Irish selling pubs after smoke ban
by Frank Khan and The PMA Team
A record number of the Republic of Ireland's 9,850 pub licences are being sold to the off-trade in the wake of the smoking ban.
Under the country's so called 'one for one licensing rule, a pub licence has to be extinguished before a new pub or off-licence can be opened.
But there is no restriction on where the licence is moved to in the country once th e new operator has approved planning permission. And an existing licence can also be purchased to operate solely as an off-licence.
Many pub licences are being snapped up by supermarket chains such as Tesco and petrol retail groups who do not regard E175,000 for the licence alone as excessive in their overall investment plans.
In other instances pubs often strategically located in town and village main streets (the equivalent of the UK high street) are being converted by their owner for other retail uses or being bought by enterprising commercial concerns.
It is difficult to get a fix on how many rural pubs are on the market nationwide in the Irish Republic but there are 26 pubs on the market in County Clare alone.
John Hughes, of leading Irish property agent CB Richard Ellis Gunne, told the Morning Advertiser: 'I have never sold as many pubs as I have since last Christmas.
Pubs in out-of-the-way places, with turnover of only E2,000 to E3,000 a week, were particularly badly hit by a change in drinking habits and the smoking ban.
Said Hughes: 'They are just not economically viable. According to Alan Loughrey, of agent Business Visions: 'Two or three years ago you could get a premium price for a pub. And now, even though there are more pubs for sale than buyers, buyers are still there, albeit overseas.
His company is taking pubs for sale to the UK market in the hope that investors will show interest in view of the strength of sterling against the euro.
Hughes said that Business Visions expects, with other property partners, to have 100 venues on offer at a sales show in the Crown pub in Cricklewood, North London on 22-23 July.
One Irish pub industry source said: 'Many rural pubs have been unable to afford to create a designated smoking area and, consequently, quickly lost their smokers. Other pubs are only opening at night.
Industry sources say the licensed trade in the Irish Republic has been badly affected by drinks prices rising above the rate of inflation.
