A Dublin pub is removing Diageo taps in protest at the company’s latest price increases.

Last month, the Guinness owner confirmed plans to hike prices for the third time in around a year and a half.

In a letter to publicans, the company said the increases were necessary due to “rising input costs across our Irish business operations”.

The price hike came into effect for all new orders from yesterday morning.

A hand holds a pint of Guinness in the air. Image: Brendan Donnelly / Alamy

In a post online, Kavanagh’s Pub on Clanbrassil Street in Dublin said it would continue selling Guinness – but was removing some of Diageo’s other products in protest.

The pub labelled the latest increase “quite simply corporate greed” and encouraged other pubs to follow suit.

“The last increases were down to operating costs and the huge rise in energy costs,” the pub’s owner wrote on Facebook.

“Those, although unwelcome, were understandable.

“However, since then the industry has had three reductions in energy costs which, for a company like Guinness, would result in millions of euro in savings per annum.

“Think about how many pints are produced per annum by Diageo, then multiply that by 6c … it’s quite simply corporate greed.”

“Alone we won’t make a dent on their profits but collectively we could.”

According to 2024 interim results, Diageo made an operating profit of €3 billion in the last six months of 2023.

Kavanagh’s said it was starting its protest by pulling its Rockshore and Hophouse taps.

The pub noted that is was also absorbing the price hike on Guinness for all customers paying in cash – the third time it has done so in 18 months.

It means customers will still be able to get a pint of Guinness for €5.

“A good portion of our customers are senior citizens who never moved to the modern card & tap era, so for them, they can still come in with €20 cash & have four pints,” the pub said.

When Diageo announced the latest price hike last month, the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) described it as a “hammer blow” to the pub trade.

Diageo has been contacted for comment.