First off we stopped taking wages and started using our savings to live on. Then we re-wrote the mortgage on our house and opened a home equity line of credit.

Six months into the ban our business had dropped off by 41%.

By November of 2006 we had to drop our Liquor License Insurance (Dram shop), because we could no longer afford it. At the end of our fiscal year the business was down by 26%. The ban had been in effect for only 4 out of 12 months.

Our adjusted gross income for 2006 was $914.00.

We went from a comfortable life style to zero in less than a year.

In 2007 we saw our business continue to fall off. We sold off other property at a loss and used the money to go on. We dropped our property insurance because we could no longer afford to pay that. We ran the last year of business without any insurance of any kind.

On January the first we celebrated our 40th. Anniversary at Billy’s Inn. My wife’s father ran it for 19 years. In 1985 I left the unions because I was tired of rebels dictating policy in my life. I swore no one would ever dictate policy in my life again. I started running the business in 1985 for my father-in-law. In 1987 we took over the business and have been there ever since. Twenty three years down the drain. I am now sixty two years old and I have to find a job till I can retire at sixty six. Little did I know that the next rebel would be in our own legislature.

After the sale of the business our government taxed us 21% on what we could sell.

Then our government penalized us 25% because we retired three years to soon.

Since closing. One of my bartenders has a wife and four children. He has been homeless since the spring of 2008. In February of 2009 they got into a two bedroom apartment. With four children that is real cozy.

One of the other bartenders, (An unwed mother of two), is also now losing her home. Her new job at Walgreen’s does not pay what she received as a bartender.

Another had a killing outside the bar while they were smoking. Two families destroyed by the smoking ban. There was no bartender or owner outside to intervene.

63 bars, 478 employees, 1 casino, 62 employees, 2 nightclubs, 46 employees, 1 bowling alley, 3 pool halls, and 16 bingo halls all closed. Number of employees un-known.

Venders such as Fender Entertainment gone. Lisa Fender booked entertainment for bars and taverns. Businesses could not afford the entertainment venues so it cost her the business.

In 2006 there were 44 bingo halls, now there are 28 left. The non-profits, who could least afford it, are the biggest losers. The losses are in the millions.

What ever happened to love thy neighbor? Or live and let live. Is this truly the American way?

Source:  Letter to The Smokers Club.  Link.

Additinal Source: The Denver Post.  Link.

that’s a key finding of CGA’s survey of recent closure rates nationally.

The figures are broken down by Parliamentary constituency as part of the campaigns by the British Beer & Pub Association, the Campaign for Real Ale and the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group to show politicians the scale of the closure crisis.

It compares pub numbers in February 2009 with figures from June 2007, just before the English smoking ban, and data from the last general election in 2005.

More than half of constituencies with fastest closure rates since 2007 are in the West Midlands and Scotland. Dudley South lost the greatest proportion of pub stock — 28% (29 pubs).

Big job losses in the West Midlands, and the fact that many of the pubs are smaller and landlocked, have been given as reasons for closures in that region.

The early smoking ban and fears of costly licensing reform have been blamed for above-average closure rates north of the border.

Other reasons given for closures have been a move towards change-of-use, over-regulation and rent levels.

The Cities of London & Westminster has seen the biggest number of closures since June 2007, 30 from a pub stock of 949.

Manchester Central has seen the biggest fall in numbers since the 2005 election, with 50 fewer pubs.

Overall, the study shows there were 61,677 pubs in England, Scotland and Wales in February 2009, down 3,037 in 20 months and 4,271 fewer than in June 2005.

However, restaurants and cafes in shopping malls that do not want to lose smokers as customers are ignoring the ban.

The same applies to the Olivium mall in the Zeytinburnu district where some restaurants are ignoring the ban due to the decrease in customers. The proprietor of a restaurant where smoking is permitted in Olivium said, “[The ban] reduced business by 90 percent. We had 11 employees here, now we have five, it is a shame…

Source: Hurriyet Daily News.  Link

“They’ve served their country, and a lot of them are older veterans,” Carpenter said. “They’re not going to stand outside in 35 below zero weather and smoke. I mean, they’ll sit at home and smoke.”

The Bemidji American Legion has been smoke free longer than most bars in the state. That’s because Beltrami County passed a smoking ban ordinance a full two years before the state did. Club manager Bill Rice said the ban is largely to blame for cutting the club’s business in half.

“We were doing two and a half million in business in gross sales a year,” Rice said. “We’re down to a little over a million this year.”

Rice has had to cut three jobs at the Legion since the smoking ban took effect.

Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association interim director Tony Chesak said it’s clear to him the ban is causing bars across the state to fail.

I’d say, realistically, 200 to 300 licensed establishments, at least, have closed,” Chesak said. “I would think that would be a conservative number.”

Membership in the association dropped about 25 percent this year. Chesak said the promise of non-smokers frequenting bars more often because of the smoke free law hasn’t panned out.

“All the anti-smoking folks had said, you know, you get smoking out of your facilities and we’ll come in droves,” said Chesak. “Well, those droves didn’t come out.” {They never do.}

A poll conducted in September shows Minnesotans support the statewide smoke-free law by an overwhelming 77 percent. Gordon said national studies have found that smoking bans don’t hurt businesses in states that have bans in place. {That’s only true of studies conducted by nicotine nannies or the governments that passed the law. The few studies funded by tavern associations show the real, devastating effects.}

Source: Minnesota Public Radio. Link.

Revenues for casinos in Cripple Creek, along with Colorado’s other gaming towns, have fallen every month this year. In September, Cripple Creek gaming revenues fell 10.3 percent to $12.8 million compared to the same month in 2007, according to the state Division of Gaming. Statewide, gaming revenue was off 18.7 percent in September and 11.4 percent for the year to date.

Source: Hotel Online. Link.

The smoking ban, said Larry Wojdyla, was “the last nail in the coffin” for the downtown business at 418 S. Main St.

“I don’t care if other states (banned smoking) or not, it’s killing a lot of businesses,” he said. “The state should have given neighborhood taverns the option to go smoking or nonsmoking. We have several nonsmoking customers who had no problems coming here.”

After the ban went into effect at he start of the year, Wojdyla said profits fell as much as 25 percent, losing up to $6,500 per month. He said patrons were still coming but staying for less time and, therefore, spending less money.

“My place was a working man’s bar, where people want to sit down, chat with friends and have a cigarette,” he said. “Now people are thinking, ‘Should I go in and spend $3 for a bottle of beer or spend $16 for a 30-pack and smoke at home?’”

In addition to Wojdyla and his wife, their two adult children also worked at Flaherty’s. Now the family has filed for bankruptcy and Wojdyla said they are in danger of losing their home.

Source: Daily Herald.  Link

Lionel Hadland, who has run The New Inn, in New Road, Chippenham, for the past 18 years, said he had not seen a profit for months.

“I am going to have to approach the brewery and see if I can get a reduction in rent as otherwise I am going to have to move on,” he said.

Mr Hadland who runs the pub with his partner Jane, said they had let a member of staff go because they couldn’t afford to pay her anymore.

The Wiltshire Times reported in May how five pubs in Bradford on Avon were being sold off due to a reported fall in trade, some of which was attributed to the smoking ban.

Peter Everleigh, landlord of The Riverside Inn, said he was selling up because the smoking ban had deterred people from going into pubs.

Source: Wiltshire Times.  Link.

Peterson said she is disappointed that the restaurant is closing because she is finishing finals and now has to find another job.

The president of Grandma’s Corporation, Brian Daugherty, said legislation like the smoking ban has deteriorated the state of hospitality jobs in Minneapolis.

Source: Minnesota Daily. Link

The most startling statistic is that 10% of pubs are operating at a loss or zero profit.

Also, as many as 78,000 full and part-time jobs may have been lost if the survey results replicate the situation across the 50,000 pubs in England and Wales.

The survey found the average profitability of a pub had slumping by almost 15% in the past year to £24,180.

Of equal concern is that more than half of survey respondents (54%) predicted profitability falling even farther over the coming year.

Nearly six out of 10 pubs (57%) had been forced to shed staff, with an average of 2.75 redundancies per pub.

Pubs where trade was down reported falls ranging between 5% and 40% with the average drop being 18%.

The figures indicate that claims about pubs being repatriated by non-smokers after the ban were over-optimistic.

Source: Morning Advertiser. Link

The bar, in Chapel Road, is one of several Yates ear-marked for closure around the country.

Owners, the Laurel Pub Company, which owns more than 400 pubs and restaurants nationwide, said: “We are closing due to the affect of the smoking ban and difficult trading conditions.”

The company says it will be helping the 12 staff to find new jobs. The spokesman said: “Where possible we try to re-locate our staff.”

The Argus has reported landlords reporting takings dropping by £1,000 a week in some pubs. Littlehampton appears to have been one of the worst hit areas with five pubs being forced to shut.

A survey by the Campaign for Real Ale revealed 56 pubs a month are closing across the country.

Source: The Argus. Link

It’s not exactly the venue you’d envision for a Saturday night performance. But Bugg’s Bar in South St. Paul has become the latest stage for a statement.

“We’re doing it because we’ve lost so much business, and we’re trying to get people back out, trying to get them back in the community, trying to get them back in the bars,” said Crystal Bentson, Manager of Bugg’s Bar.

Patrons at Bugg’s Bar paid two dollars for a sticker entitling them to a role in the bar’s production Saturday night. It also gave them an opportunity to light up, if they desired.
You can call it the second act in an ongoing drama. Turns out, dozens of bars across the state are now treating the smoking ban like a brief intermission.

Kenn Rockler of the Tavern League of Minnesota said he’s heard from more than a hundred bar owners looking for the latest way to deal with a ban they say is bad for business. They think they’ve found it, in a once little known exemption in the state smoking ban that allows smoking in theatrical productions.

“Maybe the people who did the exemption weren’t aware what would happen with it,” Rockler said. “But again, those people are the same people that said businesses wouldn’t suffer.

Rockler estimates more than four thousand people have lost their jobs since the ban went into effect on October 1, 2007.

State Senator Kathy Sheran sponsored the law last year, she said the current activity undermines the intention to “protect people from smoke in all of these places.”

“It’s creative, it’s clever, it shows us a loophole in the law that people will want to find their way through,” she said. “But it will require us to find resources to go back.”

(Yeah, damn those hard working business owners who refuse to go out of business. We must punish them!)

Source Kare11. Link

Casino officials claim guests are spending less on entertainment and making fewer trips because of the ban and the casino suffered a drop in visitation compared to the previous six-month average.

Metropolis Mayor Billy McDaniel pointed out Thursday that he predicted when the smoking ban went into effect January 1, that it would have negative consequences on the local economy.

Source: WQAD.com. Link

As casino revenues drop, so do payments to states, revenue which is desperately needed to fund budgets across the country. Can’t the would-be do-gooders relax for once, and allow people freedom of choice?

Source: Online Casino Advisory. Link

There is also a transition period of two years for bars and restaurants that have arranged the smoking areas so that tobacco smoke does not spread to smoke-free areas.

Restaurants that successfully applied for a transitional period to full no-smoking status were found to have actually increased net sales. Bars that have built the special smoking rooms have seen income fall just like those where smoking is totally banned.

In the survey, 15% of establishments said that they have cut back on staff because of the drop in sales.

(In other words, bars that still allow smoking are seeing increased sales.)

Source: Yle.fi Link

Palmers Tavern in Hibbing has been in business nearly fifteen years. Owner John Larson says he’d expected business to take a hit after the new law went into effect and he did immediately.

He says this October he sold nearly thirty percent {less} product than October of 2006.

And the biggest hit was the weekday afternoon crowd.

“The people getting done with work that want to have a couple of beers, a couple of cigarettes, and go home.

These people don’t go out at night, they don’t go out on weekends, this was the only time we’d see them, and many I haven’t seen since October first.”

“Our reps have said they’re at least 30 to 35% down in sales, I do know of a place in Orr that’s already begun laying off people because of it.”

He says pull tab sales are also nearly thirty percent lower than normal.

“I see the same regular players but don’t see them gambling as much, some would spend several hundred a night, and now instead of playing for three hours they’re here maybe an hour.”

The non-smokers who frequent the bar, he says, are happy with the new rules.

But those are people that are there several times a week. He hasn’t seen any new customers taking advantage of the smoke-free environment.

“I’d be interested in asking the non-smokers that say they haven’t come out in ten, fifteen years that stood in front of the county and said, we’re ready to go out. Geez, I’d like to see it – we’ve been here for 15 years, now we’re smoke free, you wanted it so here it is!”

Source: Northland News Center. Link

“If the Government continues failing to address the inequality of trading position that bingo clubs currently face, many local communities will see a familiar social facility disappear from their towns for good.

“It is with much regret and sadness that we have been forced to close Bingorama with the resulting loss of jobs and social facilities for local residents.

“I should like to thank all our staff and customers for their support over the years.”

Source: Evening Telegraph. Link

On Sunday nights, the Electric Cowboy has ‘College Night’ which is the only night those under 21 can enter and the only night it is smoke free.

The health department’s interpretation of the law says this is illegal. Van Veelen believes this is up for debate and will be debated in the next legislative session.

Van Veelen believes the law was written without thinking of consequences. Another unintended consequence is having to lay off those under 21 if the establishment allows smoking. He’s had to lose about ten employees and thinks this is another part of the law that needs to change.

(Once again, the nicotine nannies protect workers right out of a job.)

Source: wate.com. Link

But manger Chad Hensley says he thinks their decision to allow smoking and go 21 and up on customers will pay off in the long-run.

For now, Hensley says he’s more preoccupied with hiring employees to replace the seven underage employees he lost.

All of them were under 21 and couldn’t work at Charlie Peppers anymore there since it now allows smoking.

“I lost a pretty good amount of very dedicated employees,” Hensley says.

One of the restaurant’s former cooks spoke with 6 News Wednesday, saying the law is unfair and he didn’t expect to lose his job.

“It’s rough when you lose your job any time, especially when you weren’t fired, you didn’t quit, and you weren’t ready to lose it,” says Andrew Sayne, 20. “I put my heart and soul into the job.”

(How dare he be ungrateful to the nicotine nannies who cost him his job. Doesn’t he know they’re doing it for his own good?)

Hensley says the restaurant made the decision to go 21 and up because Charlie Peppers has more of a night time bar atmosphere, and a good number of his patrons want to drink and smoke.

Analysts say that smokers spend on average 10% of their playing time on cigarette breaks, and aside from the time lost, once they have left the table, they are less likely to return, after mulling over their losses. Whereas players used to use the slot machines in the breaks, they are now more likely to head outside for a smoke.

In the summer, Gala, Britain’s biggest bingo network, forecast the closure of around 7% of its 170 clubs, due to the predicted impact of the smoking ban. In September, Mecca Bingo announced it was cutting 200 jobs as it struggled to cope with falling profits.

Source: Casino Times. Link

At Jay’s Lakeside Inn on Tytus Avenue, not too many patrons were at the bar at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

“This bar used to be packed this time of day,” said owner Jimmy D. Valentine.

“Guys who used to come in and drink two or three bottles of beer, now they go home and drink,” he said.

Valentine blames the smoking ban for losing $4,000 a week. He’s cut positions and pay to keep his business afloat, he said.

{The article then tells how it appears to be good for a bowling alley. So this reporter found two whole businesses to report on. Wow, that’s some impressive reporting.}

Link

In Scotland, 10 clubs have already closed down since the ban was enforced last April – and more are set to follow.

“The effect of the smoking ban in Scotland’s been a lot worse than we thought it was going to be,” says Neil Goulden, chief executive of Gala Bingo.

“We’ve actually now lost 8% of our customer base who have stopped coming altogether.”

“When you look at a loss of around 40% of your bottom line, that’s devastating, and I’m not sure as operators where we move from here,” Mr Lowe says.

Mr Lowe has already taken drastic measures by closing down two of his seven clubs, and he fears for the future.

Now, with less than six weeks to go before the smoking ban comes to England, the big companies are bracing themselves for closures.

Gala’s chief Mr Goulden predicts trouble ahead for the industry.

“We could have 200 bingo clubs closing. This could mean an enormous number of job losses and loss of amenity to local communities.”

Source: BBC News. Link

In a court filing Friday, the lawyers also said the ban has triggered layoffs and caused fights among patrons who go outside to smoke.

The state also argues the Legislature had valid reasons for exempting casinos, including the 100 million dollars they generate for the state every year.

Source: kktv.com. Link

Source: The Scotsman. Link expired.

In response to a poll conducted this summer, dozens of bar owners told his association they were going broke, Sergakis said.

The 1,500 bar owners who responded to the survey reported a 30-per-cent drop in revenues from alcohol sales, video-poker terminals, pool tables and food since the no-smoking rules went into effect May 31, Sergakis said.

At least 478 full- and part-time jobs have been cut, he added.

Bars outside major cities are hardest hit because their clientele is older and more likely to smoke, Sergakis said.

“Just wait for winter – the effect will be double,” he said. “People won’t want to go outside to smoke in minus 30C.”

Source: Montreal Gazette. Link