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[But selling drink at a loss to try and entice customers in cannot be carried on for any great length of time]

Shouldnt a pub think about offering a bit of value at the minute? While numbers of clients are falling, people are still drinking, at least here in Reno.

Wouldnt it be better to sell two or three times as many drinks for 10-20 pence less than continuing to give zero value to the punter?

Ive long said that there is zero value for money in the hospitality business in Ireland.

BTW, Those splits and mixers are a small gold mine for bars at home.

Correct - and many if not most pubs do try this - through happy hours and various other drink promos.  But selling drink at a loss to try and entice customers in cannot be carried on for any great length of time.  It is also frowned upon by the the public and the law (and may soon be illegal) and in most cases it doesn't exactly attract the finest people.

Pubs would need to be selling very cheap drink to sell drinks at a loss
If they knock a couple of pence off their drinks they wouldnt be operating at a loss, thats for sure

It's not that the drink is being sold at a loss - but the business as a whole may be operating at a loss during these times.  And there is really no advantage in reducing prices by anything less than 20 - 30p per drink if you are trying to take custom from a competitor at which stage I would wager that most pubs are not covering overheads.

Pubs are closing as all businesses in all walks of life feel the squeeze, people are cutting back on their luxury items and the trip tp the pub falls into this category.      

Exactly... any why.. because the profits they make do not cover expenses and thus the business is not viable.  So how then can anyone say they are ripping people off???

So what do they do, increase prices to get customers in who cannot afford to go in the first place?   

What's the alternative?  Cos if you have one I know a great many people would like to hear it?

Shouldnt a pub think about offering a bit of value at the minute? While numbers of clients are falling, people are still drinking, at least here in Reno.

Wouldnt it be better to sell two or three times as many drinks for 10-20 pence less than continuing to give zero value to the punter?

Ive long said that there is zero value for money in the hospitality business in Ireland.

BTW, Those splits and mixers are a small gold mine for bars at home.

Correct - and many if not most pubs do try this - through happy hours and various other drink promos.  But selling drink at a loss to try and entice customers in cannot be carried on for any great length of time.  It is also frowned upon by the the public and the law (and may soon be illegal) and in most cases it doesn't exactly attract the finest people.

Ok but you are playing it fast and loose when you are describing 150 as 'hundreds'.  Very politician-esque...

OK Franko, 200% at least on those 3 products 

Right oh... the exact amount of the markup is really immaterial, my point still stands - it is necessary.

Pubs are closing as all businesses in all walks of life feel the squeeze, people are cutting back on their luxury items and the trip tp the pub falls into this category.      

Exactly... any why.. because the profits they make do not cover expenses and thus the business is not viable.  So how then can anyone say they are ripping people off???

There is, its called "Your employer doesnt pay you to read the GAABOARD" rule. Look it up.

Looked it up - it didnt mention anything about ziggy's tagline... whats goin on???

Ok but you are playing it fast and loose when you are describing 150 as 'hundreds'.  Very politician-esque...

When you are trying to read the board in work & Ziggy's big f**king picture keeps coming up

Definitely... there should be a rule against that...!

Yes, the markups are high – but they need to be.  (Though not as high as the 'hundreds of percent' that has been mentioned). The problem with a small pub is that the cost of overheads and the size of the pub are not directly correlated.  Double the size of a pub doesn't mean double the overheads.  The smaller pubs also have to sell the drink cheaper than these larger establishments because they generally provide for a sector of the population who typically would have less money to spend.  I can honestly assure you that if you are to take a pub and compare it with, for example, a builder or a car salesman of similar turnover you will find that the profits with the pub are quite a bit less.

No, they can't sell the drink cheaper because they need that margin to make a living.  It's the old 'cornershop' story.  The supermarkets came in with their high-volume, low-margin stock and basically wiped them out.

But the chain/big pubs arent selling the drink cheaper than the local pubs

Fair enough my analogy wasn't perfect.  It is the price of drink in the supermarkets etc that is squeezing the small publican here. (there are many other reasons but this seems to be the topic we are on).  

Don't get me wrong here – I am certainly not defending the large chains/rip off merchants.  My point is that the small local publican who is making a living out of this should not be tarred with the same brush as the £3.10/pint, £2.00/split brigade who have the good fortune to have established themselves as 'the cool place to be' and can afford to rip people off as a result.

they think it'll somehow bring "justice for Robert". Life moves on, get over it...

Maybe the pub should not be targetted but surely you are happy for these women to campaign for justice, no matter how much life moves on?

Particularly when your profile has a link to a campaign website about events that happen over 25years ago?   Or should I be saying "Life moves on, get over it......"?

/Jim.

Now, now Jim, less of the "manufactured outrage". For whilst there is no "hierarchy of victims" in Shinnerworld, when people die at the hands of SF/IRA, they're not "victims" at all, merely "legitimate targets",  "casualties of war", "collateral damage" or whatever other example of Shinnerspeak applies. Therefore their relatives can never have the same right to justice as, say, Pat Finnucaine or Rosemary Nelson...

Campaign for justice by all means.  But a public display of 'outrage' because a man (who was totally unconnected to the murder) want's to remove some of the stigma from his business by re-naming it - for want of a better word - BALLS.

Small pubs are making just as much on bottles, shorts & mixers

No they are not, why would they be closing if they are.  Why would anyone just close a profitable business.  YOu just can't ignore the facts.

Are they selling the drinks cheaper?
How many local pubs that you know specifically of have closed down recently?

No, they can't sell the drink cheaper because they need that margin to make a living.  It's the old 'cornershop' story.  The supermarkets came in with their high-volume, low-margin stock and basically wiped them out.

As for specific examples – there is one pub about 5 miles from where I live that closed about 3-4 months ago.  Also, the Menagerie in Belfast which relied on a few regulars to keep it going is also closing.

Small pubs are making just as much on bottles, shorts & mixers

No they are not, why would they be closing if they are.  Why would anyone just close a profitable business.  YOu just can't ignore the facts.

I'm not defending the £3-a-pint + rip off gang, more the local pub owner who is relying on 6/7 regular customers and maybe one big night a month to keep it going.  There are 6 pubs per day closing in the UK at present and most of them are your general small country pub.  I think that some people see the larger places cleaning up (which no doubt some are) and automatically transfer this mindset to every licensed establishment. Of course I dont condone pubs ripping people off ffs...

Price rise all over this week.

Diageo knocked it up 4% on the keg. About 90 pints to the keg. Usual boozer took this price rise on board and stuck 20p on the pint.

They have done this for the simple reason that it is what they need to cover costs.  The price of everything is rising from delivery to electricity and the number of customers is dropping.  Taking an average price of a pint (£2.70) a 20p increase is only slightly over 7%.  With diageo pocketing 4% of that it doesn't leave a pile for the barman to cover other rising costs/live on.  There will obviously be your regular nightspots in the bigger towns and cities that are making a killing simply due to the fact that they can demand these higher prices because they have got the volume of trade to sustain a slight drop. However, the local publican is very different - I think people get carried away thinking that bars are cleaning up with these price rises.  Let me assure you they are not.