From today's Evening Standard:
Samuel Thompson's claim (Fri) that the smoking ban has improved pubs and bars is only true if you think they should be dreary places no one would want to stay in for long.
Steve Lustig.
Monday, 20 October 2014
Reader's Letter Of The Day
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1 comments:
The effect of the smoking ban wasn't just that the smokers left. Pubs are human networks and when some people leave a network, it lowers the value of that network to others. And regulars were often smokers.
You lose some regulars, the other, non-smoking regulars stop going as there's less people to have a chin wag with.
And then you've got people like me, people who aren't regulars but would pop in on a dog walk and have a swift one, talk to a couple of the regulars. Without that, it's no fun. It's just having an expensive alcoholic drink.
And what really sticks in my throat is how the people who passed this are the sort of people who are always banging on about community cohesion, and they managed to wreck one of the centres of community in many areas. There are hardly any rural pubs left near me. Those that are give high priority to diners.
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