Ireland's cheapest pubs selling pints of Guinness for…

Ireland's cheapest pubs selling pints of Guinness for under €5 hit out at 'unfair' price hikes

Ireland's cheapest pubs for a pint of Guinness are located in Leitrim, Roscommon and Galway where punters will get change from a fiver, The Irish Mirror can reveal.

Rural boozers have vowed their watering holes still offer value for money despite massive hikes from the brewers of Guinness and Heineken.

The owner of O’Mahony’s Bar in Manorhamilton in Leitrim has revealed a pint of plain costs just €4.20 now but said he plans on increasing it to €4.50 later this month.

Speaking to The Irish Mirror, Cormac O’Mahony said: “I haven’t put the price up yet but I’m going to at some stage.

“I’d say it would be one of the cheapest in the country. The increase from Diageo was a big rise. It’s the biggest rise I’ve ever seen. It’s not a good time to get it.”

The Leitrim publican also revealed his electricity has tripled along with all his other costs.

He added: “I’ve a good mixture of clientele, it would mainly be an older crowd during the week and on the weekend there would be a good mix of young and old.”

When asked about the price hikes from the brewers, Cormac said: “It just seems like they’re all jumping on the bandwagon, when one starts they all start. Everybody is announcing price rises.

“They seem to be just jumping on it. My pub would be Guinness one. I’m worried for the pub trade.

“There used to be 18 pubs in the town and now there’s only four. While only two of those would open during the week. We’re just taking the hits as they come. A lot of pubs would be worried.”

While Coffeys Bar in Lecarrow in Roscommon are charging €4.80 for a pint of the black stuff after increasing the cost from €4.50.

Bar manager Noel Galvin blasted the increases from the brewers and said they were “unfair”.

He said: “I think it’s unfair for a start. I’d say in Dublin it’s a huge price for a drink but down here it's unfair. We’re scraping by.

“We don’t have a steady town custom, we depend on people passing by and locals.

“We’re the only bar here in the village. It’s not nice but we have to accept it, they’re not going to go back on it now.”

He added: “We’re hoping the price doesn't go up again for the rest of the year. It’s still under a fiver which isn’t too bad.

“We’re very rural and we have a shop. We’re very much part of the community. We’re not overly worried at the moment but if it goes much higher you would be.”

When asked how punters were reacting, Noel said: “People are complaining about the price but they’re still coming in.

“They’ll talk about the price of a pint for a couple of days and then the next thing they’ll get used to it.

“At the moment, we’re not too bad, we’re still under the fiver, so it’s not too bad.”

While The Thatch Bar in Tuam in Galway is selling a pint of plain for €4.90 up from €4.70.

The price hike from Diageo, who make Guinness, came into effect last Wednesday after Heineken raised the cost of their drinks at the start of December.

Diageo upped the cost of a pint by 12 cents excluding VAT with publicans reckoning they will need to hike the cost by at least 30 cents to keep their current profit margins.

While Dutch-brewing company Heineken, who also make Birra Moretti, Orchard Thieves, Coors, Fosters, Beamish, Murphys, and Island’s Edge, increased their pint prices by 17c before VAT.

Last week, the Irish Mirror visited a number of pubs in Dublin city centre where prices had reached more than €6.

But we also spoke to one Dublin-based publican beside Croke Park who was refusing to up the price of Guinness despite brewer Diageo introducing massive hikes and vowed to keep the price at €5.