{"id":676453,"date":"2026-09-07T07:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T07:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/676453\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T07:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T07:13:17","slug":"the-decline-of-the-pub-in-irish-towns-and-the-rise-of-the-passionfruit-martini-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/676453\/","title":{"rendered":"The decline of the pub in Irish towns and the rise of the passionfruit martini \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe amount of passionfruit martinis<\/a> we sell is eye-watering these days,\u201d says Marie Mellett, owner of Mellett\u2019s Emporium. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn some Saturdays we\u2019d almost sell as many of them as we do pints.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mellett is the seventh generation to manage the pub<\/a> in Swinford, Co Mayo<\/a>. The trade, she says, is enduring the \u201cbiggest challenge we have ever faced\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hence the passionfruit martinis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve gone into cocktails in a big way,\u201d she says. \u201cWe would have laughed at the idea 10 years ago; it would have been unheard of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Younger people are \u201cdrinking less\u201d in general, Mellett says, so it is up to publicans to find ways of making their establishments more inviting. New customers are seeking \u201cexperiences\u201d, not poor service.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t mind paying for a good experience,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey won\u2019t pay for dirty bathrooms or a cold pub; they\u2019d rather go to the supermarket and buy their drink there than put up with that. We have to offer people what they can\u2019t get in the supermarket \u2013 that\u2019s the only way we\u2019ll survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Habits have changed, she says, and it is \u201charder and harder to make profit\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irish people are drinking less alcohol than ever. But there is one drink on the riseOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018seven days of the week\u2019 trade has died off \u2013 the smoking ban and the drink-driving did that. I think they are both fantastic but they did have an effect on the pubs,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man coming in on Friday afternoon and having his three or four pints and then driving home is gone. They\u2019ve all died off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mellett\u2019s Emporium has been a fixture in the town since the late 1700s. The family notes that through the centuries it has doubled as a place to buy groceries, arrange a funeral or book a boat to the United States.<\/p>\n

As it stands, Mellett is determined to stick to the pub\u2019s business model: just drinks, no food.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my intention to keep it as a proper pub until the day I die,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The pub has survived what has been described as a torrid 20 years for the industry. According to a report carried out for Drinks Industry Group of Ireland<\/a> (Digi) by the economist Anthony Foley, published last week<\/a>, more than 2,200 pubs have closed in Ireland since 2005 \u2013 about a quarter of the then total.<\/p>\n

The closures have been almost exclusively outside of Co Dublin. In the capital, only 1 per cent of the total number of pubs that existed in 2005 have since closed their doors.<\/p>\n

As Mellett\u2019s has sought to cling to its roots while winning over a new generation of customers, it is among hundreds of pubs in small rural towns and villages attempting to chart a viable way forward.<\/p>\n

About 45km south of Swinford on the N17 in Co Galway<\/a>, Sheridan\u2019s Bar and Restaurant has been forced to move with the times.<\/p>\n

\"CathalCathal Sheridan of Sheridan\u2019s Bar and Restaurant in Milltown, Co Galway, now offers punters food and a golf simulator. Photograph: Andrew Downes\/xposure <\/p>\n

\u201cI was losing a lot of my customers and they weren\u2019t being replaced; they were dying,\u201d says owner Cathal Sheridan, who inherited the Milltown business from his father and grandfather.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrink was starting to be sold by the supermarket multiples; they were beginning to put in big off-licences and people were beginning to drink at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheridan says the decision was made to go \u201cfull-bore\u201d into offering food.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The pub reviving a rural village: \u2018It\u2019s the best thing that\u2019s happened here in years\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

With \u201c15,000 cars\u201d passing the establishment each day, he ventured that a proper kitchen and restaurant offering would ensure the business survived.<\/p>\n

The pub trade had changed, he says. When his grandfather owned the pub he was also a draper and a butcher. \u201cHe did everything \u2013 the pub was only a 10th of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

His father turned the premises into a \u201csinging lounge\u201d, but by the early 2000s it was apparent that just serving drinks at the side of the N17 was no longer going to cut it.<\/p>\n

The latest innovation in Sheridan\u2019s, which he says his daughter brought to his attention while on a J1 trip to the US, is a golf simulator. It has brought in \u201canother type of clientele\u201d and proved particularly popular during the wet days of last winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came back from the United States in 1990 there were eight pubs left in my little village,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are now one of two; all the other pubs are gone. I can see that replicated in every other village around here \u2013 they are left with one light on.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Publicans want fees for late-night trading halved in Budget 2026Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Sheridan describes a coming \u201ccliff-edge\u201d for hundreds of pubs, with older generations of proprietors unlikely to pass the businesses on to their children or a new owner.<\/p>\n

\u201cKids are seeing their parents spending hours and hours keeping the pub open and not making money out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Clonmel, Co Tipperary<\/a> \u2013 where Foley\u2019s report found a 32 per cent decline since 2005 \u2013 this story is the same.<\/p>\n

Richie Gleeson runs Gleeson\u2019s pub there.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of publicans are close to my age [51] \u2013 and are second generation,\u201d he says. \u201cWe are still rearing our children and putting them through college and so on. But the vast majority I talk to \u2013 their children won\u2019t be taking on the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he picks up the phone, Gleeson is poring over his financial accounts before getting ready to open his doors. Another long day and night beckons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t an exciting prospect any more,\u201d he says. \u201cThe hours we put in morning, noon and night. It\u2019s non-stop, 24\/7. Why would you want your children to take that on?\u201d<\/p>\n

He describes his days as being a constant battle to keep people coming through the door. Like Marie Mellett in Swinford, he has focused on making every night an experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cDJ nights, bands, games of cards, live sport \u2013 anything that would create an atmosphere,\u201d he says. It is no longer the case that a publican can afford to simply serve pints and hope the punters keep coming through the doors.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Arresting the decline of the rural pubOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Clonmel has seen its fair share of pub closures, says Gleeson, but numbers have \u201cplateaued\u201d to an extent recently. However, he too expects a number of places will soon reach a crucial point which will determine whether they carry on or close for good.<\/p>\n

Gleeson\u2019s parents opened the bar in 1984 and he knows \u201cnothing else\u201d.<\/p>\n

He says one of his daughters may end up taking on the job when he retires, but he would also accept a scenario where the business either changes or closes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do have an emotional attachment to it, but I try to be a realist about it too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gleeson, like many other rural publicans who have endured change imposed by smoking and drink-driving bans, says the rising cost of doing business is the latest challenge.<\/p>\n

They say the increase in the minimum wage<\/a> has pushed wages up across the board along with pension auto-enrolment<\/a> and PRSI. The pint itself has also been subject to frequent price increases from suppliers.<\/p>\n

\"VintnersVintners Federation of Ireland president Michael O’Donovan says a tax credit would be a big help for rural pubs. Photograph: Conor McCabe Photography <\/p>\n

Vintners Federation of Ireland<\/a> (VFI) president Michael O\u2019Donovan runs The Castle Inn in Cork<\/a> city.<\/p>\n

The VFI, which predominantly represents rural pubs, is seeking a tax credit from the Government in the upcoming budget.<\/p>\n

Digi, the industry group that commissioned the recent industry report, is instead appealing for a reduction in excise \u2013 something Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has not ruled out.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donovan and his colleagues argue that their measure would be more targeted and would enhance the viability of smaller, rural businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cA tax credit would be a major help for rural pubs, which are disproportionately closing at a much higher rate than urban pubs,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody disagrees with our staff being paid well \u2013 it is very important that they are, we need them. But business also has to survive. We\u2019ve seen disproportionate increases and sometimes the business can\u2019t absorb those increases,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Back in Swinford, Marie Mellett says her business will hang in there, grateful for occasional chinks of light that help her pub.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one saving grace for us in Mayo has been Mayo winning the All-Ireland,\u201d she says with a chortle. \u201cIt has been very good for us; hopefully they can win it every year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe amount of passionfruit martinis we sell is eye-watering these days,\u201d says Marie Mellett, owner of Mellett\u2019s Emporium.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[5051,79,11765,1877,2190,286299,18,1878,19,17,2354,109746,2121,142272],"class_list":["post-676453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alcohol","tag-business","tag-clonmel","tag-cork","tag-cost-of-living","tag-drinks-industry-group-of-ireland-digi","tag-eire","tag-galway","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mayo","tag-pub-market","tag-tipperary","tag-vintners-federation-of-ireland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117228523245970257","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}