gone

[Beerdoh]

A 50-litre (88 pint) keg of good beer costs about €160 wholesale, with stout being a bit less. That's €1.82 a pint. Publican sells it for €4.06+VAT retail (i.e. €5), leaving them with a gross margin of €2.24.

Out of that there could be a load of things to be paid, including high rent and high rates. Then again they might not be high. If the question you're really asking is "is there price gouging going on" then answer is it depends. In some cases yes, no in others. Only a proper consumer organisation could answer that in general terms... where have that new crowd gone?

Fair point, but with the initial cost of production being so low, and even into the publican's taps - i'm astounded that it is that price... I guess it's more in relative terms that i'm speaking as well - I understand that there's always money to be paid for value added service (turning malt, hops and yeast into beer, for instance) - but it just seems exorbitant to pay 10 times the amount it costs to make.
I work in the electronics industry - it's the only industry I know where parts are now smaller, faster and more efficient, and yet prices get lower and lower - how the hell do other industries manage to get away with hiking prices higher and higher!? Petrol is another example - it cost about €0.20 to produce a liter of petrol and yet we're paying €1.60+ for it!?

Is it me, or is the general consumer just easy money!?  :-/

[Beerdoh]

@Beerdoh you can have a word with Flash tomorrow.
But I think with rent,insurance,heat,light,staf wages,rates and other overheads the profit margins aren't huge.

Why don't we just start having the meets at Metalman in Tycor so!? No duty to be paid if it doesn't leave the brewery after all! 

[Beerdoh]

The celtic tiger has a lot to answer for in so many ways.

A pub that was leased or bought beginning in 2007 with low turnover would struggle to survive. Think stuff like upward only rent reviews or a huge unserviceable mortgage now that business has dropped. You can look up the rateable valuataions online, but for example a friend of mine owns a 1500 sq ft office in a block that's empty. His office is empty too, but he has to pay €28,000 a year in rates. He pays water rates too!

OTOH a pub that was leased or bought in 2000 and rams the kids in at the weekends... well good chance the owner has a nice property or two abroad.

Yea, true - taking that into consideration, guess paying a fiver a pint is the only way they can afford to operate. I suppose I was always of the opinion (wrongly, in fairness) that a lot of the price came down to duty incurred!