Ok, the price of fuel is more expensive in Ireland, but that’s where the comparison ends. The taxi that took me home from Charlie´s last night at 04.29 am charged me €2.70. The drive is approx. 7 minutes or 3 km. If I got the same taxi in Ireland, it would cost me at least €8.

The Irish taxi drivers tell you that the Canarian taxi drivers are picking up €3 every 10 minutes, but that’s simply not correct. Any night that you want to look out the window of Charlie´s you will see at least twenty taxis waiting for a fare, and if you watch the last one to join the queue, they are waiting at least 40 minutes before moving, and most of the time even longer.

This is a crazy situation where the Irish taxi is way overpriced and the Canarian taxi is way underpriced. If a person sits for a minimum of 45 minutes on a rank at 4am to get a €2.70 fare, there is something seriously wrong! It’s an embarassment to hand a man €2.70 at this hour of the morning, when he drives you home in a spotless Mercedez Benz. I’m not encouraging inflation or ripping people off, but every man is entitled to make a living, and especially those who are working at 4 am in the morning. Why can’t both the Irish taxi driver and the Canarian charge €5 for the fare, with some little adjustment for the price of fuel up or down as appropriate?

There was a time when the Canarian taxi driver was picking up fares every second minute, but that´s history now. The reasons are either because they issued more taxi licences, or there are less tourists around. They may have issued more licences to cover peak times, but I still got a taxi on the last day of July (peak season) at 4 am for €2.70.

This is simply not right. Can someone fix this, please? I have Charlie´s Bar here in Lanzarote and I don’t want to see prices going up on anything for tourists, but I also don’t want to see people’s souls being broken while trying to make a living to support their families.

Charlie´s is the best live music venue on all the Canarian islands and we don´t rip people off with the price of drink. ENJOY!

Someone wake up fast please, both in Ireland and the Canaries….

Hi folks, I just read an article on the Examiner about Tesco slashing prices in a price war to counteract the fact that Lidl and Aldi are gaining market share in Ireland, big time.

Just take a minute to consider that without Lidl and Aldi, Tesco would have screwed you to the f*cking bone. Lidl and Aldi deserve our support for two reasons: the first is that they have overheads to a minimum, which allows them to sell their produce as cheap as possible, and the second is that Tesco would ride you into the
ground if given half the chance, and they are only cutting prices because they are forced too. Every business is entitled to make a profit, but greed is a different story.

Support the people that have their costs to a minimum and operate a tight shop and pass the value of their cost-cutting on to the consumer, regardless of opposition or competition. Don’t think Tesco are doing you any favour slashing prices – they wouldn’t have done this without pressure from Lidl and Aldi. Tesco have screwed you for long enough because they *could*. Bill Clinton was asked why he had sex with Monica Lewinski, and
he replied “because I could“. You have to give a human power to know who he is.

Some of the bars put up their prices in May here in Lanzarote, but Charlie´s Bar didn’t. This leaves us along with the Craic´n Ceol in a position that,we hope, the public here on holidays will appreciate, and that we offer value for each and every Euro spent.

Unlike Tesco, we don’t have 12 months a year to prove our point because most people are only here for a week or two, but just maybe people will cop on…

Watch your Euro – you worked for it.

O Murchú