drinks industry ireland‘The on-trade environment will need to be pleasant and filled with lots of choice for the changing consumer. This must be combined with flexibility and innovation in the non-alcoholic offerings’.

So states AC Nielsen’s Tom Harper this month in our Expert View on the current health of the licensed trade.
But are his exhortations falling on deaf ears?
I’d given up the sauce for January and some of February.
But I missed the sociability of the pub.
So what did I do?
Only decided to meet my friends in a standard suburban Dublin pub.
So what was my choice?
Precious little, as it turns out, by way of non-alcoholic drinks - beers or more significantly from a profit perspective, cocktails…..
So why would a non-drinker choose to go to the pub?
Precious few  reasons I could give you, if this is what we could expect.
So why is today’s vintner so blinkered in his vision of what products to offer some one who does not want alcohol in the company of friends who do?
My own non-alcoholic repertoire started off with an alcohol-free beer or two - but more than that is intimidating to my stomach (which avoids loud noises). Then, for a change of pace, I might go for a Virgin Mary followed by a soft drink or a coffee. After that, however, I’m in trouble. Seldom can I find a non-alcoholic cocktail, seldom any other kind of alcohol-free drink.
So what do I do?
Cop out of going to the pub with my friends, that’s what, even though I could be that Designated Driver and earn some bonus points on my (usually low) social standing.
There’s a message here. And it’s for you. Consumers like me - on the wagon - are happy to go out and enjoy the sociability of the pub, but you’re really going to have to try a lot harder to entice me to stay — or to come out at all.
And remember, if I’m the Designated Driver, I’ll not only be taking my own business elsewhere, but that of three or four of my friends.