for another harsh year. Not only are pubs closing but others are restricting their hours seriously...They may be closing on Monday and Tuesday altogether or they’re closed all week and only opening for the weekend. These are the types of trends we’re seeing in rural towns and villages especially.”
He said food businesses in pubs have also suffered.
Smoking ban
Mr Rafter said a number of factors over the past decade – the 2004 smoking ban, reductions in drink-driving alcohol limits, a proliferation in off-licences and people drinking at home and, more recently, the economic downturn impacting on disposable income – have fed into the increase in pub closures.
The vintners’ federation said that trade in the sector was down 34 per cent in the last five years, adding that the announcements made in Budget 2013 would put further pressure on the industry.