CAMPAIGNERS fighting for the future of the Great British pub are today attempting to alter the controversial smoking ban.

Even the government accepts the legislation has had a huge impact on trade and is allowing bars to claim business rate reductions.

The ban is often cited as one of the prime factors killing pubs - and now a campaign has been launched in Suffolk to try to amend the law.

Jim Adams is behind the bid and is urging regulars at pubs all over the country to sign a petition.

“The smoking ban should be replaced with a rule that would require all public houses to have a room set aside for smokers instead of the really stupid overall ban,” said Mr Adams, who runs Jim and Donna’s Barbers in Hamilton Road, Felixstowe.

“The ban is killing the pub trade and removing from the English way of life one of the most sought after features for tourists coming here. There is no justifiable reason to stop those who wish to smoke from so doing.

“If there is another part of the pub which is a smoking area then the folk who wish to smoke may so do, and those who want a smoke-free area may have the rest of the establishment - including the food area - to themselves.”

The Evening Star is highlighting the loss of pubs in the area - more than 100 have closed in living memory - and the threat many are now facing to their future.

Kate Nicholls, head of communications at the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR), which represents pubs and bars, said: “Last summer’s bad weather and the smoking ban were to blame for a number of closures.

“People are not going to want to stand outside and smoke when the weather is unpleasant and with extremely cheap supermarket drink deals available. It just gives people a reason to stay home.”

Source: Evening Star.  Link

JOHNSTON, Iowa — After a decade in business, the Nest Bar and Grill in Johnston is empty.

The owner, Rich Marx, said the smoking ban drove him out of business.

“We just celebrated our 10 year anniversary last Wednesday and then shut the doors three days later,” Marx said.

“Since the smoking ban went into effect July 1, we’ve lost just over 40 percent of our business,” he said.

Source: KCCI.  Link.

Carpenter works part time at the Legion. He said the smoking ban has driven away business. Pull tab receipts are down and people who used to be regular customers don’t come around as often and they don’t stay as long. Carpenter said veterans especially, should have a right to smoke in their own club.

“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.

Nicholas, aged 44, is a smoker and said he hardly goes to the pub anymore.

“I can get eight cans for a fiver, so I stay at home more now. I think the ban is a negative thing, there will be no pubs left here soon. I can’t see how they will survive. It’s against human rights,” he said.

However, 31-year-old Rebecca, also a smoker, doesn’t mind the ban, and prefers eating out in smoke-free pubs.

She said: “It’s a better environment for people to eat, especially for the little ones.

“But I do think it’s bad in a business sense. I work across the road from a pub and they have been dead since the ban.”

Source: Wales Online. Link

Tini Bigs’ owner Keith Robbins, says cigar smokers enjoyed their lounge for 10 years until the smoking ban killed business. He says, “In the first 3 months of the smoking ban, we were down over 40 percent and for the year we were down over 30 percent, and it hasn’t come back.”

Source: My Northwest. Link

Senate Bill 346 would exempt family-owned business, outdoor patios and private clubs from the current smoking ban.

“The time has come to take this step,” Cates said. “Why? Because this measure is hurting business in Ohio.”

The Moose Family Center has experienced a dramatic drop in business, which management blames on the smoking ban.

Revenue for the lodge is down at least 60 percent since the ban, said Larry Turner, govenor of the lodge. To be successful, they need to bring in about $28,000 a week; last week they brought in $16,000, Turner said.

Turner dismisses claims from the American Cancer Society and other pro-smoking ban groups that have said more customers would be attracted to places where smoking is banned.

“It’s a damn lie. It’s not happening. You can’t find that anywhere in Ohio,” Turner said.

“The law ensures that all business will operate on a level playing field with one fair, statewide standard that is easy to enforce. Furthermore, the intent of the law—to protect all workers from secondhand smoke— was clearly communicated to Ohio voters,” [American Cancer Society Nanny] Hoctor said.

(Ah yes, the famous, favorite line of the nannies, a level playing field. They still haven’t figured out their constant use of the phrase reveals the lie of bans being good for business. If they were, there would be no need for their cherished “level playing field.”)

Source: Cincinnati.com. Link

TAKINGS at some pubs have slumped by up to 40 per cent since the
smoking ban came into force, a shock survey of landlords by The Press
has revealed.

But 17 pubs said trade had fallen because of the ban, in many cases by 20 per cent or more.

Since the start of the year, several pubs - including the Oddfellows
Arms, in Pocklington, and The Phoenix, in George Street, York, have
closed.

Alan Jackson, who has been landlord of the Edward VII in Nunnery Lane,
York, for about five years, said he believed his trade was down by
between 25 and 30 per cent because of the ban.

Source: The Press.  Link.

According to an article in Britain’s Times newspaper, the smoking ban has destroyed the nightlife for bars night clubs in France. The article stated that ever since the smoking ban went into effect on January 1st

the French are prefer to stay home and host house parties. A whopping twenty percent of the 200,000 bars in the nation have been closed down. It is stated that 40,000 bars have been shut down since the onset of the smoking ban. The public is choosing to stay at home, smoke and have fun at house parties as the newly preferred style of night life.

Sabah.com Link.

THE smoking ban is threatening the future of the Flimby Working Men’s Social Club.

The Chapel Street club is being forced to sell of land around it because of financial problems and last week staff hours were reduced and heating regulated in a bid to cut costs.

Secretary Jimmy Langley said the smoking ban kept smokers and non-smokers away.

He said: “Since the smoking ban we have been fighting closure. The non-smokers have been denied the right to a social pint or two without smelling like an ashtray, but when the numbers dropped, many non-smokers stopped coming in because of the lack of atmosphere. If this goes, the village has had it.”

Mr Langley said the club had been on the site since 1927, when it was a Miners’ Welfare and had been central to village life.

Source: Times and Star, UK.  Link

One year ago, the smoking ban - a law some said would devastate Britain’s pubs - came into place.

Punch Taverns
Britain’s largest landlord has had a rotten year. Its shares have collapsed by 70% as beer sales fell 10% with total like for like sales 3% worse and halfyear profits down 20%. Falling volumes and customer numbers have come at a time of rising energy and food costs.

Enterprise Inns
The sprawling tenanted and leased pubs chain includes many thousands of country locals, which have had to work harder to repair the trade of the lost bar-propping smoker. Its shares have fallen 35% in a year - not as much as others because of a likely change in tax status to a real estate which will boost to shareholder dividend payments. Latest reports talk of an upturn in trade, though profits have been falling more than 10%.

Marston’s
Best known for its Pedigree bitter, its pubs include some stalwarts of the City as well as the Pitcher & Piano chain. With the shares more than halved in a year and the latest figures showing profits down by almost 20%, ‘resilient’ was the best that chief executive Ralph Findlay could come up with when comparing his bars with the competition.

JD Wetherspoon
Its shares have cratered 60% since the fag ban, despite it leading the way by banning smoking in much of its estate even before it had to.

No citations so far, but a lot of bar owners say the ban is killing their business.

“I have seen business drop way down - up to 30%,” said Chada.

Source: News 5, KHAS TV.  Link

In Ireland last month a piece of news was quietly slipped out through  the back door that you’ve probably not heard about. The number of smokers among the population has RISEN significantly since the introduction of the Irish smoking ban.

The reasons for this should be clear to all but the heavily blinkered. Prohibition simply does not work. Never has done, never will. Drive something underground and it becomes seductively attractive. Lifetime non-smokers are trying ‘that first cigarette’ so they don’t feel left out when accompanying their smoking friends - you see this all the time outside pubs.

This has come as something of an embarrassment to Irish govt health tzars and the likes of ASH-Ireland who are absolutely furious. “These figures clearly show that no progress is being made despite the immense success of our smoking legislation”, commented Prof Luke Clancy of ASH.

How can ASH declare the ban a ’success’ when all it has achieved is to close around a quarter of Ireland’s pubs, removed choice and destroyed that certain social mystique the Irish were once free to enjoy?

Source: The Publican. Link

A YEAR after the smoking ban was introduced, pub landlords in north and west Wiltshire have described the “detrimental and costly” effect on their businesses.

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.

More than a dozen bars and taverns have shut their doors since smoking was prohibited in almost all businesses, and owners of some bars that remain say revenues have plummeted. Tax receipts on food and drink purchases countywide, however, have increased slightly over the past year, and several clubs have invested heavily to install outdoor beer gardens and patios.

Councilman Tom Didier, R-3rd, disagrees with his former colleague. Didier, who sells food to restaurants and bars, said he’s seen how the ban has hurt mom-and-pop places throughout the city.

“It’s been difficult,” he said. “There are still customers today that are hurting.”

Source: Journalgazette.net. Link

Punch Taverns Plc, the largest U.K. pub landlord, said first-half profit declined 24 percent after the company sold outlets, a smoking ban kept drinkers at home and consumer spending slowed.

The company had never posted a first-half profit decline since its 2002 initial share sale. Rivals Enterprise Inns Plc and J.D. Wetherspoon Plc have also suffered since England banned smoking at bars and other public places in July.

Punch said today it has reduced the number of pubs it owns by 9 percent to about 8,450 since the first half of last year.

Source: Bloomberg.com. Link

Sixty-four per cent of pubs in England are losing trade since the smoking ban was introduced, according to a survey published by YorView on behalf of pro-choice group Freedom to Choose. Of those establishments, 98% blame the smoking ban for some or all of the loss of trade.

Many landlords report that they have cut staffing levels or opening hours. One landlord commented “the smoking ban is just driving people out of pubs.”

Godfrey Bloom MEP, author of the foreword to the report, said: “With over 20 pubs a week closing, I feel a major cultural platform is being removed from the British people.”

Kevin Young has been a bartender at A.C.’s Bar & Grill on King Street for over a decade. He is a non-smoker who has worked in a smoking environment for most of his adult life, until now. Since the smoking ban went into effect, Young has consistently worked eight hours longer than he used to each week and earns roughly $200 dollars less each week. Visiting my friend Kevin at work in the early evening is much easier these days, because the ban has literally cut his bread-and-butter happy-hour shift in half. He says, “Bring back the smokers.”

His boss agrees. Says A.C.’s owner Jim Curley, “Profits in 2007 were down 80 percent compared to 2006, and that’s with the smoking ban being in effect for only half a year.” Jim admits there are other factors for the loss, but the smoking ban is unquestionably the “primary factor.”

Frankly speaking, more than a few experts agree that former Surgeon General Richard Carmona’s contention that exposure to secondhand smoke is as damaging as inhaling a pack-a-day ranks right up there with President Bush’s assertion that Saddam Hussein had WMDs.

As I write this commentary, I’ve actually been sitting in A.C.’s, simultaneously gabbing with Kevin behind the bar who has had only one other customer for the last hour — and that customer just went outside to smoke. It wouldn’t have bothered Kevin or me in the least if he had remained in the bar to enjoy his cigarette, but the government has already made that decision for us. As a grown man, it’s a bit offensive. As an American, it’s a little disheartening. And as a citizen, it’s ridiculous.

There was a time in this country when most Americans would have agreed, even those who hated smoking,
believing that government should have reasonable limits. But in an increasingly unreasonable world, such arbitrary power promises to become increasingly limitless, undermining and overtaking even the most basic American notions of property and principle.

Source: Charleston City Paper. Link

The dire financial state of many pubs is revealed in a survey of 500 tenants carried out by the MA.

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 Laurel Pub Company, owner of some of the country’s best-known high street bar brands, has collapsed. The development comes as breweries and pub chains blame the ban for encouraging smokers to stay at home rather than visit their local.

Some 388 pubs were placed in administration this week, though a rescue deal orchestrated by the company’s colourful owner, the Iranian property investor Robert Tchenguiz, will ensure the brands survive.

According to the British Beer and Pubs Association, the smoking ban in England and Wales combined with the credit crunch and a decline in drinking are responsible for closing pubs at their fastest rate in history – 27 a week.

The Massive Pub Company, which owned the Tup chain of pubs in London and the Sports Café chain, have both been placed in administration, while Regents Inns, owner of the Walkabout chain, has been forced into the sale of 94 bars.

In the past two months, Marstons, Greene King, Fuller, Smith and Turner and Wetherspoons have all announced their profits have been hit by the ban on smoking in public.

The Government outlawed lighting up in restaurants, bars and other public spaces on 1 July last year.

Publicans installed awnings and patio heaters to encourage smokers to go to the pub. However, commentators say that has failed to prevent the ban hitting the £15bn-a-year industry, with traditional “wet-led” local pubs the worst affected. Mark Brumby, a drinks analyst with Blue Oar Securities, estimated that the smoking ban had cost between 3 and 4 per cent of sales – or about £600m.

The collapse of the Laurel Pub Chain on Thursday indicated the impact of the smoking ban was spreading to suburban locations.

According to The Publican, the remaining 90 loss-making pubs in administration – five Slug and Lettuce, 11 Ha Ha, 40 Yates and seven Litten Tree – owe £8.6m in unpaid rent.

The pubs have now, in effect, been cut adrift from Mr Tchenguiz’s empire, with the expected loss of about 800 jobs.

Source: The Independent. Link

A pub is closing down on Easter Monday due to falling trade following the ban on smoking.

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

Halifax Ladies Friendly League used to have 16 pubs and clubs but has started the new season with only six teams.

The smoking ban has been blamed for its dwindling popularity, as well as 10 pubs closing in Calderdale this year already.

“Numbers started dwindling three or four years ago and the smoking ban has now killed it,” said Mrs Kershaw, a smoker, of Pye Nest Gardens, Halifax. “I would say about 75 per cent of players smoke.”

Source: Halifax Courier. Link

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

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

DALBO, Minn. (WCCO) ― A growing number of bars are turning into temporary theaters to take advantage of a loophole in the smoking ban law.

The Dusty Eagle is the only bar in Dalbo. Since the smoking ban, business has gone down there 30 to 40 percent. The owners are trying something new to attract business. They’re taking a cue from an old TV show to bring back some familiar faces. Last Saturday night, an actual local mail carrier was playing “Cliff Claven” from “Cheers”.

Though there is some performance, no one there at “theater night” is a professional actor. For last Saturday night, the entire bar was being considered a stage and pretend “actors” were smoking as part of the “show”. The Dusty Eagle is just one of the bars using “theater night” to get around the smoking ban.

Judy Cassman, the bar’s owner, is quick to clarify her position.

“We’re not trying to be vindictive, we’re not trying to be sneaky. We’re trying to draw some business and keep a family business going,” said Cassman.

Source: Wcoo.com. 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