The Virgin Mary bar sells no alcohol. Photo/Getty Images.
The Virgin Mary bar sells no alcohol. Photo/Getty Images.
When the Virgin Mary pub, the latest addition to Dublin's world-renowned collection of drinking establishments, opens its doors in the Irish capital this weekend, it will be different from its competitors in one substantial respect — it will not sell any alcohol.
The historic city that gave the world Guinnessstout is about to get its first booze-free bar. The time is right, said Vaughan Yates, a drinks industry veteran and co-founder of the Virgin Mary. "I think we're at the beginning of a cultural shift in terms of people's attitudes towards alcohol," he said.
"We're not saying don't drink, what we're saying is if you don't want alcohol here is an alternative," he added. "There aren't many, if any, bars set up just as bars that you come into and drink just non-alcohol products. And you can drive home."
While more and more international drinks groups are offering zero-alcohol options, the arrival of the Virgin Mary is still an unusual — and some say brave — move in Ireland, a land where heavy drinking is a feature of songs and novels. "Good puzzle would be [to] cross Dublin without passing a pub," wrote James Joyce in Ulysses.
But Irish social mores and habits are changing. The closure of some 1,500 mainly rural pubs since 2005 has been linked to a crackdown on drink driving. Mr Yates sees potential to build custom among the estimated 25 per cent of people who do not drink alcohol at all. The bar should appeal to all ages, he said, but particularly people aged 18-34 who do not drink because "they don't really want to reflect themselves as being shown drunk" on Instagram.
Anna Walsh, bar manager, pours coffee charged with nitrogen from a beer-like tap to put a creamy white head on a glass of Dutch-made Braxzz booze-free porter. It looks rather a lot like the Guinness that is brewed less than two miles away.
Virgin Mary offers a new take on the traditional Irish pub experience. Photo/Getty Images.
Ms Walsh has worked for years in the bar trade, pouring thousands of potent cocktails. Now she has devised a menu of bespoke virgin cocktails, such as the reddish Tiki Street, with zero per cent Syrah, hibiscus and pomegranate.
But will it work? On the rain-soaked streets of Dublin this week, views were mixed. "Even Jesus had the good sense to turn water into wine," said Noel Donegan, a businessman in the city centre. "I've never ever understood the concept of non-alcoholic drinks. Why bother?"
As Thomas Roe made his way through Temple Bar, the tourist area known for noisy bars and late nights, he too was dismissive. "It's ridiculous. I don't think anybody would go into it. I don't see it working."
But others liked the idea. Anita Buckley, visiting for the day from County Waterford in south-eastern Ireland, said there was scope to develop a market. "It's a good idea because not everybody drinks. I wouldn't be a great drinker." Her friend Catherine Ward agreed: "I think it's a good idea for young people to have somewhere to have fun without having to get drunk."
This chimes with concerns about Irish drinking levels and their impact on the health service. A study this week in the Lancet, a medical journal, found that 54 per cent of Irish men and 26 of women were classified as heavy episodic drinkers. Irish intake was 13.2 litres of pure alcohol per person in 2017, more than twice the global average of 6.5 litres and ahead of the UK (11.4 litres) and US (9.8 litres).
Willie Aherne, whose family has owned the historic Palace Bar in central Dublin since the 1940s, said the trade has evolved. "People are drinking less but they're treating themselves to better quality drinks. We've moving up a bit." Demand for non-alcoholic drinks has grown, he added. "It's full tilt with work nowadays. With work people have to be on the ball the next day."
Paul O'Donnell, who owns a pub in Sligo in north western Ireland, said stiff penalties for drink driving were a big factor. "Sales of the non-alcoholic stuff are really going up and up. There's a change in lifestyle. A lot more people have changed their drinking habits." Mr Yates' ambition will soon be put to the test. The Virgin Mary bar is located in a former furniture store on Capel Street, an area he likens to Soho in London.
"You've got everything from sex shops to great tailors to hardware stores," he said. "Hopefully there's enough people that want to go out [and] keep the business going."
