On 21/06/2015 15:34, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:


No. The non smoking mafia have at least as much responsibility. Saying the
reason they didn't use a local was because of the smoke. But when it was
banned, still didn't use it.


But there are many pubs still packed out and we have the smoking ban.
And, many of these pubs do not have the smokers acting as unofficial
doormen putting off potential customers from entering the premises.

People are not going to start using a grotty pubs just because there is
no longer smoking. The demise of a failing pubs was probably quickened
by the smoking ban but the ban itself was not the sole reason for the
closure of a single pub.

Before the ban friends and I once did a tour of all the pubs owned by
one (small) brewery and found that around 25% only had a handful of
customers, even on a Saturday evening, and were serving beer well past
its best. While some of these pubs were in rural locations many were on
the outskirts of large towns. We commented at the time that many of
these pubs would be closing soon and it wouldn't be great loss for the
drinking public.






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