40 pubs in Leitrim have closed since Covid struck says councillor

Forty pubs in Leitrim and 44 pubs in Sligo have closed down since Covid struck, Independent councillor and publican Felim Gurn said when he spoke to the Leitrim Observer this week about the increasing challenges facing publicans.
“Everyone has said that the bottom line is overhead costs, insurance, all those bills plus people's habits have changed. There are people who haven't come out since Covid,” the Manorhamilton councillor said.
However, he said from his own experience he sees the biggest problem is that there are no taxis in towns and villages.
“The government offered a grant of €6,000 for hackney drivers to take it up but nobody in Leitrim has taken it up. I have been trying to set up a meeting with Local Link since last September.
I've been talking about this for years because I have been leaving people home free-of-charge on a Friday and Saturday night for the last fifteen or twenty years,” Cllr Gurn said.
“The bottom line is that people are willing to go out but there are no taxis or nighttime bus service. That is a major problem. That bus service is there on the weekends on a Friday and Saturday night in Drumshanbo, Leitrim Village and Carrick-on-Shannon but it is not there in the north of the county.
“It's there from Dromahair to Sligo but we have two rural areas - Glencar into Lurganboy into Manorhamilton, Glenboy even Kiltyclogher. The bus services are there in the daytime only,” he added.
“I've seen it in action from about 8pm on a Friday and Saturday night and left back at 12.30am or 1am. It is operational in the likes of Bundoran, Ballyshannon into Donegal town but it's not operational in north Leitrim - it is during the day but not at night so that is a big factor. If you don't have that service people say, 'Ok, there is no point in us going out because we can't get home.'”
Cllr Gurn said that people have also gotten used to staying at home.
“People who had come out to pubs for the social aspect of it - for the chat, for the game of cards, for just their mental health - they were really affected,” he said.
“The other thing that needs to change are county boundaries - you have parts of Leitrim in Roscommon and vice versa and parts of Sligo in Leitrim. Surely the bus service should be looked at geographically. It's a great service but they need to say 'We got this wrong' and they need to put more money into the rural link services for the night time economy.”
He said that a lack of taxi drivers is another big factor with regard to the lack of nighttime transport.
“It's fine to spend money all over the towns and as councillors we are doing that on our public realms and streets but if there is not businesses on our streets, it's going to look like a joke so we have to do something to sustain the pubs, the shops and the main streets and get rid of the derelict buildings but if there is not help out there, no one will take a chance,” he said.
Cllr Gurn said that those who wish to establish businesses such as cobblers, dressmakers and bike shops should be helped.
“There are people who might look at opening businesses like that in the main street but if we don't have help out there for these people to get mentoring and all that, we will have empty main streets. There is help out there where you have a break on rates and that but it might just not be enough.
“The first few years trying to set up a business is very, very hard and there are people in business 50 years that are starting to fail.
“Politicians don't know what it is to run a business and what it is to pay employees at the end of a week. It's easy bringing in legislation but they don't know the side effects.
“Like next year, if you hire someone you have to give them three days sick leave a year; the following year it's five days and the next it's ten. Who is going to pay for that?” he asked.
Cllr Gurn said the hospitality industry has been hit particularly hard over the years due to the introduction of laws such as the smoking ban.
“Now we are coming out of Covid and see the huge cost worldwide of trying to be in business.”