Off-trade news

Winners of NO LA O -Licence of the Year Awards 2022 announced

Barry and Victoria of Galvins Carry Out Carrigaline with Gary O’Donovan, chairman, NOffLA Barry and Victoria of Galvins Carry Out Carrigaline with Reggie Walsh, NOffLA

The National Off-Licence

Association (NOffLA) has announced the winners of its annual Off-Licence of the Year Awards 2022 which is now in its twenty-sixth year. The awards, which are usually held at the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, were hosted online again this year, with plans to return to the in-person ceremony for next year’s event.

NOffLA, which was established in 1991, represents independent specialist off-licences across Ireland, with the sector representing 5,900 jobs in 26 counties. The Awards recognise and showcase the excellence of independent off-licences and highlight those retailers that offer exceptional service to customers and demonstrate excellence in retail standards.

Speaking about the Awards and the standard of entries this year, NOffLA chairman, Gary O’Donovan said: “Tonight is a celebration of all that is great about the independent offlicence sector and community retailing. We are delighted to showcase the high level of expertise and innovation demonstrated by our members and the exceptional standard of service offered to their customers throughout the year. While we are all looking forward to a brighter year ahead, we hope the ethos of ‘shopping local’ and ‘supporting community businesses’ remains.

“The impact of the pandemic and closure of the hospitality sector for the best part of two years has had a devastating impact on the wider drinks sector,” he added. “Their lack of trade has also had signifi cant knock-on implications for our suppliers, as the overall industry has declined signifi cantly.

“In this context, government must now seriously consider policy measures to assist the sector to get back on its feet and this must start with Irish excise rates – which remain the highest in Europe. We now have Minimum Unit Pricing in place, a targeted alcohol pricing policy that prevents alcohol being retailed at dangerously low prices and so >>

The winners at this year’s NOffLA Off-Licence of the Years Awards, as displayed below, represent a dynamic sector, which always strives to deliver the best shopping experience possible:

>> Ireland’s punitively high excise regime can no longer be justifi ed in the name of public health. It is so important that government grants an excise reduction to help support these struggling businesses as they try to re-establish themselves.”

The Awards, which included 36 fi nalists, saw Galvins Carry Out, Carrigaline awarded ‘National Off-Licence of the Year 2022’, O’Donovans Off-Licence Group awarded ‘Responsible Retailer of the Year 2022’ and 64 Wine Glasthule awarded ‘Food Retailer Off-Licence of the Year 2022’.

All 36 fi nalists were awarded certifi cates of ‘Excellence’ based on their performance.

Other awards on the night included:

AWARD

1 The Champagne Ayala Best First Time Entrant 2022 2 The Peroni Nastro Food Retailer Off-Licence of the Year 2022 3 The El Coto Customer Service Award of the Year 2022

FINALIST

Carry Out Ballinasloe 64 Wine Glasthule Molloys Clondalkin

4 The Redbreast Spirit Specialist of the Year 2022 5 The Guinness Beer Specialist of the Year 2022 6 The Dona Paula Wine Specialist of the Year 2022

Higgins Off-Licence Clonskeagh James Redmond & Sons Ranelagh Jus De Vine Portmarnock 7 The Hennessy Munster Off-Licence of the Year 2022 Carry Out The Reeks Killarney 8 The Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin Connacht/Ulster Off-Licence of the Year 2022 Dicey’s Off-Licence Ballyshannon 9 The Alpha Zeta Leinster Off-Licence of the Year 2022 The Wine Centre Kilkenny 10 The Bombay Sapphire Dublin Off-Licence of the Year 2022 McHugh’s Off-Licence Malahide Road 11 The NOffLA RTC Online Trainee of the Year 2022 Robert O’Brien, McHugh’s Off-Licence Malahide Rd 12 The NOffLA Responsible Retailer of the Year 2022 O’Donovans Off-Licence Group

13 The NOffLA National Off-Licence of the Year 2022 Galvins Carry Out Carrigaline

Thank you

The NOffLA Off-Licence of the Year Awards would not have been possible without the genuine commitment of its sponsors, which is a source of great encouragement to the association.

NOffLA is particularly grateful to the following: • Champagne Ayala (Findlater & Co.) • Peroni Nastro (Richmond Marketing) • El Coto (Mackenway Wines) • Redbreast (Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard) • Guinness (Diageo Ireland) • Dona Paula • Hennessy Cognac (Edward Dillon) • Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin (Dalcassian) • Alpha Zeta (Liberty Wines) • Bombay Sapphire (Edward Dillon) Gary O’Donovan also expressed his sincere thanks to NOffLA’s associate members for their ongoing support of the association. “Supporting a competition that helps our members improve their business is hugely appreciated by us all,” he said, “as you - our suppliers - are playing a proactive role in driving the highest standards possible among our members nationwide.”

The celebrations are a well-earned tribute to all NOffLA members who have demonstrated their commitment to adopting ‘best practice’ as their motto, by putting their names forward for this important awards competition. Expressing his thanks to members for entering, NOffLA chairman Gary O’Donovan said: “It’s not easy to expose your business to third party scrutiny but I take my hat off to you for recognising the ultimate benefi t of doing so.”

O’Donovan also thanked Reggie Walsh and Elaine Langan for the great amount of work they get through on behalf of NOffLA, as well as thanking all of the association’s council members who have given freely of their time to ensure the continued success of the association.

Policy developments outlined in update from NO LA chairman Gary O’Donovan

At the awards ceremony, chairman Gary O’Donovan also gave members an update on recent policy developments

Firstly, Gary O’Donovan outlined the association’s position regarding minimum unit pricing. “Most signifi cantly, you will be aware that minimum unit pricing was commenced at the beginning of this year, following years of postponement,” he said. “We view this as a very welcome development that has been a long time coming.”

NOffLA will continue to call on Northern Ireland to also introduce MUP as a matter of priority, in order to implement an all-island framework.

On the taxation front, NOffLA this year will continue to make the case to government and fi nance representatives for an excise reduction, along with drinks sector colleagues.

“This is an area which we are giving careful consideration to at present,” said O’Donovan, “given that Ireland’s extortionately high excise rates can no longer be justifi ed on the grounds of public health – now that we have MUP in place which is a targeted, public health policy to prevent alcohol being retailed at dangerously low prices.

“The impact of the pandemic and closure of the hospitality sector for the best part of two years have been detrimental to the future viability of the community restaurants, pubs and hotels we all love,” he continued. “Their lack of trade has also had signifi cant knock-on implications for our suppliers, as the overall alcohol market in the country has declined signifi cantly.

“Excise duty increases from a decade ago continue to be felt across the drinks sector and a reduction would support a recovery amongst our colleagues in the hospitality sector and support the commercial viability of all businesses within the Irish drinks sector.”

Gary O’Donovan ended on an optimistic note, anticipating that 2022 will start to see a return to normality for Ireland’s drinks sector. ■