Nestled in the heart of a North Shore residential area, the club has been a local for hundreds of members for nearly three decades.

But a nationwide smoking ban, imposed by the Government last July, has stubbed out the social club’s fortunes, forcing owner David Hall to close its often-crowded concert room.

“The smoking ban is killing clubland, not only in Blackpool, but across the UK.

“I remember a time – not that long ago – when this place was packed every night.

“Now we are lucky if we get a handful of people.

“The smoking ban has killed this place. The Government should have thought more about the laws before they brought them in.”

His wife Barbara, 68, said: “There’s always been a real community spirit about the place. We have met so many of our friends here, friends for life.”

Customer Carol Ramsden added her best wishes to the owner. She said: “It’s such a shame for everyone but the smoking ban is to blame.

Source: Blackpool Gazette. Link

The ban on smoking in enclosed public places has caused controversy, but what if you couldn’t smoke in the place where you lived?

Life in a typical mental health unit is not exactly festooned with luxuries. Like all hospitals, they can seem cold, clinical and austere places to many patients.

And life is about to get worse for many of those held in a unit. By 1 July 2008 they must all be smoke-free. Prisons, on the other hand, will remain exempt from the smoking ban.

The move is likely to anger many patients, who are not allowed to leave the unit and are not being punished for any crime. Already three are taking legal action over their right to smoke.

The patients argue the hospital is effectively their home and therefore they should be able to smoke. The new rules even prevent them smoking in the grounds.

“You have the choice to smoke in prison, but not in a mental hospital,” he says. “But prisons are there for punishment, and hospitals are there for treatment.”

“People who use mental health services are twice as likely to smoke as those who do not, and some may use this as a means of coping with distress,” she says.

And there is even an argument that suddenly being made to give up smoking could worsen their problems, suggests Dr Chris Allen, a consultant clinical psychologist.

“If they’re using smoking as a way of assistance to cope with their mental health problems, and then that’s taken away, that could lead to problems being exacerbated.”

Source: BBC News. Link

A SECOND social club in Blackpool has closed blaming the smoking ban for driving members away.

And its owners today warned others will follow.

The curtain will come down on the Claremont Theatre Club on Friday after two decades.

Claremont owner David Hall said in its heyday his Sherbourne Road club boasted 1,000 members. Numbers have now dwindled to just 100.

He said: “I’ve had days recently when I’ve only taken £20 all day and you can’t survive on that. The smoking ban has crucified my business, and it’s doing the same to everyone.

He said: “I’ve had days recently when I’ve only taken £20 all day and you can’t survive on that. The smoking ban has crucified my business, and it’s doing the same to everyone.

The Central Club closed just a few weeks ago.

A statement from management at the once hugely popular venue said: “We regret that due to increased running costs, government legislation and the smoking ban we are now closed.”

Julie Sandwell, of Blackpool-based Sandwell Entertainments which books acts for venues including social clubs, said business was the toughest it had ever been in the agency’s 27-year history.

She said: “It’s a real shame the Claremont Theatre Club is closing. I have definitely noticed quite a drop in business because of the smoking ban.

Meanwhile, there are a number of pubs in the resort currently shut including The Bloomfield on Ansdell Road, the Oxford in Oxford Square, the former Lionel Vinyl’s in Clifton Street, the Royal on Marton Drive and the Cedar Tavern in Cedar Square.

Source: Blackpool Gazette. Link

The smoking ban has reduced the profit of the average tenanted licensee by 10%, analysts at Goldman Sachs have claimed.

Source: Morning Advertiser. Link

THE first pub in Lynn has fallen victim to the smoking ban with news that the Hogshead is to close.

Laurel Pub Company yesterday confirmed that the Hogshead, opposite Debenhams, would be closing on Tuesday.

“We are working to try to relocate our eight employees where possible, however in some cases this will lead to redundancies.” (What a nice way of saying they’ll be losing their jobs.)

Lynn’s club and pub scene is about to change with Presnell’s Club in Millfleet closing within the next fortnight.

Source: lynnnews.com. Link

Gala Coral is the latest bingo operator to close a handful of its clubs after the smoking ban and new gaming laws ravaged the number of punters, forcing the industry into a major rethink of strategy.

The company, which owns 169 clubs, will close the doors for good at five of its worst-performing sites this weekend.

West Granton in Edinburgh, Winton in Bournemouth and Bedminster in Bristol will be among the clubs closed.

Last year, Gala’s rival, stock market-listed Rank, closed 17 clubs.

Source: This Is Money. Link

THE number’s up for an Edinburgh bingo hall that has been forced to close after an 80 per cent drop in players since the smoking ban.

Gala Bingo, in West Granton, once boasted around 8000 customers a week – but numbers have slumped to as low as 1500 since the ban came into force.

On Saturday night, the decision was finally taken to close the club, which opened 12 and a half years ago.

The Bingo Association, the body representing the game, said around 40 clubs across the UK had closed in the past year.

Paul Talboys, the association’s chief executive, said 189 clubs across the UK are currently under the threat of closure.

Link

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — Regent Inns Plc, the U.K. owner of the Walkabout pub chain, said first-half profit fell 71 percent after an English ban on smoking in bars and pressure on incomes hurt spending.

Net income dropped to 599,000 pounds ($1.2 million), or 0.5 penny a share, in the 26 weeks ended Dec. 29 from 2.06 million pounds, or 1.8 pence, a year earlier, the London-based company said today in a statement. Sales rose 4.2 percent to 76 million pounds and fell 3.8 percent at outlets open at least a year.

Source: Bloomberg. Link

Violence in pubs in Preston city centre is being pushed on to the streets because of the controversial smoking ban, police warned today.

Insp Steve Evans said the sudden increase of smokers lighting up outside pubs and restaurants since the ban on July 1 last year has “provoked” trouble in the city centre.

He warned innocent smokers could fall prey to yobs intent on causing trouble by picking fights in the street.

And today, Lancaster police chief, Chief Supt Tim Jacques, said the ban has meant more people are staying at home to drink, sparking more violence in homes and neighbourhoods in the city.

“It stands to reason. If there are 20 people stood outside in the street, someone walking the streets looking for trouble has more people to encounter and a bigger choice.”

He added: “We are not saying smokers are responsible for violent behaviour - but those people stood outside having cigarettes would normally have been in pubs and not encountered the troublemaker.”

Ronnie Fitzpatrick, landlord of the Dog and Partridge, Friargate, Preston, said: “I think there is less tension in pubs because there is more room - the smokers are outside so not as many people bump into each other, which was often a source for trouble.”

Source: Lep.co. Link

Two millions adults are going out to pubs and bars less as a result of the smoking ban, according to new research.

The survey of 2,098 adults warned that the “drinking man’s pub” was under threat with 16% of those surveyed admitting to going out less due to the smoking ban.

Mintel says the sample equates to two million of the adult population shunning their local boozer to smoke at home.

“Those that are being worst hit are bingo halls and the smaller independent, more traditional pubs because their customers are amongst those who are most likely to smoke.”

Cater Research. Link

Patio heaters could be banned by the European Union over fears that they are contributing to global warming.

Euro-MPs will today vote on energy efficiency proposals to phase out the sale of the popular gas-burning appliances which are increasingly found outside bars, cafés and restaurants since the indoor smoking ban.

But the proposal has been attacked by publicans, who say bars and pubs need the heaters for customers driven outside by smoking bans.

The trade has invested £86.5 million in heaters over the past 12 months and a ban could cost pubs, cafés and restaurants an estimated £250 million a year in lost business.

Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, said: “Not content with devastating the pub trade with the illiberal and ill-informed smoking ban, these autocratic busybodies now want to make smokers stand in the cold and the rain.

A UN climate expert questioned the usefulness of a ban.

“The overall impact of outdoor heaters on global warming and greenhouse gas emissions is very minimal,” said Dr Eric Johnson, of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

(This has nothing to do with climate change. That’s just being used as an excuse to go after smokers and make it impossible for them to smoke in public, anywhere. Nicotine Nannies can’t stand the idea that pubs are still accommodating them, and will use any excuse to prevent it.)

Source: The Telegraph. Link

Landlords are reporting losses of up to £1,000 a week since the smoking ban was introduced.

With the new law now six months old, others are reporting losing a third of their trade as punters shun their local in favour of a can of lager and a cigarette in the comfort of their own homes.

In addition, publicans have reported a rise in complaints about other smells once masked by tobacco.

Tony Ford, manager of The Star Inn in Manchester Street, Kemp Town, Brighton, has seen his takings fall by one third since the ban, despite installing two outdoor areas for smokers.

“British pubs are the best pubs in the world but the new legislation is sucking the soul out of them.”

Julia Millham, of The Kings Arms in George Street, Kemp Town, said regulars hated the ban and trade had dropped by £1,000 a week.

Figures released by the British Beer and Pub Association show sales of beer in British pubs fell by six per cent in the year ending November 2007.

In November alone, sales were down 9.7 per cent on the same period in 2006.

Source: The Argus. Link

SIX months on from the introduction of the smoking ban in England, pub landlords in Worthing say its effects could cause businesses to close.

Landlord Glenn Wheatley, of The Elms in Broadwater, said profits had dropped significantly since smokers were banned from lighting up inside public places on July 1.

But while he believes he will not have to shut his doors anytime soon, he knows of others who are at immediate risk of closing for good.

Glenn, 45, said: “I think it needs to be said that what the government has done has affected our trade.

“It has emptied pubs. They’ve lost their heart.

“There is no atmosphere any more because everyone is shivering outside having a cigarette.

“I should think there are a few who have stopped coming to my pub altogether, and people definitely don’t stay as long any more.

David believes in the next year as many as a third of pubs in the town could be lost due to falling profits.

Source: Littlehampton Gazette. Link

Marston’s Plc, the pub owner that sponsors England’s national cricket team, said sales growth weakened after an indoor smoking ban, becoming the latest industry member to say the measure is hurting revenue or profit.

Sales rose 1 percent at company managed pubs open a year or more in the current fiscal year’s first 16 weeks, Wolverhampton, England-based Marston’s said today in a statement. That was less than a quarter of the previous year’s 4.6 percent gain. Revenue growth slid to 0.1 percent in the most recent eight weeks.

Source: Bloomberg.com. Link

HOW sad to see the front page of the Gazette (December 27), showing all the boarded-up pubs.

I agree with the view of Paul Crease, landlord of the Arun View, that the smoking ban has caused all this.

In its present form, the smoking ban is a hateful, mindless piece of legislation.

Source: Littlechampton Gazette. Link

(Finally, a story on this page to make you smile.)

The minister behind the smoking ban has been forced to move office because of the number of smokers congregating outside her window.

Caroline Flint, health minister when the smoking ban came into force and now welfare minister, said the smell of smoke coming through her window was “overpowering”, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Her husband and office manager Phil Cole told the paper: “There was some kind of ventilation system that we could not close off, so even with the windows closed the smoke kept coming in.”

Flint has asked for a review of the four designated outdoor smoking areas in the courtyard of the Palace of Westminster.

The number of pints served in Britain’s pubs and bars in the run-up to the busy festive period declined by almost 10% as chilly smokers, no longer allowed a cigarette inside a pub, cut short their drinking time or stayed at home.

Pub bosses expected the ban to hit hardest in winter but the November decline is by far the steepest since the restrictions were extended from Scotland into Wales and England last year. UK beer sales in August, the second month of the nationwide ban, were down just 2.5%.

The November figures followed falls of 8.2% and 7.7% for September and October respectively and appeared to hit every type of beer. “All categories fell - there was nowhere to hide,” said Mark Brumby, an analyst at Blue Oar Securities. “Premium ale was down 6.9%, standard ale 9.6%, standard lager 10.4%, premium lager 8.3% and stout 10.6%.”

Source: The Guardian. Link

Since the ban on smoking came into force in England in July, councillors, pub landlords and environmental campaigners said that the litter problem had increased sharply in East Lancashire.

It is said to be particularly on Saturday and Sunday mornings after the weekend nights out, when streets outside pubs are littered with discarded cigarettes.

But it is not just the night-time economy that is affected - the outsides of many offices and workplaces have similar piles of fag ends.

Mr Southam said: “Unfortunately it’s one of these things that the Government dictate to the country without thinking about the consequences on everybody.”

Source: This Is Lancashire. Link

The smoking ban is proving to deter new bingo players and leading to a decline in bingo players visiting bingo halls. According to research done by the St Minver bingo network the ban is having a surprisingly extreme affect on attendance. According to statistics from Leigh Nissim, managing director, one in three less bingo players are going to be present at halls and a staggering 63 percent are playing online and avoiding being in physical spaces where they cannot play bingo and smoke accordingly. Although the smoke free bingo halls will be of interest to some, the general affect of the ban is one that is thoroughly discouraging many players from leaving their homes, because of the removal of this small luxury. According to Nissim, it seems to him that land based bingo clubs are most likely to suffer in the wake of the smoking ban. Not only do players disagree with the ban, but they are less likely to visit clubs as a result. Openly admitting the ban has been good for a small percentage, the general consensus is that the ban has been more detrimental than positive.

Source: Bingo Player Online. Link

A ban on smoking has cut sales in bars and pubs, according to new sector survey. The Association of Travel and Restaurant Services says that income for pubs has dropped more than predicted.

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

Licensees in South Devon have blamed the smoking ban for an increase in rowdy behaviour and noise.

“There have been more fights and problems since the ban than in the last eight years,” Kelly Townsend of the Old Coaching House told the Herald Express.

“In the last six months we have had to call the police three or four times and we have had to break up a lot of fights. It happens at least once a week and all the trouble starts out the back in the smoking area.

He added: “Because all smokers now have to share the same area to smoke in, we are seeing higher levels of aggression from groups of people who would not normally have anything to do with each other, but now have to sit together for a smoke.”

Source: Morning Advertiser. Link

The main reason the ban has been bad for the environment is because of pubs’ and bars’ efforts to make smokers more comfortable when they head outside to light up. There has been a significant increase in the number of patio heaters in bars, pubs, and restaurants throughout the UK.

Because of the UK’s generally cold weather, the patio heaters are used an average of 237 days a year. This is the amount of time the temperature is below 15 degrees Celsius.
Environmental groups predict that pub and restaurant patio heaters will produce around 282,000 tons of emissions per year now. That’s a 260,000 ton increase over pre-ban numbers.

Some groups are calling for the patio heaters themselves to be banned in an effort to fight the negative environmental impact they have.

(Congratulations to them for not using the phrase “Global Warming” in this article.)

Source: environmentalgraffiti.com

I AM a professional musician of some 30 years, playing in bars and clubs, and have been dismayed by the effect of the smoking ban. Whereas we were promised that the grateful customers would flock to premises providing a smoke-free environment, the reality has been that I have been playing in mostly empty bars, while the few customers left have been shivering outside in the rain and cold.

I have never seen such a collapse in trade, which happened immediately after the ban and has not improved since. This ill thought out law has destroyed social life in this country at a stoke, as people decide to stay at home, guzzling cheap supermarket alcohol and no doubt smoking in front of their children. I have no problem with restrictions on smoking in shops and other public places, but a total ban in pubs, forcing people to sit outside in the wet and freezing cold, while being denied adequate shelter is surely unreasonable.

Most people I know are upset and angry about this ban, and if it is not reversed it will lead to the demise of many premises which have previously been the hub of the community.

Source: Gazette, Internet Edition. Link

Beer sales in pubs are down 22 per cent because of the smoking ban say the British Beer and Pub Association.

The Labour manifesto promised smoking pubs and non-smoking pubs but after the election they changed their minds and chose to ban smoking almost everywhere.

Some village pubs are saying that sales are down by 50 per cent which means they cannot continue in business.

A bingo hall has been forced to close after 37 years in business.

The Bingorama club in King Street, Belper, closed its doors for the last time on Tuesday.
The club’s operator, Stylus Sports, said that current pressures facing the bingo industry, such as high taxation and the smoking ban, made Bingorama economically unviable.
Managing director Peter Hargreaves said: “I have worked in the bingo industry for nearly 30 years and the current climate is the most difficult I can recall.

“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