By Bill Heaney
Easter Weekend is the most popular time of the year for Scots to travel to Dublin.
But they will be dismayed to know that pints – and not just Guinness – have hit the 10 euro mark in certain Dublin areas and the question that remains is whether people can live with the soaring prices.
In Temple Bar, a pint of Heineken can be as expensive as €9.95, and a Guinness is not that far behind at €8.95. We took a trip to the popular tourist spot to ask visitors their opinions on the price of drinks in the city centre.
For a group of women visiting for a hen party, the prices were too steep – they had to pay €22 for a double shot.
“When it’s rounds going on, it’s a hell of a lot,” one of the women told us. Although she added it wouldn’t deter her from returning to the capital although next time she may “drink tap water”.
Other tourists were okay with paying that much if the ‘ambiance’ of the pub was worth it. With the cost of living crisis being felt globally, the prices aren’t that much different for them at home, they said.
Prices are a problem for the Irish however, with a man from Donegal saying there was absolutely no way he would pay too much for a pint. He said: “If a pint in Donegal is €5.40 we’re complaining and you can still have live music.”
On the north side of the Liffey you can buy a pint for half the price and certainly have more fun there, another man said.
A recent report by the Irish Mirror revealed three out of six pubs in the Temple Bar area were charging in excess of €9.50 for certain popular drinks.
Naturally, Temple Bar Pub was “the most expensive watering hole [they] visited” with lagers and ciders costing an eye-watering €9.95 – believed to be the dearest in the country.
Meanwhile, Guinness or Murphys stout will set punters back €8.95 and a half pint costs €4.95.
Down the road at Oliver St. John Gogarty’s prices weren’t any cheaper with a pint of Heineken and Rockshore costing €9.90 while stout was €8.90.
Close to the Ha’penny Bridge, The Merchant’s Arch was selling Rockshore Cider for €8.50 during “regular hours” but this rose to €9.50 during “late hours”.
For the perfect pint visit Doheny and Nisbett’s famous pub near Stephen’s Green. Look at the range of drinks on that gantry and the choice of beers at the bar. What is the dearest you’ve had to pay for a drink? Has the price of a pint put you off going out? Let us know in the comments below, where the picture is of the statue of Molly Malone across the street from Trinity College Dublin.
It’ll be the same here in the not too distant future. Already you can pay nearly similar prices in Glasgow city centre and the West End.
At least in Dublin the average wage is around 30% higher than it is here.