West is best for cheapest pints
IRELAND’S cheapest pubs for a pint of Guinness are located in Co Leitrim,
Punters will also get change from a fiver out west in counties Roscommon and Galway.
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 Co Leitrim says 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
DRAFT 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.
“There used to be 18 pubs in the town and now there’s only four.”
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.”
At The Thatch Bar in Tuam, in Co Galway, a pint of plain is selling 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.