More than 300 pubs have closed in Cork since 2005Report compiled by DCU Economist and Associate Professor Emeritus at DCU, Anthony Foley, shows that 2,205 premises – or one in four – closing their doors Tue, 01 Sep, 2026 – 00:37Martin Claffey
A new report published on Tuesday highlights the rapid decline of the Irish pub industry, with a quarter of all pubs closing their doors since 2005 and the report’s author predicting up to 1,000 further premises could follow suit.
The report compiled by DCU Economist and Associate Professor Emeritus at DCU, Anthony Foley, shows that 2,205 premises – or one in four – closing their doors since 2005. The decrease saw pub numbers fall from 8,617 to 6,412 – an average of 110 per year.
The highest proportion of closures was in Limerick, with 37.2% calling time, followed by Offaly (-34.1%) Cork (-32.7%), Roscommon (-32.3%), Tipperary (-32.0%), Laois (-30.6%), Longford (-30.1%) and Westmeath (-30.0%). The lowest decrease was in Dublin with a drop of -1.1%, followed by Wicklow with a decrease of -9.5%. Meath had a decrease of 11.4% and all other counties saw a 13% or greater decrease.
Throughout Cork, there were 1,221 pubs in 2005. That had fallen to 910 by the year 2019, and fell further to 821 in 2025. Kerry had 503 pubs in 2005 but now 397 remain. Limerick had 478 pubs in 2005 but that now stands at just 286.
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“Over the past 20 years the Irish economy has grown substantially, including large employment, consumption and adult population increases, despite multiple economic shocks and geopolitical disruption. This growth should have supported the alcohol and public house sectors. However, both alcohol consumption and pub sales volumes declined substantially,” said Mr Foley.
“The level of alcohol taxation is very high in Ireland, which alongside rising costs and changing consumer trends, reduces the commercial viability of public houses. It is likely that pub closures will continue in the absence of any change in Government policy. Even in the absence of additional significant economic shocks, an optimistic scenario would expect about 600 additional closures in the next decade from 2024. More pessimistic expectations would increase the closure level to 1,000.”
The number of pubs which closed their doors last year was 86, up from 65 in 2024 but down from 117 in 2023. There were 108 closures in 2022, 102 closures in 2021, and 247 closures in 2020.
Industry calls for cut in excise
The report was commissioned by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) which has called for the Government to use the upcoming Budget to introduce a 10% cut in excise, which currently stands as the second highest in the European Union. DIGI secretary, Donall O’Keeffe said the number of pubs operating across Ireland has been decimated. “This has been particularly damaging to the social, economic and cultural life of rural Ireland. They are also a huge loss to our tourism offer. Without Government intervention, this trend will continue and potentially accelerate,” said Mr O’Keeffe.
“We are calling for a 10% immediate cut in excise duty to give the remaining small, family-owned pubs a better chance of remaining viable. Current excise rates are simply unjust given Ireland’s continually falling rates of alcohol consumption, which ranks us among the EU average for levels of alcohol consumption.
“Our extremely high level of alcohol taxation in comparison to the rest of Europe is actively harming our sector and our customers who rely upon the public house as a hub of human connection. This is particularly true in rural settings where there is a greater risk of social isolation.”
Rural pubs have seen the largest decline in the past two decades. The report said the large majority of rural public houses are relatively small family businesses. “There is no reason to expect that, on unchanged policies, the pattern of declining numbers which has been evident for many years will end.”
“Over the next ten years an optimistic expectation of future declines, including no significant deep negative economic impacts (such as a house price collapse or significant negative consequences from US trade and industrial policies) is that an additional 60 public houses will close each year, or 600 over the next decade. A more negative scenario is that closures could average 100 per year with another 1,000 public houses lost over the decade. Almost 19% of VFI members were 65 years or older in 2023. This is equivalent to about 1,000 pubs outside Dublin. Were the rate of exit by this cohort to accelerate in the near future, motivated by negative expectations about commercial viability, the rate of future closure would increase beyond the levels referred to above.”
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