A quiet inquiry at a Dublin pub sparked an obsession. Software engineer Matt Cortland was stunned to be quoted €7.80 – nearly £7 – for a pint of Guinness. It felt…wrong. He knew prices varied, but the discrepancy was jarring, even within the same city, sometimes just streets apart.
That initial shock led to Guinndex, a UK-wide map charting the wildly fluctuating cost of Ireland’s iconic stout. Built with the help of an AI agent named Rachel, the project quickly revealed a stark reality: a “Guinness equator” divides the nation, with prices south of Oxford, Cambridge, and Norwich averaging 73p less than those further north.
Rachel, a surprisingly effective data gatherer, was created by Cortland and Irish AI researcher John Fleming. Surprisingly, many pub staff didn’t realize they were speaking to a bot, responding with everything from outright dismissal – one reportedly told Rachel to “piss off” – to playful banter and even outlandish price quotes, like a cheeky £593.
The data painted a clear picture of a pint increasingly out of reach for many. While Guinness soared in popularity, becoming the top-selling beer in Britain in 2024 and even experiencing a brief shortage due to high demand, the price tag continued to climb. A pint that cost just 93p in 1987 now averages around £4.77 – a staggering 413% increase.
But the rising cost isn’t simply about inflation or supply chain issues. Cortland, a former pub owner himself, suspects a degree of opportunistic pricing, particularly targeting tourists. Individual pubs set their own prices, and the Guinndex map exposes the wide range, revealing some establishments are significantly more expensive than others.
Beyond the price of a pint, the project unearthed fascinating insights into British pub culture. The team cataloged the “weird and wonderful names” of over 46,000 pubs, discovering that “Wellington” is the most common historical name, appearing on 126 signs, followed by “Nelson” and “Robin.”
The prevalence of royal names – 7.2% of English pubs – dwindled as you move further west, hinting at regional identities and historical allegiances. And, perhaps most amusingly, they found 117 pubs with names that could be considered…suggestive.
Guinndex isn’t about shaming pubs, Cortland insists. It’s about transparency, highlighting both the outliers and the hidden gems offering a fair price. It’s a snapshot of a changing landscape, where pubs are struggling with rising costs, pandemic fallout, and even the ripple effects of global conflicts impacting oil prices and, ultimately, the price of a pint.
The project serves as a reminder that the simple pleasure of a Guinness is becoming increasingly complex, a reflection of broader economic pressures and a changing social scene. It’s a story told not through opinion polls, but through the names on pub signs and the prices on chalkboard menus.
