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Smoking ban 'killing off' pubs
7:16am Monday 31st December 2007
Pub landlords across Oxfordshire have blamed the smoking ban for killing off trade.
Half the pubs quizzed in an Oxford Mail survey said they had suffered losses since the ban was introduced six months ago.
Most said they had seen trade drop by 50 per cent - and one last night said he was quitting after 14-years in the trade because his business was losing more than £1,000 each week.
Don Stone, landlord of the Plough Inn, in Stert Street, Abingdon, said: "I am totally fed up with this country and the smoking ban was the last straw.
"I'm pulling out of the pub on April 11 - and I'm leaving to live in Cyprus.
"This smoking ban has killed my trade, my figures are down 40 per cent and I'm losing £1,000 a week. I just can't go on like this.
"Smokers have to go outside to smoke - and yet they can't stand out in the street drinking.
"And where are all these people who said they would use pubs if they were smoke-free? I've not seen anything of them."
His views were echoed in Oxford where Ricky Harrison, manager of the Hollybush Inn in Osney, said: "We've had a sufficient drop in trade - about 50 per cent.
"It's getting much harder to run a pub these days."
We surveyed 32 pubs in Oxford, Abingdon, Bicester, Didcot, Witney, Wantage, Wallingford, Kidlington and Chipping Norton exactly six months after a ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants came into force on July 1.
In all, 16 landlords backed the ban - while 16 disagreed.
Brian Hodges, manager of Ye Olde Pioneer in Bicester's Market Square said trade had dropped by a quarter and his takings were £1,500-a-week down.
He said: "Six months down the line you can see smaller pubs like mine are going to have to close - this ban is just killing off an English tradition."
However, some landlords welcomed the ban and said spending money on smoking areas and providing food had attracted extra business.
Dan Smaje, manager of the Royal Blenheim in St Ebbes, Oxford, said: "It's gone a lot better than I thought and now I actually prefer it.
"We don't have the situation now where people come in, see the smoky atmosphere, turn and walk out."
At least 12 pubs have closed in Oxford over the past two years, according to the Oxford branch of the Campaign for Real Ale - one every eight weeks.
Amanda Sandford, research manager at anti-smoking pressure group Action on Smoking and Heath, said: "It's easy for pubs to say the smoking ban is the only reason for the drop in trade, but there may be other factors like the lousy summer we had.
"The ban is not only about the economics - it has been brought in because people working in the trade are essentially being exposed to toxic smoke."
Your Say YourOxford
Sid Hunt, says...
11:15am Mon 31 Dec 07
ian, cowley says...
11:54am Mon 31 Dec 07
K, Oxford says...
12:18pm Mon 31 Dec 07
Instead, we stay in, where we can smoke and drink whenever we want.
Of course, people like ASH won't bother doing studies into whether people binge drinking at home by themselves has swallowed any dubious health benefit from less second-hand smoke. However, if you enjoy drinking/driving nice cars/eating nice food just wait - the health nazis will be banning stuff for you next. They want us all catching buses, drinking mineral water and eating tofu soup so that their miserable lives seem slightly better in comparison.
tarquin, oxford says...
12:27pm Mon 31 Dec 07
As for whingers like K, get a life. Are you really so sad that you never go out of the house because you have to stand on the pavement to have a ciggy? Either you really are a recluse or you are telling a few porky pies.
VoteBNP, Oxford says...
3:38pm Mon 31 Dec 07
Sid Hunt wrote:I agree. There used to be four pubs in Great Milton alone, but only the Bull is left now - and that's on the verge of closure by all accounts.
Pubs were closing long before the smoking ban. Peoples' habits and living patterns change over time, pubs are just not as popular as they once were - as well as being very expensive.
saed, bristol says...
3:53pm Mon 31 Dec 07
VoteBNP wrote:You could alway,s pop round to alan,s place.
Sid Hunt wrote: Pubs were closing long before the smoking ban. Peoples' habits and living patterns change over time, pubs are just not as popular as they once were - as well as being very expensive.I agree. There used to be four pubs in Great Milton alone, but only the Bull is left now - and that's on the verge of closure by all accounts.
I heard his mother was a right old FAG HAG and when i met her i was right.
Beverley, says...
4:26pm Mon 31 Dec 07
Mr Ison, Smoke says...
5:21pm Mon 31 Dec 07
Pews be banned from Churches as they encourage sloth.
Thus the Churches run out of cash and have to be sold off to property speculators who just happen to give me a few backhanders.
You may have hindsight but they had foresight.
Very un-English of them.
mandy v, banitland says...
1:24am Tue 1 Jan 08
Taking the Oxford air adds up to a 60-a-day habitPaul Brown, environment correspondent The Guardian, Saturday August 28 2004
Wandering round Oxford and breathing the city's air is equivalent to smoking three packets of cigarettes a day, according to research into air quality statistics.
The work done by Calor Gas, which produces liquified petroleum gas, found that despite the enormous pollution from London traffic, people in three other cities - Oxford, Bath and Glasgow - suffered more damage to their lungs than Londoners.
8th August 2006 the HSE in their document OC 255/15 article9 state
" HSE cannot produce epidemiological evidence to link levels of exposure to second hand smoke to the raised risk of contacting specific diseases".
Maybe you should read the largest study ever done, the one the antis tried to hide. James Enstrom and Kabat- it will be a real eyeopener for you.
Laraine Santagato, Ca USA says...
9:41am Tue 1 Jan 08
Bill Gibson, says...
1:56pm Tue 1 Jan 08
"The ban is not only about the economics - it has been brought in because people working in the trade are essentially being exposed to toxic smoke."
More lies from this idiot.. The Health & Safety Executive clearly state that they cannot provide evidence to show that second hand smoke presents an increased risk to health of employees
tug wilson, nottingham says...
2:06pm Tue 1 Jan 08
Beverley, says...
7:04pm Tue 1 Jan 08
mandy v wrote:Actually I and my family are ok as we have invested in VacuSac out door wear.
Beverly, given your paranoia, I am amazed you dare even risk living in such a polluted area. All those poor cyclist, children in buggies and wheelchair user, have to breath in the filth from those exhausts. Do you drive Beverly? Taking the Oxford air adds up to a 60-a-day habitPaul Brown, environment correspondent The Guardian, Saturday August 28 2004 Wandering round Oxford and breathing the city\'s air is equivalent to smoking three packets of cigarettes a day, according to research into air quality statistics. The work done by Calor Gas, which produces liquified petroleum gas, found that despite the enormous pollution from London traffic, people in three other cities - Oxford, Bath and Glasgow - suffered more damage to their lungs than Londoners. 8th August 2006 the HSE in their document OC 255/15 article9 state \" HSE cannot produce epidemiological evidence to link levels of exposure to second hand smoke to the raised risk of contacting specific diseases\". Maybe you should read the largest study ever done, the one the antis tried to hide. James Enstrom and Kabat- it will be a real eyeopener for you.
It is effectively a sterile plastic cage so nothing harmful gets to us.
I also chew all my children's food for them too (using dental dams) as you can never tell what harm can come to them through the additives they put in food these days.
I also monitor everything they read as it is difficult for them not to become degenerate through reading the wrong kind of books.
The eldest (now a chartered accountant) said to me "What's Mr Golly up to this time mummy?" the other day which I thought was rather sweet.
Oh yes, safety first, always best in the long run. Anyway almost out of Valium so better go.
james, Worcester says...
9:20pm Tue 1 Jan 08
tarquin, oxford says...
10:26pm Tue 1 Jan 08
It's a funny old world!
Geoff, Oxford says...
10:50pm Tue 1 Jan 08
Shortly after, I heard a government spokesdrone quoting discredited (i.e. very high) risk factors for passive smoking. This from the same government that made a manifesto commitment to allow certain venues a choice (they're fond of that concept when it suits them) of whether or not to allow smoking. Tony Blair then (once safely re-elected) said he had been "persuaded" that a total ban was "preferable". So much for "choice".
It seems clear that pubs that are able (in terms of having available space and funds)to provide "legally" acceptable smoking facilities will survive, while those without such wherewithall will likely close. I, for one, deplore this government's statist health-nazi agenda and look forward to their forthcoming ouster.
Bill C, Thame says...
7:10pm Thu 3 Jan 08
The dangers of passive smoking are greatly overstated and in fact exaggerated to the point of pure lies.
Whether you are a smoker, non-smoker or tolerant non-smoker, we should all be very afraid of New Labour's next actions on drinking, eating, driving and for that matter living at all.
I find people's feeble acceptance of government dictates as depressing - what on earth has happened to people standing up and saying "Enough is enough, Foxtrot Oscar to this deplorable government"
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Scooter, Oxon says...
10:58am Mon 31 Dec 07
The protection of Health (smoking) Unified Laws 2002-2004 prohibit smoking in all public places, including places of entertainment (restaurants, bars etc) in all government buildings, public transport and in private cars carrying any passenger under 16."
Well moving to Cyprus will really make a difference won't it. What a prat.