Drinks giant Diageo will raise the price of a pint by 4 cent from August, on top of a 12-cent hike already imposed since February. The move has sparked disquiet among members of the licensed trade.
The company wrote to all publicans in the State on Wednesday advising of the price increase, which will equate to five cents per pint when VAT is included, and will apply to brewery brands such as Guinness, Smithwick’s, Rockshore, Harp, Hop House 13 and Carlsberg.
Diageo has cited rising business costs as the reason for imposing the increase, which will take effect from August 14th.
“We continue to experience rising input costs across our business operations in Ireland,” said a Diageo spokesperson.
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“We are working to manage and absorb much of this, but to maintain a sustainable business, we have written to our customers in the on-trade to advise them of an increase on draught beer list prices of 4 cent per pint. The price change will be applied across the entire draught beer range and will take effect from 14th August,” they said.
The Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) said the price rise is “poorly timed and deeply unfair to both consumers and publicans”.
John Clendennen, VFI president and owner of Giltraps Bar and Glamping in Kinnity, Co Offaly, said the justification for such a price increase, and the timing of it, are “incomprehensible”.
“Diageo took a 12-cent increase back in February which, in my memory, is the highest ever increase imposed. Many of the factors under ‘rising business costs’ Diageo refer to as justification for the increase were either known back in February and included in that increase or, indeed, have reduced in the meantime,” he said.
“The timing is awful. We are in the middle of peak tourist season, businesses in tourist areas that need good summers to see them through the quiet winter period are suffering from the loss of accommodation beds, while the consumer is reeling from increased mortgage and other cost of living increases. I can’t think of a more inopportune time for a supplier to even be thinking of increasing prices, let alone doing it,” he added.
Mr Clendennen said he will be calling on Diageo to review its decision “immediately”, as he said the company is “out of tune with both their customers and the consumer”.
