The combined debts of Ireland’s 7,400 pubs total more than €2bn, or €270,000 per pub, according to a report on the industry by Anglo Irish Bank quoted in the Irish Times.
The report found that while 20% of pubs in the country increased turnover last year, half recorded a fall in sales. Bar sales have declined by 28& by value since 2005 and 11% of pubs have closed.
A survey of 200 publicans found 60% believe it will take more than five years for the industry to improve, with the top three concerns for licensees being local authority rates, the availability of cheap alcohol in supermarkets and rising labour costs.
The report found that one-third of customers are under 30 and that 43% of publicans are not targeting this market; c17% of customers are tourists.
According to the report, which has produced with trade bodies the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) and the Vintner’s Federation of Ireland (VFI), 53% of publicans said they had a good relationship with their bank and 18% said it was “poor”. Half of all pub owners said their main bank did not make them feel like a “valued customer”.
Padraig Cribben, chief executive of the VFI, told the Irish Times that banks have reduced or even removed credit facilities and overdrafts from a number of pubs in recent years and raised the fees for lodging cash.
He said: “The pub trade needs to see a different attitude and level of engagement from the banks. Hopefully, banks don’t want to end up running pubs - the experience of receiverships and examinerships has been unpleasant for all concerned so far - so they need to provide the right level of support.”
