Rural pubs “incubators” for range of activies – new study to be undertaken
A VFI-funded study of rural pubs in Ireland is to be undertaken by a group of British university researchers from the University of York.
Print12 February 2013
The study, led by Dr Ignazio Cabras of the University’s Management School, will examine the vital economic role that public houses play in Irish rural communities, especially in the current economic decline.
While the extent of the VFI funding has not been made public VFI Chief Executive Padraig Cribben explained that the purpose of the study would be “to look as much at the economic impact of the pub on rural Ireland as the social impact. We’re seeking empirical data to put to various interested (and perhaps disinterested) parties”.
Dr Cabras completed a study of rural pubs in the Cumbria district of England three years ago and has now extended that study to the rest of England, hoping to complete the study this Autumn, at the same time as he hopes to complete the Irish study.
The joint findings will be presented at the University’s ‘Beeronomics’ Festival this September.
For the original study, his team used the UK’s Office of National Statistics, an accurate source of statistics for rural areas in England, but as no such source exists in Ireland he’ll have to conduct his survey manually although the methodology will remain much the same as for the English study.
“Local communities should understand using a pub is a matter of ‘use it or lose it’,” the economics, business and management lecturer told the BBC recently.
English people from rural areas regard what he’s doing as important since their own pub might have closed down recently and there’s a lot of sorrow about that in the community, he stated.
His team is currently working through the 4,000 Irish pubs on its database to identify those in remote areas with low density populations.
Questionnaires will be sent to rural bar owners/managers thus identified to collect data on turnover, employment, supply chains and trade with local producers.
This will be used to paint a picture of how the rural bar trade contributes to the local economy and it will be followed up with a study that engages the pub users and communities around the pub to gauge their feelings and attitudes towards their local.
To date his studies seem to prove that there’s a positive correlation between the level of rural pubs and the level of social activities in the community.
He described rural pubs as being an “incubator for a huge number of activities” including charity, sports and business initiatives.
They were “an important generator of social capital and community cohesion which are important characteristics that you find in healthy communities.
“I believe – and the researchers at the University of York strongly believe – this place should be preserved, should be rescued from closure,” he concluded.
It’s likely that field research will be conducted around July or August.
"This is not about what is causing the demise of the rural pub,” concluded Padraig Cribben, “It’s about evaluating the positive economic aspects that the presence of a pub confers on rural areas."
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