Door charges rocketing in city pubs

Punters are expected to take the brunt of an increase in licence fees for Irish pubs.

Already popular city establishments such as Cafe en Seine and Howl at the Moon have introduced an entry fee of €10 per customer. Dublin’s leading gay bar, The George, has almost doubled its cover charge on Wednesday nights.

According to the proprietor of The Slipper, Dennis Weldon, Irish pubs are undergoing serious changes following an increase in licence fees.

“Licensing fees have shot up recently from €100 to €300 per night for late bar extensions,” said the publican.

Weldon believes that this figure does not reflect the true increase of costs, which he estimates would be more in the range of €2000 per week.

“It is not only the €200 per night license increase that publicans have to deal with but the court fees involved. People don’t often realise that publicans must go to court every month in order to be granted a license for late night openings. Solicitors must represent publicans at these court appearances,” he said.

“If a pub wants a late night license every night of a given month, as is the case with venues like Howl at the Moon and Cafe en Seine, the publican must pay the solicitor court fees for 30 licenses gained, not just one.

“As well as this, more and more people, especially students, are deciding to drink at home before they go out due to the high prices of drink in pubs. All of the above combined with stricter regulation of door staff is crippling publicans,” added Weldon.

Meanwhile, other venues have introduced innovative new moves to entice customers out of their homes and back into the pubs.

SIN Theatre in Temple Bar is now offering a Las Vegas “all-you-can-drink” night for €50 per customer. Included in the fee is admission, use of cloakroom, live entertainment, drinks and a pizza slice on your way home.

Despite public concerns that such a move may aggravate binge drinking, SIN General Manager Ciaran Gray says that the move is responsible and has been cleared with Gardai.

“The offer will absolutely not encourage excessive drinking because we’ll be as strict on that as ever,” he said.

“We’re over-21s and all staff have training in the responsible service of alcohol. We’re really going to up the entertainment side of things as well so that it’s not all about drinking.”
Mr Weldon, however, feels that such a move will not be successful.

He said: “Realistically, I don’t think that your average young person has €50 in their pocket to spend on a night out. With the huge competition between city nightclubs to get customers it seems that these pubs have the wrong idea of how to attract young people by making them pay even more.”

“Nightclubs are getting the majority of business because they are giving students what they want – low entry or even free admission, and extremely cheap drinks due to promotions. Pubs are lagging behind,” he said.