Pub sales soaring despite ban on smoking
Nuff said. Presumably the silent majority of non-smokers who previously didn't like going to pubs are coming out to drink.
There are cautionary words about rural pubs in the article, which only appears to canvass opinion and statistics from the pubs in Scotland's cities. We went in a couple of rural pubs this weekend, and our limited experience indicates that there will be a trade off between regular smoking (and drinking) clientele and passing trade, often consisting of families with children, who are more likely to eat in pubs with the smoking ban in place. That was certainly our experience, as we were with a family with a child who would have sought out different places to eat if the pubs had not been smoke free.
There are cautionary words about rural pubs in the article, which only appears to canvass opinion and statistics from the pubs in Scotland's cities. We went in a couple of rural pubs this weekend, and our limited experience indicates that there will be a trade off between regular smoking (and drinking) clientele and passing trade, often consisting of families with children, who are more likely to eat in pubs with the smoking ban in place. That was certainly our experience, as we were with a family with a child who would have sought out different places to eat if the pubs had not been smoke free.
posted by BondWoman at 11:12 am
2 Comments:
i am all for banning smelly horrible habits that cause pollution, bad smells and direct and indirect deaths
lets ban driving
Thank you very much, Cliff. Yes, we had a lovely weekend. I didn't want to come home. The photos, which we will doubtless upload to flickr, will demonstrate that the weather was largely wonderful. Anyway, back to the topic in hand. Fair points, Cliff, but I don't think that catering to a wider audience necessarily means producing an identikit lacking-in-atmosphere pub. The ones we visited in the Oban area this weekend are cases in point. But I recall the conversation we had with the then (I think now departed) landlord of the Craven Arms in upper wharfedale (scroll down a bit to find the Craven Arms) a couple of years ago were a case in point. He was somewhat scathing about the benefits of the local clientele, who - he said - spent hours at the bar smoking and nursing a half pint of ale, and positively discouraging outsiders from approaching the bar. Bit harsh maybe, but you are also a bit harsh on the topic of city/rural relations. Neither of us has a monopoly on the truth!
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