THOMAS Brown drank his usual four large bottles of Guinness in his local pub in north Dublin last Monday. The bottles he bought before 2 pm. cost £2.10. Those he bought after 2 pm. cost £2.15.
Mr Brown (58) says he is annoyed about the 5p rise, which amounts to an extra 20p a day on his drink budget. He says it's a lot of money for him as he lives on a weekly social welfare payment of £64.50.
"We don't get our £3 Budget rise in the labour until June," he says. Why should they slap this on us now? They should either hold off or give us our dole rise straight away.
Mr Brown's local, the Edenmore House in Raheny, is in the constituency of the Labour TD Mr Sean Kenny. Mr Kenny is angry with some publicans for "racking up" the price of a pint after last week's Budget, which did not increase excise duty on beer.
Mr Kenny, who drinks Carlsberg, said he had received complaints from his constituents after the Edenmore House and the Concorde Lounge increased their pint prices by 5p last Monday.
Beer prices have risen with "alarming frequency" over the past few years, he says, and he wants the Government to introduce price controls.
"Publicans seem to be living in a different world where they can increase the prices when they like," he said.
The Licensed Vintners' Association, which represents some 600 publicans in Dublin, said it was aware that some publicans had increased beer prices over the past six weeks. Its chief executive, Mr Frank Fell, said he did not know how widespread the increases were. He insisted yesterday that there had not been a "concerted upwards movement by hundreds of pubs around Dublin".
A pint of stout in the Edenmore House now costs £2.04, while a pint of lager is £2.30. The price of a half pint of stout also rose by 5p, to £1.05.
In the Concorde Lounge, just around the corner, the male customers lined up at the bar yesterday afternoon were also disgruntled about the 5p increase. A pint of stout there now costs £2.03. A pint of lager is £2.30. A half pint of stout has risen by 3p to £1.17.
The barman, who declined to give his name, defended the increase. You won't get any cheaper than that around here unless you go to a club," he said.
But the customers were still not happy. One man said he "nearly had an argument about it over the bar". He was "absolutely staggered" that there was no advance notice of the price increase.
"Sure, nobody gives warnings to people when you put prices up," replied the barman. "There's no price control. You don't have to warn anyone. When you go into Clerys do they say, `We are going to put the prices of shoes up tomorrow?'"
"I think it's disgusting," said William Brennan. "I'm quite annoyed because the Government didn't put the prices up in the Budget and I don't see why they should."
"They put petrol up," the barman chipped in.
"I don't care. I don't drink petrol. I drink Guinness," replied Mr Brennan with some force.