Chawke group pubs weathering recession

Charlie Chawke’s Dropping Well pub in Dublin’s Milltown area showed pre-tax profits of €158,248 in the 12 months to the end of May 2011, down 32 per cent on the 2010 figure of €233,891, according to the results for the pub’s holding company, Milltown Inns Ltd, filed recently.

Meanwhile the Oval in Abbey Street’s holding company, Alazwar, recorded accumulated profits of €701,184 to the end of July last year, up by 2.6 per cent from the 2010 figure of €683,242.

Altogether over 300 people are employed in the eight pubs contained within the Chawke group (some of which are co-owned by Senator Eddie Bohan) – the Oval, the Dropping Well, the Bank, the Goat, the Lord Lucan, the Old Orchard, Aunty Lena’s and Bill Chawke’s  Bar (both in Adare) – which enjoyed a turnover of €15 million last year.

However this year continues to disappoint the licensed trade with little benefit accruing from Euro 2011 which – far from boosting revenue – resulted in group revenues dipping 20 per cent during the month-long competition.
“People didn’t flock to the pub as we thought they would and they watched the games at home,” Charlie Chawke told the Irish Times recently, “The Euros didn’t work for us at all. It upset our business.”

In 2005 Charlie Chawke paid David Lavin the highest price ever paid for a pub – €22 million – for the Orchard Inn in Rathfarnham which recorded a pre-tax loss of €88,893 in the year to 31st October 2011 with €553,827 (down from €766,473 in 2010) being recorded in loan interest repayments during the year. At the end of October 2011, The Orchard had bank loans totalling €22.7 million and reduced Operating Profits of €553,827 (down from €766,777) were recorded.