Challenges remain but new VFI President from Offaly is optimistic

When John Clendennen was elected as President of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) earlier this week he posted a picture of himself as a fresh-faced eight-year-old standing behind the bar in his father’s pub in Kinnitty and wearing an Offaly t-shirt.

“I’ve been steeped in the pub trade since I was knee-high,” he admits, “so I am well aware of the many issues affecting publicans up and down the country and it is a great honour for me to be in a position to represent their views at national level.”

With a Degree in Hotel Management and a Masters in Marketing under his belt, John Clendennen – who is also a Fine Gael councillor – brings a wealth of experience to his new role. Having worked all over the world in global sales for Starwood Hotels & Resorts, he returned to his native Kinnitty ten years ago to take over the running of Giltraps pub for his father, Percy, and has never left since.

“The plan was to stick around for about two years and then to head off to Beijing to work, but I’m still here and next year we will be celebrating 50 years in business,” he says. He got married during Covid – with eight guests at the wedding – and he and his wife, Elaine, who is a pharmacist, welcomed their first child, Percy, into the family in January 2022.

Since taking over the running of the family business, John Clendennen has transformed it, and has been continually adding to the tourist offering available to people visiting the picturesque village of Kinnitty and the Slieve Bloom mountains. He opened one of the first glamping sites in Ireland in 2015, which offers 11 glamping units, and the tourist offering also includes Giltraps Townhouse which has five en-suite bedrooms and can accommodate up to 14 guests. When he took over the running of Giltraps pub, which dates back to 1898, John Clendennen was following in the footsteps of his father, Percy, who began working there as a very young man and eventually took over the running of the business from Fan Giltrap in 1974. “We even have the original pub licence from 1898 displayed in the pub,” notes John.

Even though he now runs the business alongside his sister, Eleanor, and with the help of 16 full and part-time staff, he says it is often a case of “all shoulders to the wheel” for the wider Clendennen family in what is essentially a family business and it has “never been the case” that his family were not involved. Both of his parents, Percy and Phil, as well as his other siblings, Mark and Grace, often have “kitchen table meetings” with John and Eleanor and have a keen interest in the future direction of the business.

Prior to this week’s AGM, the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland carried out a survey among publicans which found that almost 75% of publicans outside Dublin expect their turnover this year to return to, or exceed pre-pandemic levels. Despite this encouraging statistic, the new President of the VFI says the sector still faces many big challenges.

Chief among these is the cost factor and the steep increase in energy prices has presented many new challenges for publicans. John Clendennen would like to see more focus being placed on green energy solutions and would like to engage with government on putting together some sort of grant aid for the installation of air to water heat pumps, solar PV panels and EV charging points and says publicans could be “leaders in this space” if a proper grant package could be put in place.

“We are in the process of going green in our own business at the moment and we no longer use oil,” he says. In relation to the installation of EV charging points, John points out that very often the local pub is the last business open in a rural location and he says there is “a huge demand” for more charging points across the country for electric cars.

“There is no point in saying we should go green unless the proper infrastructure is put in place first,” he points out.

He is also very keen to address the issue of rural transport and says there is “a complete lack of options” in many rural areas, which affects the pub trade negatively. The new VFI President says he will also lobby strongly for the retention of the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector, and he says publicans also have “serious concerns” about the possibility of deregulation in the sector.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee has signalled the intention of the government to abolish what is known as ‘extinguishment’ – the system that allows a new pub to open only when another permanently closes - but the VFI strongly feels that will threaten the existence of family-run bars and lead to large pub chains opening in rural towns and villages.

John Clendennen says the pub trade has “changed significantly” in recent years and particularly since Covid, with many licenced premises now offering food, music, sporting events, coffee, craft beers and even accommodation, and he sees this trend continuing into the future.

“If you look at a pub from 20 years ago, the only thing on offer was alcohol, but now a pub is a very important social hub for locals and tourists alike and people have come to expect so much more than just a pint,” he says.

Having invested heavily in his own business in recent years, including doubling the size of the premises during Covid and adding an outdoor courtyard, John Clendennen says he views this investment as being “an investment in Kinnityy also, and in the wider Slieve Bloom area” as it serves to attract more tourists and day trippers to the area.

“We have a very strong loyal, local trade, but we also depend on our out of town trade and we have to meet the market demand because I know for definite that if we had continued going as we were we wouldn’t be here today,” he says.

50% of the membership of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland is aged 55 or over, but John Clendennen hopes that, as a young President of the organisation, he can introduce innovative new ideas to the membership and he intends to be a strong and effective leader during his two year term of office.

“There are certainly big challenges ahead,” he says, “but the only way we can make progress is by working collectively.”