Tom Sandham finds out how Irish licensees are faring four months on from the smoking ban.
Ireland's honeymoon period on the smoking ban is officially over. After enjoying a month of reasonable business in April when there seemed to be a novelty value for customers, the drinks trade is suffering the fall-out. For licensees the Celtic tiger is looking more like a tabby by the day.
This was widely expected, of course, and reports that takings have dropped by anywhere between 15 per cent and 50 per cent come as no surprise.
From the outset, licensees warned that the gung-ho method of implementation from the Irish department of health was guaranteed to hit trade hard. They felt they had been left out of the loop in the decision-making process. If they had been asked it would have been agreed that a gradual introduction rather than an overnight one was required to protect businesses.
There is also a widespread belief in Ireland that the government used the ban to paper over other, more serious cracks in the health service in a bid to sustain public support. But unfortunately for the government, it seems the move was not a vote winner, as the party responsible - Fianna Fáil - lost more than 20 per cent of its local constituency seats and also a European seat in recent elections.
This comes as no consolation to licensees, however, who have been left reeling by the bashing the trade has taken.
When the ban came in on March 29, business was already declining and when Diageo put drink prices up in May it seemed inevitable that by July the situation would look bad.
For some it is even worse than their most vivid nightmares predicted, whether they operate in a busy town centre, a working class suburb or the countryside. "It's a disaster, my trade is easily down 20 per cent," said Frank O'Connell who owns MacTurcails, a pub in the centre of Dublin that was popular with tourists and locals alike. "Some blame the price increases but that's simply not true, I haven't raised my prices at all."
Many felt Dublin city centre was not the correct barometer for the decline but the fact that there has been a constant level of trade from tourists during the last decade means the drop in trade is even more apparent. "Our best tourists came from the UK," added Mr O'Connell. "When they heard about the ban they started looking elsewhere for their weekend breaks. We're losing them fast."
Out in the country the story is the same. Seamus O'Donoghue is president of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, an organisation that represents the interests of more than 800 Irish licensees who operate outside of Dublin. He also owns a pub in the town of Portlaoise, in the middle of the country.
"Trade is down," he said in his pub, O'Donoghue's. "At first we survived because customers were happy to give it a go, but people who have been smoking all their lives aren't going to stop because it's banned in pubs, they'll just stop coming to pubs. I've not seen any new customers and trade in my pub is down 20 per cent. Our members are telling us it's down at least by 15 per cent on average so all we can hope is that they re-open the debate."
Donall O'Keeffe, chief executive of the Licensed Vintners' Association, whose members are Dublin licensees, has also had his worst fears realised. "The category most affected is the 'landlocked' pub," he said. "For these licensees there is no way of accommodating the smoker. It's not as noticeable in the summer but when the weather turns bad in the winter we expect to see trade drop."
Although the scene in Ireland seems to be one of doom and gloom, not everyone is struggling. John Hoyne has recently paid €5.5m for the Brazen Head, one of Ireland's oldest pubs, which is a stone's throw from the Guinness brewery.
The pub is one of the few places in Dublin with a beer garden, which explains his decision to buy it at such a tough time for the trade. "There's no doubt that the ban has damaged trade," he said. "But with a shelter and some heaters my business is up 10 per cent."
David L'Estrange, a leading accountant who provides services for 200 licensees, believes there is more to the problems than just the smoking ban. He explained: "We're nearly at full employment and have a very well-educated population. The ban has had an effect but we have a lot more people here who are thinking of better ways to spend their time than sitting in pubs all day."
Meanwhile, Dave Molloy at the Office of Tobacco Control steers the argument away from the loss of trade towards the benefits of improved health for staff who work in Irish pubs.
He said: "This was always about protecting workers, it wasn't an anti-smoker law. It's impossible to argue against this medically. As for the timescale used to enforce the ban, we have been talking about it for 10 years. To say it came in overnight is not true."
The health argument will not stop the rogue element, however, and while trade associations and most licensees would not advocate breaking the law, one or two in recent weeks have run the gauntlet. The highest profile case was Ronan Lawless at Fibber Magees in Galway, who was eventually forced to back down when threatened with legal action. And news that another licensee in Galway was recently fined €1, 200 for allowing smoking might put people off repeating the stunt.
Probably not, though. As a countryside licensee who preferred to remain anonymous summed up the situation perfectly for these characters. "I'm letting people smoke in my pub, whatever the law, and will continue to do so," he said as he sat in a particularly smoky pub. "My staff are smokers, I'm a smoker and the majority of my customers are smokers. Where's the choice for them?"
Pictured top: The Temple Bar area of Dublin has lost tourist trade since the ban.
Facing staff cutbacks
John Smith, a licensee in the working class Walkinstown, Dublin, is preparing to lay off staff as a result of the smoking ban.
Mr Smith's pub, the Submarine, attracted plenty of custom before the ban and in an effort to accommodate everyone he spent a fortune on state-of-the-art ventilation.
"We were advised to do this by the government - and then they enforced a ban anyway," he declared. "The health service is in chaos and it decided to divert attention with this draconian measure. I'm not saying it is not right to protect workers, but it is the way it has been done. My trade is down and I'm facing staff cutbacks."