WETHERSPOON’S first pub opened in Ireland this week but punters will have been shocked to find not a drop of Guinness in sight.
The Three Tun Tavern opened in Dublin on Tuesday, July 2, revealing the only stouts on offer would be Murphy’s and Beamish, following a pricing row between the owners and Diageo.
The boozer in Blackrock – the first Wetherspoon’s site in the Irish Republic – serves both brands, which are brewed in Cork and owned by Heineken, at €3.95 a pint.
Wetherspoon claims the price point sought by Diageo for a drop of their famous black stuff was ‘too high’.
“We like to sell our drink to customers at a certain price and the price that Diageo wanted us to sell the product at was too high,” a spokesman for Wetherspoon said this week.
However a spokeswoman for Diageo claimed it ‘remains competitive’ with its pricing to customers in Ireland.
“This is obviously a matter which is of a commercial sensitive nature and so we can’t comment any further,” they added.
Other Diageo-owned brands which are not featured on the Three Tun Tavern’s drinks menu are Smirnoff vodka, Bushmills whiskey and Baileys Irish cream liqueur.
The bad news continued for Guinness drinkers this week as the brewer announced they would no longer celebrate their annual Arthur’s Day festivities.
Guinness has decided to scrap the one-day drinking promotion after five years, they confirmed on Wednesday, July 2.
A spokesperson said the company was ‘very proud of Arthur's Day’ and claimed it was a hard decision to drop the marketing scheme.
Arthur's Day was run annually on 26 September, when bars ran Guinness promotions in venues around Ireland and in 55 countries worldwide.
Guinness has since announced the new music promotion programme Guinness Amplify, which will support new bands and run in place of the Arthurs Day festivities.
