One in six local pubs not renewing their licences

There are growing concerns over the long-term health of the licensing trade in Westmeath after it emerged this week that one in every six publicans in the county have not renewed their licence for 2010.Figures from the Revenue Commissioners have indicated that 31 publicans in Westmeath have, as of last week, not renewed their licence ahead of the deadline on September 30.This number represents just under 16 percent of bar licences in the county, and with 20 and 29 licences not yet renewed in Longford and Roscommon respectively, there are fears that an already grim crisis for pubs in the Midlands may be about to get worse.Padraig Cribben, CEO of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI), told the Westmeath Examiner this week that somewhere between 1,200 to 1,500 people are employed in the pub trade in Westmeath.“There are 200 pub licences in Westmeath, so you could take it, anecdotally, that for every licence there are around six or seven employees,” Mr. Cribben said.“This would differ in rural areas of course, while in some urban areas like Mullingar, you’d have pubs with more than six or seven staff, so you could say that between 1,200 to 1,500 make their living off the pub trade in Westmeath.”While there is not much evidence of mass pub closures in Mullingar at the moment, the Vintners’ chief reckons that in light of the Revenue figures, it is a “possibility” that more pub doors could close locally in the near future.He said that while the trade had been hit hard by the recession, there were a number of underlying causes for the crisis.“There are three main areas people in the trade are suffering under. The first is the blatant misuse of alcohol in supermarkets.“We saw in the Primetime programme on Thursday week last that not only were supermarkets selling alcohol below cost, and not alone were they advertising this in a blatant manner, but they were actually delivering it to minors.“Secondly, there is an unending level of regulation for all business, not just the pub trade.“Finally, and specifically, there is the banking problem, and this is one of the biggest issues.“The banks can put any spin on it they like, but overdrafts have been withdrawn, and credit lines have disappeared.”Mr. Cribben said that other factors like the smoking ban, new drink driving legislation, lifestyle changes and a general reduction in disposable income have not helped.He explained that, encouraged by the VFI, publicans had worked hard to introduce cost control measures, and are exploring ways of diversifying their product.