Irish pubs - join website

Irish pubs are being encouraged to join a new website to help them build their business and get punters back though the door. Over 1,500 pubs have closed down in Ireland in the past five years but pubsdirect.ie is anxious to buck the trend.

Set up by Waterford-based Tony Raftis, the site is about helping publicans maintain a strong online presence to boost custom and sales. He said: "We want to stop pub closures up and down the country because it has become too common in recent years, but we believe pubs can do a lot for themselves and we want to help them do that whether it by building a twitter or a Facebook profile"

"It's all about interacting with the customers and potential customers. We want pubs to sign up with us and get out there"

Pubsdirect.ie has so far created 15 jobs to date and have vowed to deliver a further 50 plus roles in the areas of IT, Admin, Sales and Marketing right across the country over the next couple of months. They are based adjacent to Waterford Airport in the business park.

Director Keith Power says they know they have what it takes to reignite an industry stricken with job losses and closures over the past few years. To date over 500 pubs have come on board and they say the feedback so far has been excellent.

Keith added: "The owners of the pubs and clubs that have already joined pubsdirect.ie have already seen the positive results with us since we have gone live on the internet. Not only have we solved a very big problem for them being able to have a real presence and to showcase and advertise their business through such a fantastic websie at a price and opportunity but is proving a must for our industry. It means there is easy, quick access to each business under one roof and in one place, which has never been done before on a national level.

Having your pub site at pubsdirect.ie has also helped them to increase sales and in some cases even helped in saving jobs in the industry thus seeing the benefits already for their investment out of their advertising budget, which is very encouraging to say the least. Co-founder Ger Mason added "Its with the help of young and enthusiastic web developers, designers, programmers and a business development team whose sole vision was for the website to be user friendly and appealing to both the business sector and the customer" Pubsdirect.ie offer each pub and club their own individual mini site where they can showcase and promote their business on a county, national and international level. This gives them the opportunity to let the public know that not only are they open for business in these tough times.

Tony added: "It's about giving back to the public the very best that the Irish pub and club industry can offer. Their customers can be reassured that if they can put aside a few euro each week, they can still be able to enjoy a great day or night out or a taste of good Irish food at a price they can afford"

"This allows you at the very least to be able to see the brighter side of things and enjoy yourself without feeling a pinch. Each pub site has amazing features such as special offers, drinks and food menus, upcoming events, all the pubs and clubs details, everything and anything that you need to know is kept up to date with real-time information.

Through our planned marketing campaign, we aim to reach as many people as possible via all media outlets such as print, online marketing, television and radio. As a result of this public awareness will be very high and thus benefit each and every pub on the site as well as the general public".