I don't know what the pub trade is like in Ireland, but a substantial part of it in my neck of the woods (the UK South-East) is in deep shite because of so-called pub companies like Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns. These are the rapacious middlemen who came into being when the breweries' pub ownership monopoly was broken many years ago.

They introduced a 3rd profit-making layer into the pub trade so that, instead of a tenant buying his beer direct from the brewery, they now have to buy it from the pub company, who buys it from the brewery. As it happens, I was talking about the trade to my neighbours (who have been in it) just this morning. Two years ago, a barrel of Guinness would have cost a tenant around £85 to buy and make a reasonable profit from. The price through Enterprise? £150.

So the poor devils have to do food to make a living, for they won't make it by clearing around 20p a pint. Guess what? Enterprise are now selling "super leases" - where the tenant has to agree to also buy his foodstuffs through the same pub company. We have Enterprise-owned pubs closing all the time down here. They don't care. They'll get another sucker in to sign a lease and, if the pub closes, they don't care - they're basically a property company when all's said and done.

Typical enterprise lease in this area: £95,000 per annum. As our friends in the US say: do the math.