THE smoking ban is causing pubs to close down in record numbers.
The situation's dire. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the respected accountancy firm, predicts that 6,000 pubs will close nationally in the next five years.
By imposing a blanket smoking ban on pubs our liberal-fascist State has:
- weakened (perhaps terminally) the important and historic social institution that is the British pub
- forced smokers out onto the pavements (definitely not environmentally desirable)
- forced older people (who'd been going to the pub all their adults lives to socialise with friends over drinks and cigarettes) into social isolation.
No-one is pretending that smoking is entirely healthy - though a good argument can be made for its health-promoting functions as a reliever of stress and a substitute for killer junk food.
The health argument isn't the point. The issue is about freedom and centuries of tradition; it's also about culture and maintaining a healthy social fabric.
The British authorities - and many other governments in the western world - have taken away something rather beautiful with their smoking bans.
What should have happened is that pubs ought to have been given the choice to be smoking or non-smoking venues - or to have separate, enclosed rooms for both smokers and non-smokers, as they used to have years ago.
What's the case now is that more and more people are choosing to stay at home, wearing food-stained casual clothing while watching moronic television and drinking cheap supermarket booze - rather than getting spruced up to visit their local tavern to talk to neighbours in social solidarity.
I know which sort of society I prefer ... and it ain't the slob one.
Now, I don't think the smoking ban is entirely to blame for the decline in the quality and quality of our pubs - but I do think it's about 70 per cent the cause.
The credit crunch is also part of the problem; as is the rip-off duty levied on alcohol sales by the State; as are the chains of greedy pub companies screwing tenants.
The break down in family life and neighbourliness hasn't helped either. That makes potential pub-goers less sociable, less inclined to visit a pub.
Also - and this is a very important consideration - the pubs that remain need to do much more to make customers feel welcome.
I'm not a big drinker, and nor is Posh Boots, but we do like to step out for the occasional sundowner.
Yet in a minority of pubs in Wallasey we encounter grumpy, and in some cases, downright miserable bar staff. They bring our mood down.
Now, I know that running a pub or working behind a bar is hard work and not very well renumerated (I've done it for a living, after all).
But landlords and staff alike need to make an effort to be more pleasant and warm - just, well, more human!
Some of them, however, have faces like smacked a***s and others don't seem to have any personality at all.
Those in the pub trade need to realise that a smile costs nothing - and it might just convince people that it's worth making the effort to go out for a drink every so often.
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Pink Elephant wrote...
Definitely right there. Our local pub where I grew up had swings for the kids, everyone knew the landlord and landlady, and terminally grumpy staff didn't last long. However, it was gradually transformed. The swing-set was a victim of health and safety but it was then used as an excuse not to allow children as there's nothing for them to do, the place was revamped in the identikit winebar colours, "smart clothes" are now required so my dad and the many other local tradesman in the area have had to decamp down the road for their after-work pint and the staff are boorish snobs.
The pub will survive becauuse of it's location and a plentiful supply of yuppies living nearby but anyone with sense has moved to the raucous and friendly pub down the road, where the staff remember you, the beer is cheaper and snobbery is left at the door on the way in.
REGAN REPLIED: That's the spirit, Pinky, keep it real, keep it working class!
Posted by: Pink Elephant | July 18, 2008 1:49 PM