Guinness for 20p: Dublin pub reveals 1970s prices

Fancy a pint of Guinness for 20p? You’ll have to go back to Dublin in the 1970s for a deal like that.

South Dubliners in the 1970s had it good, at least when it came to the price of a drink.

Eamon O’Leary, a local to the south Dublin suburb of Dalkey, shared the lounge menu from the Shangri-La Hotel from 1973 on Facebook this week, as reported by DublinLive.

Pints of Guinness and Smithwicks feature on the menu for just 20p. A pint of Irish lager brand Harp would set you back 25p, but a shandy is priced at a reasonable 20p.

Bottles beers in the early 1970s cost a very reasonable 14-16p, though Carlsberg Special was sold at a premium of 25p a bottle.

Baby Cham, a sparkling perry created in 1953 to bring women into pubs in post-war Britain, cost 17p a glass in 1973.

For punters wanting to add some sweetness to their drink, a dash of cordial was 2p a pop.

Irish coffee was also on offer on the menu, displayed in its own separate section, and priced at 30p.

When it came to spirits, the list included Irish whiskey, Scotch, Bourbon, gin, vodka, brandy and rum.

Bacardi rum, Courvoisier and Hennessy Cognac were all priced at 32p for a half glass, making them the most expensive of the bunch behind Remy Martin, which was 34p.

Shangri-La’s menu in 1973 also boasted a list of vermouth and Sherry. Port, costing 20p for half a glass, was listed under the Sherry section alongside Bristol Cream (25p), Winter’s Tale (20p), Tio Pepe (20p), and Amontillado (20p).

According to the Bank of England’s inflation calculator, 20p in 1973 is equivalent to £2.07 in today’s money, meaning the price of a pint was indeed that much cheaper back then.

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