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

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

CARBONDALE - About six weeks after it went into effect, many local bar owners say the statewide smoking ban is burning their bottom line.

The ban was touted as means of protecting employees from second-hand smoke and attracting business from non-smokers. But throughout the region, bar owners say the ban has kept smokers away and non-smokers have not filled the void.

“Hopefully we are going to get a new generation of nonsmoking alcoholics; it’s all I can hope for,” joked Ely Lane, night manager at PK’s bar in Carbondale. “We are in a pretty bad situation here. It (business) is down about 30 percent. We don’t own the property so we can’t erect a second area like a smoking gazebo. We don’t know what we are going to do so we are hunkering down and hoping for better times.”

At the Perfect Shot in Herrin, part-owner Traci Drew said business during the week has been cut in half; the bar is offering more drink deals to boost business.

At The Cellar in Carbondale, owner Paul Stokes said business is down about 20 percent so far this year. At Mugsy McGuire’s, owner Matt Maier said last January was the worst he’s had in 10 years.

Da-Nite Bar in Murphysboro is reporting similar returns so far, said Manager Julie Crabtree.

“We had folks that used to come in at 3 and stay until six. Now they come in and stay for an hour,” she said. “Some of our regulars are just not coming in at all. I’d have to say I’ve lost at least 15 of my regulars.”

Crabtree added: “It’s cut down on business; it’s also fewer tips for the staff and less money coming in for the owner.”

At Pinch Penny Pub in Carbondale, General Manager James Karayiannis said the ban has
“affected business for the negative” and agreed with Lane at PK’s that non-smokers have not replaced smokers.

“There are some shifts, say Friday afternoon, when we see some new faces; but the week as a whole, there are more people staying home and no one replacing them,” he said. “Certain behaviors go with other behaviors and I think the person who wants to go to a bar during the week was more likely to tolerate smoke.”

Source: SouthernIllinoisan.com. Link

(If smoking bans were good for business, would owners take such elaborate measured to get around them?)

Minnesota bar patrons are lighting up once again in the tavern, in the name of theater. It’s been months since smokers could puff away inside the bars, but a lawyer says a lit cigarette is nothing more than a prop as thespians act in “The Tobacco Monologues.”

Mark Benjamin was dressed in full renaissance garb as he inhaled his Marlboro. “Some of my friends in the VFW’s and legions were suffering as a result of the smoking ban. I thought I would research the law to determine if there was a way I could help my friends,” Benjamin explained. “I found the exception. The way it was written. I realized if we can have Shakespeare in the park, we can have Shakespeare in the bar. It was written just that way, there was no definition of theatrical productions,” the criminal defense lawyer by traded, added.

Staff members at Barnacles Resort on the north shore of Mille Lacs passed out play bills for good measure Saturday night. A sign on the door warned bar customers that “actors would be smoking.”

Jeanne Weigum, Executive Director of the Association for Nonsmokers told the Star Tribune, “This is pretty lame. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. And if it looks like a bar, it’s a bar.”

Benjamin says at least six bars in the state “put on plays” Saturday night. He hopes more bar owners will stand up and take advantage of the theatrical production exception. The State Attorney General’s office is looking into the loophole.

Source: kare11.com. 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

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

“I’ve been loving every minute of it,” said third-year Ashley Meyer wryly as she puffed on a cigarette outside Bar Louie. “You’re drinking your beer, and you have to leave it and go outside into this freezing blizzard.”

“I just don’t get this law,” she added. “I mean, people don’t go to bars for their health.”

Another frequent complaint among students has been the loss of a smoker culture that, until recently, cheerfully lived on in Chicago’s bars.

“It makes for a particular social bond, but now everyone’s having fun and you have to go outside in a self-imposed exile for 10 minutes. Sometimes you feel pathetic,” fourth-year John Elias said. (That is the real purpose of the ban, John.To make you a pariah and feel like a second-class citizen.)

The Cove has also seen a decrease in patronage as a result of the new act. Shawn Sleeper, a bouncer at The Cove, said the ban has resulted in a 25 percent decrease in sales at the bar, a number he attributes to patrons being less inclined to smoke out in the cold. But new problems may arise come summer.

“There’ll be more people out here, smoking, laughing, making noise and then the neighbors start complaining and that’s bad for business,” Sleeper said. He added that the Cove has already been hit with a number of fines for similar reasons in the past few years.

Christopher, a second-year who declined to give his last name, is an occasional bartender at The Cove and a frequent customer of neighborhood bars.

“Before, there were plenty of bars that were non-smoking,” he said. “And that was a choice you made before you went out. Unfortunately now, [the state] has taken the choice away from us.”

Lawmakers in other states have said they passed these laws out of concern not only for the non-smoking patrons of bars and restaurants but for the waitstaff and other employees who were forced to inhale the smoke of others. The latter claim in particular is one with which Christopher takes issue.

“Most people who work here smoke,” he said. “When I did bartend, I smoked a fair amount while I was working. It’s something that most employees participate in.”

But fourth-year Josh Hemley sympathizes with both sides of the debate.
“It’s nice to be in a bar without smoke in your face,” he said. “But I smoke too, so it’s like your mother telling you to eat your vegetables: It’s good and it’s bad.” (No, it’s just bad. It’s good when your mom does it. It’s bad when Big Brother Does it.)

Source: Chicago Maroon. 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

MARSHALL, Ill. - A new statewide smoking ban in Illinois has non-smokers breathing a sigh of relief, but some bar and restaurant workers say this ban is bad for business.

“There was about 20 of us in the bar and one person inside the bar and the bartender and everyone else was outside smoking a cigarette,” Frigge said.

Joe says he used to come to places like this, visit with friends and stay for a few hours, but since the ban Joe says he’s spending a lot more time at home.

“Anymore, maybe a half hour and I head home because I’m not going to stand there in the freezing weather to smoke a cigarette,” he said.

Just a couple of weeks ago, before the smoking ban went into place, local hangouts would be packed. Now barely anyone is here, and that can’t be good for business.

Mora works across town at Jerry’s Restaurant where the scene is pretty much the same, empty tables.

A regular used to sit at the counter and stay for hours, now there’s just an empty chair.
“Now with the coffee drinkers not staying or whatever, it makes the parking lot empty and that doesn’t look good for us either,” Mora said.

Source: WHITV.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

James VonFeldt Says 2006 Adjusted Gross Income Was $914.

VonFeldt and his wife are in the process of selling Billy’s Inn, a business that’s been in their family for 40 years.

“The smoking ban killed me,” VonFeldt said. “My business has dropped 41 percent.”

Source: 7 News. Link

Owner says smoking ban hurt business

Larry’s Bar, an establishment which has operated along Pebble Lake Road on the south side of Fergus Falls since 1997, will officially close Dec. 31. The new nonsmoking law was cited as the biggest factor which led to bar owner Donna Seibel not applying for a new liquor license.

Seibel and her late husband, Larry, started leasing the building from the American Legion 10 years ago.

The restaurant business at Otter Supper Club also has decreased since the smoking ban took effect, Buchanan said. On a positive note, the establishment has seen an increase in the offsale (liquor) business.

“I surmise that smokers who formerly would spend an hour in our lounge figure they’re better off buying liquor at our offsale location — and spending more time in the warmth and comfort of their homes,” Buchanan said. “At home they don’t have to leave warm confines and go outside into the cold to smoke.”

Source: The Daily Journal Online. Link

Talk to proprietors who have amassed a pile of smoking complaints, and they’ll tell you the state indoor smoking ban is really hurting business.

Even after she stopped objecting to customers smoking, Risk said her business is still down by 35 percent from last year.

“From what I understand, it about put everybody out of business here in Middletown,” said Gabbard, who manages the state’s leading target of smoking complaints. “That’s the feedback I’m getting from other businesses. And I’m hearing that from just about everywhere in the state.”

In the end, Boston said, he thinks enforcement will create an even playing field for establishments like his and Risk’s.

(And there it is, folks, the “Level Playing Field” defense. Of course, if bans really were good for business, no “level playing field” would be necessary.)

Source: Dayton Daily News. 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

The law bans smoking in just about all public places that serve food, except for casinos. But smokers say it goes too far and restaurant and bar owners say it’s ruining their business.

“We do have some people coming in,” says Parker Mills, bar manager at Famous Murphy’s of Reno on South Virginia Street. “But it’s not like it used to be.”

Profits from the slot machines that used to rake in money from the bar have dropped 65 percent since Nevada voted to ban smoking in restaurants and bars with kitchens.

“If people aren’t coming into gamble, you have to raise the prices,” says Mills. “And instead of having five dollar chicken wings, they’re now 11 bucks.”

A lot of non-smokers are saying that’s too bad; and some, like former smoker Carol Mayberry want the act expanded even further.

“I think it’s important for them to stay in their cars or house and away from public places.”

(Isn’t the compassion of the nicotine nannies a wonderful thing? You can just feel the hate oozing from this bitch’s pores.)

Lazzerone says he’s still seen a big economic impact on business, despite the remodeling. And Mills says the promise of an increase in non-smoking customers is a dream that simply hasn’t come true.

“They haven’t showed up in place of the smoking gamblers who disappeared.”

Source: Kolo 8. Link

Revenue has dropped at many taverns - as much as 30 percent in some locations - because of a decline in customers, shooed away by the state smoking ban in establishments that serve food.

The prohibition against smoking, which took effect in January, sent gamblers who want to light up while playing slot machines to traditional casinos or one of the few taverns built before 1992 that have 35 slot machines and are exempt because the businesses were classified as casinos.

Wilcock estimates that 75 of the association’s roughly 300 members gave up food service to keep their gambling and smoking patrons. Most of the membership, he said, is complying with the smoking ban “but are losing their shirts.”

Sachs said the gambling devices made Steiner’s three locations profitable.
Since January, however, revenues from the slot machines are off
29 percent to 35 percent at each location.

“We probably do as well on food as anybody because that’s something we wanted to establish,” Sachs said. “But other places might take a monthly loss of $10,000 on food, but made it up with the gaming. That’s not the case now because the business is not there.”

Herbst Gaming is Nevada’s largest slot route operator with approximately 7,200 slot machines in 700 locations throughout the state.
In the third quarter, Herbst said revenues from the company’s route operations were $66.1 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, a 21 percent drop over the same period in 2006.

For the first nine months of 2007, Herbst’s slot route operations generated $212.5 million, 19 percent less than the same nine-month period in 2006.

“There is no question the smoking ban had a dramatic impact on our route operations and has fundamentally changed the slot route industry,” Herbst Gaming President Ed Herbst told gaming analysts following the earnings release.

United Coin Machine, which operates about 6,000 machines in more than 400 locations statewide, is experiencing similar losses in revenue.

United Coin President Grant Lincoln said the smoking ban created an uneven playing field for the tavern operators, who don’t have the promotional budgets to match the customer incentives offered by the large casinos.

“There’s not a lot we can do,” Lincoln said. “As their volume suffers, our volume suffers. The question is, have we truly bottomed out? The smoking issue has been a fairly crushing blow for the average tavern operator.”

Source: koltv.com. Link

It’s been nearly two months since the Minnesota statewide smoking ban took effect. As Chris Buckley reports, it’s having an impact on bar business on the Iron Range.

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

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.