Publicans - Let customers decide if they want to pay €5.50 for a pint

Donegal publicans have said it is up to their customers if they want to pay up to €5.50 for a pint with Heineken set to increase the average price of its kegs by of 9%.

Some pub owners around the country have said they will stop stocking draught products by the brewery with the increase due to come into play on December 1.

As well as its own brand, Heineken also supplies Birra Moretti, Orchard Thieves, Coors, Fosters, Beamish and Murphy's and has said increases in the cost of energy, packaging, and raw materials have led to the price rise.

Customers in Donegal are looking at an increase in the costs of Heineken products of up to 50 cents a pint, publicans in the county have said.

Martin Harley, spokesman for the Donegal branch of the Vinters Federation Of Ireland (VFI), said the price hike is the steepest he has experienced in 30 years in the business but he will not be taking Heineken products out of his bar and will not be advising other pub owners in the county to stop taking kegs from the brewer.

The county councillor, who owns Harley’s Cheers Bar in Ballybfoey, said it is up to customers to decide what beers they want to buy. He said he will have to pass on some of the increase to his customers, but he would not stop serving Heineken products as that would restrict choice.

“If people don’t want to pay whatever price they are - it is up to people themselves. If they want to buy a cheaper lager there will be cheaper lagers there. I want to give people the options.”

The VFI in the county is due to hold its monthly meeting in the coming days but Mr Harley said it is up to each publican to decide how to handle the price increase. 

One Irish alcohol and beverage distributor has written to publicans in the county saying it will not increase prices of the draught beers it supplies before June next year, but Mr Harley said increases from brewers are inevitable.

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Due to the increase in costs, he said he understands why Heineken is putting prices up.

“They are increasing the prices to stand still, it is not so that they will get a higher profit margin. In the next few months, I would say the other breweries will be following suit.”

Kevin Blake of Blake’s Bar in Letterkenny said he was “very disappointed” at the price hike, which will mean a 50-cent increase and will leave a pint of Heineken costing €5.50.  

“You were always dreading the time when it [the cost of a pint] would go above a fiver. It’s a big move and people cannot really afford it. It’s just too dear. I will leave them  [the Heineken products] there, but it is up to the customer if they want to pay €5.50 a pint.”

He said he understood the rising costs were a factor but he wished “they hadn’t done it”. 

“It’s the unfortunate timing of it as well, just in the mouth of Christmas when everyone is strapped for money anyway.”