SMOKING BAN and PUBS ?

Question

Pubs were full before the smoking ban - Non smokers were not forced to use them yet many did. Now pubs are closing down on a daily basis. Proof the smoking ban was pointless and is the cause of many a livelihood and social meeting places unnecessarily put out to grass. No one gains ?
It is clear the Non smokers have not used the pubs as they said they would if the "filthy smokers" are stopped.

Answer 1

There's a LOT more going on with pubs than meets the eye:



1 Greedy Landlords

2 Smoking Ban (It has been overturned in some countries recently)

3 Supermarkets offering 24 pints of beer for the price of 4 pints as loss leaders.

4 Supermarkets applying the same "Screw them to the floor" principles to breweries

5 Breweries complicit with the supermarket's as they shed responsibilities for maintaining aged property assets in favour of high-volume quick turnaround of product.

6 Increased alcohol sales as alcoholism is slowly but surely developing with home drinking and drinking alone.

7 A complicit government that is lobbied heavily by alcohol producers and supermarkets.

8 Local government setting huge Non Domestic Business Rates by comparison to other traders

9 Breweries turning around remaining tenants and installing them into over-valued businesses then snatching their bonds when they fail.

10 Most importantly.... In Gt Britain, most past revolutionary ideas and movements have been conceived and grown in watering holes. Having most adult males isolated and dependent upon alcohol in their own homes, allows the growth in government corruption whilst ensuring a passive electorate.

Answer 2

Not strictly true, part of the problem here is how much it now costs to actually go out and have a drink, the government and the breweries are as much to blame for dwindling numbers in pubs. There is an organisation called CAMRA campaign for real ale and their figures are something like 46 pubs pubs closing every month, that was long before the smoking ban came into force. There are many other factors besides, not necessarily just because of the smoking ban. I bet you if it was reintroduced tomorrow it wouldn't change much, there's been dwindling numbers for a long time. well that may your experience but not mine, most of the people i know drink beer, and i am fully awake thank you. No need to get shirty. I would just putting across a point.

Answer 3

Now there's probably an actual question hidden there somewhere, rather than a statement with a ? at the end of it...



So now is the question, where is the evidence that it is the smoking ban to blame for the pubs that have closed? Is it not possible that the closures are down to increasing costs due to the economic state in the country.



All of the costs to a pub have been increasing, and most of the customers have less disposable income, meaning less money to spend in said pubs, meaning less profit.



I'm not saying that this is entirely to blame, and this time of year, nobody wants to be huddled up outside in the cold just to have a smoke, but I don't think you can put the entire blame on the smoking ban

Answer 4

You have to look at the bigger picture I think. I used to smoke, but quit about 10 years ago. But I also use the pub on a regular basis, so I've seen both sides of this coin. True, many non-smokers said they didn't use the pubs because of the 'filthy' smoke, and even after the ban, we never saw them come in. Since the ban came in though, we have lost one pub in my village as even fewer people came out for a drink. However, pubs were actually closing on a large scale even before the smoking ban, and I put that down to cheap booze being available in supermarkets.



I always said that there should have been a proper smoking room dedicated purely for those that wanted to be able to smoke, but the loonie Liebour govt thought it was in 'every ones' best interest to ban it all completely indoors - such were their nanny ways. And I don't see the Tories reversing the laws on smoking any time soon. Pubs will continue to close, and I think the govt like the idea of that so we don't all congregate in public houses and plot against them like we do in my local at times.



Many pubs actually closed because breweries charge landlords extortionate rents, and operating costs have gone through the ceiling.

Answer 5

Pubs by me are packed. As a Paramedic there has been no decrease in the amount of drunks we go to in pubs, in fact it has increased. Have you not considered many other businesses like shops and tradesmen are going under? If you are noticing pubs shutting I would put it down to the economy more than the smoking ban.



You bang on about 'adults having a free choice' as to wheather they visit pubs. What about work men? People who fix the pumps, sort the fruit machines, emergency service workers like myself; why should we have to inhale smokers toxins?

Answer 6

I think its more to do with the excessively high alcohol prices and also soft drinks. Who can afford to drink regularly anymore. I passed my local at lunchtime last week and there were about 6 people in there, and it is a nice pub. Half a mile down the road there is a J D Wetherspoons and it was packed out, and thats because the drinks are much cheaper, not the smoking ban.

Answer 7

OK, so how come Wetherspoons (which was one of the first pub chains to bring in a smoking ban, before it was legally required) is always packed to the rafters, even in daytime?



Overpriced drinks/food, and bad service were the downfall of many pubs (both before and after the smoking ban), and the recession has sorted out the wheat from the chaff too.



Round here I can think of dozens of pubs that have closed in the last 10 years, yet hardly any of them were GOOD pubs. They were by and large total dives with bad (or no) food, bad beer, sticky floors, high prices and surly bar staff, as well as customers that may well have stabbed you if you looked at their pint the wrong way. Good riddance.



All of the nice, friendly pubs I know of have stayed open and are doing a roaring trade. The savvy ones have all diversified beyond the usual pint of fizzy brown stuff - even the relatively low end pubs have decent menus and a good choice of guest ales, and Wetherspoons sells more coffee than Starbucks now.



I'm a non-smoker, I love pubs, and I love the ban. Maybe you want to go back to the days of sawdust covered smoky dives full of shady characters coughing up phlegm and barmen with f*ck-off attitudes, but I'll stick to 2010 thanks. The pubs that have closed are the ones we are well rid of.

Answer 8

Smokers make the choice to smoke. If they can't hold off an hour or two for a couple of drinks, then that says a lot about their lack of will power and self-discipline. They can always nip outside if they're that desperate.

Non-smokers in a pub previously had no option other than to breath in the carcinogenic second hand smoke of others.

The ban was a good decision.



Edit: I'll phrase that better: When in a pub smokers do not have to smoke. Non-smokers have no option but to breath in smoke-contaminated air if smoking is permitted.

Answer 9

I'm a smoker, and I don't think that the smoking ban is to blame for the closing of loads of pubs, I think it's more to do with the fact that everyone is skint and can't afford to get pissed all the time. There was a certain continental romance about walking into a room full of smoke and drunkards, I do miss that.

Answer 10

Soon the do-gooders will think of another chance to moan and whine and theyll ban drinking in pubs next. If you dont smoke then dont go in an area where people are smoking and stop all contact with people who smoke then that way you cant whine and moan

Answer 11

The smoking ban was never meant to go as far as it did. I would have thought that it was up to the person running the business to decide how best his/her pub could make a profit. There is no proof whatsoever that passive smoking causes any harm. No doubt it is unpleasant for non smokers, but so is walking along a busy street with the stench of traffic fumes. The sensible option would have been to have smoking and non smoking areas, with extractor fans for the smoking side. It should also be remembered that smoking masked other odours. Many people have reported that night clubs and various places now stink of body odour. It should also be noted that the amount of people that congregate outside of public houses of an evening make it very daunting for passers by, not to mention the amount of cigarette ends that end up on the pavements. It's time to let the landlords decide whether they wish to remain non smoking establishments or revert back to smoking establishments. It may well be that some are quite happy to stay with the ban, but I suspect many, especially those that have remained public houses and not turned into restaurants, would choose to change back.

Answer 12

When I buy a meal in a pub, however good it was it's ruined if I have to breathe in others smoke, I think the smoking ban is great when numpties buy cigarettes they buy the right to ruin their health NOT mine!

Answer 13

Whenever Im in pubs they are usually busy.



There usually is are a lot of smokers they just go outside to smoke.

Answer 14

It's just another sign of sick socialism. Women have always wanted to tell men what to do. Part of the bigger picture of the "dumbing down" of America. For every patriotic, common since WWII veteran we lose, an idiot pops out to replace him. Women and homo's gain positions because they are by nature social people and try their best to turn the world into their delusional utopia. Minorities get "set aside seats, EEO and affirmative action placement. The U.S is becoming so dumb and emasculated, we're not sure how long we can fight off the flies and hyena's. Add a factor of being led by a self seeking president and we have all the ingredients of a third world country in the making.



Just Look, we can't even fight off a few drug cartels from the south! Now, to add insult to injury, mr.prez signs bills for the demise of the military. I rest my case.

Answer 15

The biggest problem with empty pubs has been caused by greedy landlords. Lots of them are asking £50,000 a year rent. so the publican has to ask exorbitant prices just to make ends meet.