Rural pubs are increasingly coming under pressure and later opening hours will contribute to staff costs, Mr Niall Garvey, the manager of a Co Clare-based pub, believes.

A chartered accountant, he took over the running of the pub and microbrewery, the Biddy Early Brewery, at Inagh, 10 miles west of Ennis on the Ennistymon Road, two years ago on the death of his father, Peadar, who bought the pub in the early 1980s. Employing a staff of three across both businesses, Mr Garvey says later opening hours will mean that the same customers will arrive later and drink the same amount, adding to overall costs and tempting a lot of operators to sell their pub licences.

Such a business needs a turnover of about £150,000 to make it pay, he believes. "If you were to take an average rural pub day and divide that by the hours a publican has to put into it, it is not an attractive lifestyle for a lot of people."

He has noticed many pubs not bothering to open now during the day. Because of the drink driving laws and a new culture, people no longer drink in pubs during the day.

"In day-time trade, you are losing money every hour. You are paying staff more than you are getting in drinks," he says.

Owners are taking day-time jobs and then opening during the evening. Other premises, which lie on tourist routes, are diversifying into food but to do so requires a large up front investment to satisfy health board standards. "Food is where most pubs are going. We went into the pub brewery business for that reason, to have an attraction that nobody else had at the time."