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CHRISTMAS IS A lovely time of the year. We catch up with family and friends. For many the pub is the perfect setting – it’s convivial, warm, friendly and welcoming.
And that’s all lovely, until a marauding troupe of messers, bedecked in luminous Christmas jumpers, and wielding bunches of mistletoe, settle into your space, disrupting your company and likely spoiling what was shaping up to be a pleasant evening.
12 Pubs of Christmas
Over the last decade or so, we have created the now annual ‘tradition’ of the 12 Pubs of Christmas.
You have to hand it to those marketing heads who yet again have demonstrated their abundant creative guile by bringing us all yet another, much-needed, treasure of Christmas.
Perhaps we should explore a full calendar of excessiveness. Why not reinstate the ‘Seven Drunken Nights’ for any seasonal opportunity, or let’s push the boat out and slosh our way through the forty days and nights before Easter too.
All joking aside, there are many reasons not to encourage a marketing trick like the 12 Pubs of Christmas, none more so than our health.
A very, very bad idea
It should go without saying that it is a very, very bad idea to knock back twelve drinks in a row, worse still the accompanying free shots, that now seem to be common to these pre-prepared commercial tour packages.
At a time when every bar stool expert seems to possess his own theories, it might be a relief to press our collective sore heads against the cold steel of proven facts: this level of alcohol will damage your health. It will seriously impair your judgement and jeopardise your wellbeing. Engaging in this kind of behaviour regularly will likely shorten your future Christmases.
Not surprisingly, many pubs in Dublin city, mindful of their duty not to serve those who have drank too much, have now moved to exclude such disruptive groups of seasonal revellers. More tellingly, they understand that the presence of such groups is both unpleasant, and unwanted by their customers who simply want to enjoy the glow of the seasonal atmosphere with convivial company.
Needless to say, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with visiting twelve great pubs, were it with the Iberian discipline of tapas and caña. It’s the likely twelve plus drinks at full tilt that is the issue.
Ireland’s problem with binge drinking
Recent CSO data, echoing EU, OECD and WHO reports, demonstrates the rising scale of Ireland’s problem with binge drinking. One in three drinkers, and 26% of 18 to 24-year-olds, are weekly binge drinkers – the highest rate in Europe and more than double the EU average.
Given that we now know that those who drink more than three drinks per day increase their risk of liver cancer, and that alcohol is responsible for seven types of cancer, when are we going to get a grip?
As Dr Ronan Glynn of the HSE’s National Cancer Control Programme recently said, “Many people are not even aware they’re drinking harmfully” before outlining six alcohol-related health risks everyone in their twenties should know:
Is all that drink, in those festive Christmas jumpers, really that much ‘craic’? I don’t think so.
Surely we can all enjoy the fun and the mistletoe without obliterating our memories.
Eunan McKinney is Head of Communications and Advocacy at Alcohol Action Ireland.
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If you’re going to try to convince people to drink less, it helps to write articles that aren’t condescending and belittling to those you’re trying to convince.
It’s a noble goal so why ruin it by driving people away with needlessly insulting writing?
@Thought for Food: exactly. Ill conceived and without a single new fact
@Thought for Food: I’ll be rotten right through into the new year
@Thought for Food: consumption of alcohol, a legal substance, is young down massively on a decade ago. They are WHO numbers. Always take paid for sermonisers with a grain of salt.
As Keynes said, in the long run everyone dies.
@Thought for Food: How is he being condescending or belittling ? It’s all true, he’s not being preachy or prude about anything. Is it maybe just that the harsh truth hurts? Are you insulted by his words or just a little ashamed of yourself because you see truth in them? Don’t get me wrong, going on the lash over Christmas is great craic but the twelve pubs fetishises over-drinking, and takes away from the social enjoyment of Christmas boozing both for the participants and the other punters around them.
@Brendan Gordon: He was being totally preachy .I don’t even drink alcohol and even I could see that. If you can communicate your message in a way where it can reach it’s target audience then you have failed before you have even begun.
@Brendan Gordon: What article were you reading Brendan? He is being preachy.
@Catherine Sims: How was he being preachy? He states simple facts about alcohol being bad for your health. He makes a throwaway joke about going on a bender for forty days of lent which he points out himself as being glib. He doesn’t judge people for drinking, he criticises them for getting drunk for the sake of it, and for acting up rowdy and annoyingly in ways they wouldn’t on a normal night out. Nothing wrong with trying to promote a bit of cop on
@Yeera Yeahboy: you need new facts do you to illustrate why drinking 12 drinks straight might not be a good idea? Really?
Some years back I was driven off the road by a guy who had consumed 13 pints at a local hostelry while celebrating the festivities. I was in Hospital for 3 months, off work for 5 and with a young family to support. He later pleaded guilty to Careless Driving. Why cant we heed the message here instead of taking umbrage at the manner in which it is presented?
@Imnoeinstein: how you send a message is actually quite important. A good writer would understand that. So , yes
Challenge accepted sir, see you at the Easter 40!
Thankfully, a lot of pubs are now banning the 12 pubs nonsense.. Messy gobshytes..
@Bart Teeling: are they going to question you as to how many pubs you intend on drinking in? How would that ban work lol
@Misanthrope: no they are not, what they do is as follows: load of drunk lads bound into a pub at the same time – loud, messy, drunk, xmas jumper wearing, probably exclaiming “we’re doing the 12 pubs like” at which point barman makes own judgement and exclaims – “not today lads, you bunch of spas, out!” or something similar. Hope that helps.
@Keith Fay: and then there’s a riot.lol
@Keith Fay: so as long as they don’t admit to their 12 pubs escapades they’re grand. Own up..there is no such ban, don’t be ridiculous lol
@Misanthrope: what are you talking about? A pub can make their own bans as they want
@Bart Teeling: I tried it a few years ago, Got to the first pub and we found a comfy spot in the corner. So we just stayed there for the night. Good times.
@Bart Teeling: blaming the pubs is just shooting the messenger , it’s the people , people who are idiots / its not the brilliant “marketing” that created the problem it’s the inability for people to control themselves , you might as well say it’s great they are banning Xmas jumpers s now , Ireland drinking too much at Christmas time is not a new phenomenon, if it’s not 12 pubs it’s just labeled something else to be honest
@Keith Fay: a pub cannot ban you drinking in eleven other pubs. Stop digging idiot
“Alcohol the legal drug, tearing families apart for generations”
@Trevor croft: is it our biggest or second biggest killer this year? We’ll have to wait and see what gets back the Christmas number one!!!
I have not seen one advertisement from a drink company, encouraging drinking such as described in this article. I have seen certain pubs in certain parts of Dublin city centre doing so – but less and less now. Drink is undoubtably a problem from some people, for the vast majority it isn’t – so how about just leaving us alone?
I went on pub tour in San Francisco (twice!) called the A to Z Bar Tour. We chartered a bus. Each bar we went to had a name that began with a different letter of the alphabet. Plus two other bars–”The Bus Stop” on Chestnut St, where we assembled before the tour, and the “End Up” Bar, where the tour, well…ended up. Everybody generally had a drink in each of the 28 bars. The participants were mainly San Francisco writers and largely of Irish descent. I think the last one was in the late 70s. Almost all of those people are now either sworn off the stuff or they’re dead or wish they were (or their spouses wish they were!). I never vomited on the bus. I saved that for St. Patrick’s Day. It was gas, but the liver and other organs just wouldn’t stand for the abuse. So I kicked off at two tours. Now I’m sober 34 years and having more fun than a bucket of red ants. So there’s fun to be had after you swear off, lads. Then you can try your hand at sex addiction or gambling or some other creative pursuits. Happy Holidays. I miss Co. Clare.
@seamus mcdermott: the good old days when you could hang you ass out of the window of a fast moving car, good yarn best of luck Seamus
@seamus mcdermott: that’s inspiring Seamus. I’m off it 9 months. Feel like a completely new person.
You have to be some kind of lunatic to compare alcohol to asbestos, it makes me question his fitness to practice.
Remember those sage words:
“Never trust a man who doesn’t drink”
now upgraded to include “or enjoy the occasional bacon sarnie”.
@Stu MacDuff: your comment sums up the slave master relationship many Irish people have towards alcohol. The WHO recognise alcohol as a similar class of carcinogen as asbestos. “Never trust a man who doesn’t drink” is a classic Irish one alright, no far better to trust a slobbering drug addicted drinker instead.
@John M: waking up hangover free is better than any drug. When your a drinker, you can’t \dont see the damage it is doing. Which is down to mix of wilfull ignorance, and addiction.
@Stu MacDuff: he doesn’t compare it, he just uses asbestos as an example of a carcinogenic substance. Context is important, read things properly before you go out of your way to get offended
What “marketing heads” came up with it? I have never seen one advertisement from any company run an ad for 12 pubs. Also I have never seen a single pub advertise free shots for people doing the 12 pubs.
@Paul C: alcohol action like to make things up to support their position, instead of using facts amd real evidence they go for the emotional angle making it very difficult for anyone to try and disagree with them and pretty much silence them
@Ian McNally: you’re right, it’s never been mentioned on TV or on social media or anything. Spot on. You clearly don’t understand how advertising works.
@Paul C: no lots of pubs do complimentary shots for organised pub crawls. The Marketing term also applies to individual pubs, it may not be a campaign by the vintners association (in fact a lot of pubs dispise it) or a large company but the idea as far as I know popped up about 10-15 years ago as a way to get people into the pubs instead of pre-drinking / partying at home.
Didn’t Jesus go on a bender for 40 days and 40 nights? He was crucified when he got home.
A completely needless article written by another advocate of the nanny state. Alcohol in copious quantities is indeed bad for us, I think the masses are aware of this by now, however in saying that this is a free state whereby an individual should be free to determine what he or she puts in their body & in what amount. With regard to the 12 pubs of Christmas the free market is resolving that issue through the publicans choice to allow these groups into their establishment. A relevant article may have been addressing the lack of education regarding the health risks of alcohol within the schools which might prevent this behavior from an early age.
@Frank Lee: he’s not a government representative so it’s nothing to do with nanny-stateism and free state means free speech and opinion, and if lack of education and awareness is the problem then surely an article pointing out the health risks and social nuisance is entirely justified. Also the free market doesn’t effect the behaviour on the streets.
Clueless article, no “marketing heads” came. Up with the twelve pubs, in fact pubs everywhere hate and have always hated it, for years now they have been banning it as much as is possible. Do some research next time before writing so obviously about something you havent a clue about from way up in your ivory tower
Are you available for parties?? probably booked solid with that amount of craic on tap.
A caña is half a pint. Is Alcohol Ireland saying it’s ok to have 6 pints if we have ‘tapas’ with it?
@Pablo Rojas Coppari: It’s much, much, better than having 12 pints and no food.
Eunan. I assume you speak for yourself with the word “we” in the headline.
The writer needs to do a lot more research the 13 pubs of christmas ” tradition ” goes back a lot more than 10 years or so I remember doing it a young fella never got past 2 or 3 left the rest toll the following year and that was 50 plus years ago me thinks the writer just wants to see his name in print….
I’d be on for that
Brilliant idea!
Given that Good Friday is now being treated in the same way as any other weekday, perhaps employers should now lobby government to have this recognised and everyone should have to work this day as normal?
@Peter White: Everyone does have to work this day as normal.
No problem with alcohol, but I have a slave/master problem with sugar. Or should that be slave/mistress… ? I prefer to think of a sugar-coated dominatrix with chocolate flavoured thigh length boots…
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