It’s been a rough few years for the institution of the Irish pub.
A new report by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI), published on Wednesday, revealed that Ireland has lost as many as 1,477 pubs since 2005.
Cork has suffered the worst, while other counties — like Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford — haven’t seen as many closures. The Rebel County, home to more pubs than any other county, has seen more than 300 closures in just the last 12 years.
Wicklow, on the other hand, has seen its collection of pubs go down by just one.
Some counties, like Leitrim and Limerick, have lost over a quarter of their pubs since 2005. For Mayo, Clare, Offaly, Roscommon, Westmeath, that figure is one in five. For Galway, it’s one in six.
But the closures have swept across Ireland, with every single county seeing a decrease in its number of pubs between 2005 and 2017.
The data below reveals the dramatic shift that clearly shows decreased demand for pubs — or at least an economic climate where it has become far more difficult for pubs to survive. In the same time, the number of off-licenses nationally has increased by 11%.
There has also been a small increase (3%) in the number of licensed restaurants, and wine-only bars.
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