Smoking ban still annoying publicans...

A year on and still people are getting their knickers in a twist over the smoking ban. Despite reports (admittedly stinking of Government bias) claiming that up to 400,000 lives have been saved since the advent of the unpopular initiative, it seems that the landlords of this wonderful country, well, London at least, have decided quite adamantly that the ban is one of the worst afflictions to trouble mankind since the bubonic plague, television talent competitions, or, dare we say it, even the Daily Mail.

According to the latest reports, 75% of London's publicans would like to see a reversal of the ban, mainly due to the fact that they feel they've lost business since it came into effect. Other reasons put forward as to why they feel so smitten include a strange olfactory nostalgia for the smell of stale tobacco on their clothing, 50% less wheezing and spluttering interrupting their conversations, and an estimated decrease in the number of cigarette-chiselled voices adding a degree of 'character' to the people that surround them. Dear, oh dear.

The research was carried out by the pub trade newspaper, the Morning Advertiser. Two thousand consumers and three hundred licensees were questioned in total. 78% of drinkers said that they considered the smoking ban to be a good thing, whereas 71% said that they felt pubs were a better place because of the move. Licensees, on the other hand, took an adverse stance to their patrons, with 77% saying that they had lost business because of the move, and 73% saying that they would overturn the move if they could.

Morning Advertiser editor Andrew Pring said that: "It is great to hear that consumers now prefer the pub environment and clearly most landlords have really raised their game. But we have seen record pub closures despite the great strides made to improve quality and service to help counter the effect of the ban because people cannot afford to visit the pub as often."

Photo: Flickr

Written by Oli Anderson on 1 Jul 2008 2:54 PM. Permalink