Pubs report tough times following smoking ban

Pubs report tough times following smoking ban

21 July 2008
By JACKIE TURLEY
PUBS and clubs anticipated tough times ahead when the smoking ban was introduced.
And a little more than three months on, pubs have reported a difficult transition.

Nigel Dobson, landlord of the Liverpool Arms, in Main Road, Baldrine, said that, as expected, trade was down on this time last year.

He said the drop could be down to a number of factors — last year being the TT's centenary year, prevailing economic conditions or the smoking ban.

'I have not heard anyone saying business is booming this year,' he said.
Mr Dobson, based on what he has seen in pubs in the UK, predicted a drop in trade over the first year.

He said that trade in pubs that were able to adjust and survive would then pick up in two or three years' time.

In order to deal with the drop he has been promoting food and has invested money in this side of the business.

An outside area was opened just in time for the TT and he said this was being used mainly by people eating.

The pub has lost some regular customers, but Mr Dobson thinks the 'real test will be during the winter when it is not so comfortable to stand outside for a cigarette'.

Colin Moore, manager of Legends Nightclub, Peveril Square, Douglas, and Macbeths, Victoria Street, Douglas, said the smoking ban was 'a nuisance' at the nightclub 'because it is another area we have to police, as well as the rest of the club'.

He predicted Legends would be insulated from the ban because it had an outside area, and he said this seemed to be the case.

At Macbeths, he said there was a downturn in trade when the ban was first introduced but thought business was picking up again as people got used to it.

He said: 'We are lucky in that our regulars are very loyal — they have kept coming to the pub and live with the fact they have to go outside to smoke.

'It's not the fact we are losing regular customers — it is more the fact people are coming out less often.

'Rather than spending many hours every night in the pub they will go home earlier and be out fewer nights.'

Mr Moore said that although there was no space for an outside smoking area, they were in the same position as a lot of Douglas pubs.

'We are confident we will weather the storm,' he added. 'It is an inconvenience and it always will be but we are faring as well in the trade as anyone else.'

Bushy's Brewery boss Martin Brunnschweiler said the firm hadn't experienced too much of a downturn in trade since the smoking ban was introduced.

He said: 'I think the Rovers Return in Douglas and, I suppose I can speak more for the Bay in Port Erin, I don't think we have been too badly affected.

'I think where the problems are going to be is in the winter. The mild weather means that it hasn't been too big a problem to go out for a smoke.

'I think people will think twice about going down the pub when there's the wind and the rain's horizontal.'
http://www.iomtoday.co.im

Landlords fined over smoking

Landlords fined over smoking

By Jeni Harvey
TWO pub landlords who flouted the smoking ban, complaining that it had affected their businesses, have been fined by magistrates in Chesterfield.


This comes after Chesterfield Council received complaints that Michael Churm, of the Yellow Lion in Saltergate, and Mark Breen, of the Poolsbrook Hotel, had been allowing customers to smoke on their premises.

As a result the council sent them letters warning that they were breaking the law and asking them to comply with the legislation. However, on January 26 Churm, 50, was seen smoking in the pub by a council officer.

He told them he did not agree with the smoking ban, which had caused a downturn in sales and left his business struggling, but apologised for committing the offence and went on to plead guilty at magistrates court.

He was fined £130 and ordered to pay £300 costs.

Breen, 44, pleaded guilty to failing to stop a customer from smoking in the Poolsbrook Hotel on April 6.

That night, council officers saw Breen standing next to a customer who was smoking in the lounge area. Breen said he had barred the customer from the premises following the offence, but only for one week because he could not afford to lose the trade.

He was fined £500 and ordered to pay a contribution of £300 towards the council's costs.

Both men were also ordered to pay a victims' surcharge of £15.

Coun Ian Openshaw. of Chesterfield Council, said: "These cases demonstrate that the smoke-free legislation is effective and that the council is committed to ensuring the law is not broken."
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

What Bars Are Saying About the Smoking Ban-Wisconsin USA

What Bars Are Saying About the Smoking Ban-Wisconsin USA
Reporter: Mary Rinzel
It's been two weeks since smokers in Eau Claire had to snuff out. So far the Tavern League say no formal complaints have been filed at City Hall and the City County Health Department hasn't issued any citations. But this is a tale of two bars… in two cities.

"Business is down about 23 percent," says Tina Wesner, a bartender at the Five O’clock Club

"We've seen a large increase in business," says Brad Windeshausen, the owner of Whiskey Dicks.

Whiskey Dicks and the Five O'clock Club: They're only a few blocks apart, but owners say they're business is heading in opposite directors.

"We’re seeing a lot of different faces. A lot more people are making this their new habit,” Windeshausen says.

But, that new home is in Altoona and outside the smoking ban's reach. That's a fact Windeshausen is letting people know about with a series of radio ads aimed at bringing in smokers.

"We’re looking at a choice. Non-smokers have Eau Claire to go to. People who do want to smoke can come here," he says.

"That's definitely the kicker,” Wesner says. “You can smoke across the street."

Wesner says the outside, smoke-friendly patio at the Five O’clock Club is a plus. But, she says the ban is tearing people apart.

"Non-smokers are very upset because their friends smoke and people are getting separated. They come in as a group and they want to stay as a group," she says.

Wesner says the ban is already making it hard to make money. She says right now their hope is with the Tavern League and reversing the ban.

"That's what we're here for,” Wesner says. “Cocktails and cigarettes."

"I was hoping for a statewide ban,” Windeshausen says.

Windeshausen says he feels bad for bars caught up in a city ordinance. He says Eau Claire should've waited for the state to take action.

"You won't have that border jumping,” he says.

Windeshausen says people might stay home at first and have a beer and cigarette there. But, says they'll come out eventually for the social aspect.

And in the meantime, he says they're more than welcome at Whiskey Dicks.
http://www.weau.com

Arnie: Don't stub out movie smokes

Arnie: Don't stub out movie smokes
Cigar-loving Arnold Schwarzenegger says children need to be warned often about the dangers of smoking, but Hollywood should not feel pressured to ban cigarettes and cigars from films aimed at youngsters.
Despite research that shows big-screen scenes of tobacco use can tempt kids to light up, the Terminator star-turned California governor said film-makers needed artistic freedom, particularly in historical settings.

He scoffed at the notion that someone would play Winston Churchill without his trademark stogie in hand.

"I personally don't believe that we should erase cigarettes in movies. I don't believe that we should erase it when someone smokes a cigar in a movie. I think that we should remind people and kids all the time about the dangers of smoking," the Republican governor said.

"To suddenly tell actors not to smoke a cigarette in a movie when they portray a character is ludicrous. I think this is going too far."

The governor's comments came at a news conference where major studios announced they would include anti-smoking announcements on millions of youth-rated DVDs of motion pictures that included smoking scenes. The public service announcements will appear on films rated G, PG and PG-13.

Disney began including anti-smoking messages on certain DVDs earlier this year. Other studios joining in are Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros.

The agreement involving the studios and the state of California was brokered by the Entertainment Industry Foundation - a philanthropy. The state developed the 30-second announcements for the DVDs, which will appear in the opening minutes.

Austrian-born Schwarzenegger began his love affair with cigars on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the 1970s, where he smoked with his father-in-law. However, he warns his four children not to follow his example.

"Even though you see me every so often light up a cigar, I let them know not to ever try it," he told reporters.
http://www.bridlingtonfreepress.co.uk

Braintree bar flouts smoking law

Braintree bar flouts smoking law

THE LICENSEE of a wine bar fined for allowing smoking in the premises says he will continue to let customers light up – even if it lands him in jail.

Paul Keenan, 42, of Hogs Wine Bar in Bradford Street, Braintree, has become the first person in the district prosecuted under the new smoking law since it was introduced last July.

He slammed the law as “ludicrous” after being ordered by magistrates to pay fines totalling £1,500 and £750 costs.

After spending £150,000 on refitting the premises, including setting up a smoking area outside, he was not allowed to use it because Braintree District Council considered it a noise nuisance in a residential area.

He tried for six months to abide by the smoking law and reach a compromise with the district council, which suggested allowing two people outside at a time, but the business is now losing £2,000 a week.
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“We have one bar non-smoking and one bar smoking. It's fully air-conditioned and I feel the law is absolutely ludicrous,” he said.

Legislation had a massive financial impact as 80 per cent of the customers at the music venue were smokers, said Mr Keenan.

“I am happy to go to prison over this,” he said. “We will be closing down soon because we have lost so much money over the smoking ban. With the credit crunch we can't fight it off. I have no funds to pay the fine.”

He said other European countries did allow modifications of the smoking law in certain areas. Mr Keenan also joined other concerned publicans at a meeting with MPs in Westminster

He said: “How can the Government call the smoking ban a 100 per cent success when four pubs a day are shutting down because of it?”

Chelmsford magistrates fined him for allowing patrons to smoke on the premises on February 15, April 25, May 10 and May 24 contrary to the Health Act 2006 .He was also ordered to pay a £15 victim's surcharge.

Cabinet member for the environment Roger Walters said: “We are very pleased with the way most premises have complied with the new smoking legislation, yet in this case so many repeated warnings were ignored.

“This case shows that we are prepared to prosecute where people persist in allowing smoking to take place.”

A spokesman added: “The outside smoking area does not comply with legislation while it has a canopy cover or is more than half enclosed.

“It's a wine bar in a residential area and, when there is live music, customers tend to go outside all at once, talking loudly and lighting up at the same time. This is not good for the neighbours and needs to be better managed.”
http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk

Anti-smoking hysteria reaches new heights

Anti-smoking hysteria reaches new heights
Neil Clark
A campaign that wants to limit media portrayals of smoking but ignores depictions of violence has lost all sense of perspective

Neil Clark guardian.co.uk, Tuesday July 8, 2008 Article historyComplaints to the BBC after Top Gear presenters lit up pipes containing herbal tobacco in a light-hearted RAF parody scene. A pub stormed by riot police after a customer refused to put out a cigarette. A threatening letter and a £75 fine sent by a local council to a woman who had dropped a cigarette butt.

Thought the current wave of anti-smoking hysteria sweeping Britain couldn't get any sillier? Then think again. At the BMA's annual conference earlier this week, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the organisation's head of science and ethics, urged film censors to give "pro-smoking" films an 18 certificate. Dr Nathanson cited the film Independence Day, in which hero Will Smith celebrates victory against aliens by lighting up a cigar as an example of a pro-smoking film. And if smoking has to be portrayed on our TV screens, Dr Nathanson would like to see storylines being developed that show the damaging consequences.

If Dr Nathanson and the BMA get their way – and in the present tobaccophobic climate it is a reasonable bet that they will – a classic children's film such as 101 Dalmatians would need an 18 certificate all on account of Cruella de Vil's penchant for puffing on her cigarette holder. And smoking soap characters would have to be shown going through the agonies of emphysema/lung cancer/bronchitis and all the other dreadful illnesses which smoking can cause, just so viewers don't get the wrong idea.

We live in a society in which we are bombarded with images of violence at the cinema, on television and on our computer screens, and yet Dr Nathanson thinks the biggest problem is Will Smith lighting a cigar. Never mind the number of violent deaths in Independence Day; it's the celebratory cigar that causes the offence.

In truth, Dr Nathanson doesn't have too much to worry about: film and TV programme makers are already bending over backwards to appease the anti-smoking lobby. Ian Fleming's James Bond is a 60-a-day man (Balkan and Turkish with three gold bands on the filter), but in the latest Bond film, Casino Royale, 007 is a smoke-free paragon – a man fully in tune with the rather strange morals of the first decade of the 21st century. "I can blow off someone's head at close range and splatter blood, but I can't light a good Cuban cigar," says the film's star, Daniel Craig. In the 2004 film version of Thunderbirds, that hitherto most stylish of smokers, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, was deprived of her trademark cigarette holder. And in last year's BBC production of Sherlock Holmes, the world's most famous detective was, for the first time, sans pipe.

How different things were 30 or 40 years ago. Back then, even the contestants on University Challenge were allowed to smoke. In Joan Bakewell's famous Late Night Line Up interview with Harold Pinter, both interviewer and interviewee smoked freely; today they'd both face fines and censure.

No one is disputing that smoking constitutes a health risk. But a society that gets into more of a strop over fictional characters puffing on pipes, cigars and cigarette holders than people blasting each other to kingdom come, is surely one which has lost all sense of perspective.
http://www.guardian.co.uk

Just in, attempted murder in the House of Commons bar!

Just in, attempted murder in the House of Commons bar!
Shocked witnesses stood by open mouthed as two terrorists carried out a violent and desperate attack on staff in The Stranger's Bar at the palace of Westminster today.

http://more-to-life-than-shoes.blogspot.com/
http://dunhillmonster.blogspot.com

BMA urges tougher tobacco rules

BMA urges tougher tobacco rules
By Nick Triggle
Health reporter, BBC News, Edinburgh
Over a fifth of adults still smoke
Doctors have called for a range of measures to rid the UK of smoking in a report launched at the British Medical Association conference in Edinburgh.

The BMA said it wanted to see tough restrictions on the sale of tobacco and new rules to limit the impact of films.

The report said such measures, with a particular emphasis on targeting young people, would make ensuring the UK was tobacco-free by 2035 a realistic aim.

Slightly more than a fifth of adults smoke - half the level of the 1970s.

The report said the young were particularly susceptible. It pointed out smoking habits developed in the teenage years were often carried into adulthood.

In particular, the report called for all films and TV programmes which portray positive images of smoking to be preceded by an anti-smoking advert, and for film censors to take into account pro-smoking content when classifying films.

It also said that although the UK had quite restrictive tobacco legislation in place already, young people were susceptible to creative marketing strategies such as elaborate point-of-sale displays, attractive pack designs and brand imagery.


The BMA said a no-nonsense approach was needed - banning displays, insisting on plain packaging and setting minimum price levels.

Meanwhile, retailers should be regulated through a licensing scheme, it added.

The report comes after the age of sale for tobacco was raised from 16 to 18 last year in England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland is to follow suit this year.

The respective governments have also proposed banning vending machine sales and the use of small packets, while bans are already in place across the UK on smoking in public places.

'Robust marketing'

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's head of science and ethics, said there had been a "number of encouraging developments", but more action was still needed to end the era of smoking.

"The long-term trends for people quitting have slowed down in recent years so it is essential that further action is taken to promote a tobacco-free lifestyle that deglamourises smoking.

"Young people are surrounded by positive images of tobacco - from smoking by parents and peers, to celebrities and role models they see in the media.

"They are also exposed to robust tobacco industry marketing - all this serves to reinforce the habit as being forever cool."

Professor Gerard Hastings, of Cancer Research UK, who contributed to the report, said children would only be truly protected when "tobacco promotion and marketing in all its forms ceases to exist".

The Department of Health said it was looking at a number of measures.

A spokeswoman said: "Protecting children from smoking is a priority - taking away temptation is one way to do this."

But a spokesman for the pro-smoking group Forest said removing cigarettes from public display made "absolutely no difference" and could make it the situation worse by making smoking seem more taboo and attractive to rebellious teenagers.

He said the authorities would be far better to make vending machines credit card operated, while the measures for TV and films were tantamount to censorship.
http://news.bbc.co.uk

Public smoking ban hits pubs' beer sales

Public smoking ban hits pubs' beer sales
The Observer, Sunday July 6, 2008
Pubs have sold 175 million fewer pints in the past year as a direct result of the smoking ban, according to market analysts AC Nielsen.

Jake Shepherd, marketing director AC Nielsen, said: 'The winter months were particularly bad. Sales fell nine per cent through November to January when smokers would have been reluctant to stand outside in the cold to have a cigarette.'

Sales of wine were not hit as hard, dropping four per cent after the ban. Shepherd said: 'Wine has held up somewhat better than other drinks, benefiting from the increasing importance of food and women to the trade.' Cigarette sales have dropped 6 per cent since 1 July last year with smokers buying 2 billion fewer cigarettes between 1 July 2007 and April 2008.
http://www.guardian.co.uk

Smoking ban poses problems for pubs-6000 may close

Smoking ban poses problems for pubs-6000 may close

MORE than 6,000 British pubs may be forced to close in the next five years thanks largely to the smoking ban, accountants and business advisers PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) warned yesterday.

A PwC report published a year after the introduction of the ban on lighting up in a public place shows the impact it is having on the UK’s licensed premises.

PwC partner Michael Jervis said: “The rate of pub closures has accelerated - we now expect to see 6,000 pubs closing by 2012.

The majority of pubs suffering distress are community pubs." The prediction comes as a warning that businesses need to assess the impact the smoking ban is having on their pubs in order to adjust.

For many traditional pubs, the ban on smoking has coincided with a time of economic decline, meaning many consumers opt for pub chains, providing cheaper alternatives.

The wet English summers have also deterred smoking customers, now forced to light up outdoors. Besides the shocking predictions about pub closures, the report also offers crucial advice to many pubs around the UK, struggling to adjust to the huge impact the smoking ban has had on their operations.
http://www.cityam.com

Scarborough Landlords counting cost of smoke ban

Scarborough Landlords counting cost of smoke ban

By Susan Stephenson
SCARBOROUGH pub landlords are counting the cost of the smoking ban one year on.
The ruling, which came into force on July 1 last year, banned smoking in all public places and seems to have hit pubs the hardest.

Rising costs, increased Government taxes on beer, wine and spirits and the lack of public spending power due to the ADVERTISEMENT"credit crunch" have also made the past year incredibly tough for landlords.

Scarborough Licensed Victuallers' Association vice-president Matt Coulson, who runs the New Tavern and Tap and Spile in Falsgrave Road, says the ban is "destroying the trade".

He said: "The smoking ban has definitely reduced the amount of customers. Trading figures are down and costs are up – plus customers don't have the money to spend. Landlords have faced the expense of creating outdoor smoking areas along with all the other rising costs. Pubs are closing all the time and to my mind that will continue.

"It feels like we're under continuous attack from the powers that be."

Terry Kaye, landlord of The Commercial, also in Falsgrave, and former landlord of the Northway, in Prospect Road, said: "The smoking ban has not done me any favours at all."

However, health bosses have described the ban as "a great success", with a 33 per cent increase in people quitting cigarettes since this time last year.

The NHS in Yorkshire and the Humber says it is ahead of schedule in reaching its target of 38,000 quitters by the end of the year.

Paul Johnstone, NHS Yorkshire and Humber's director of public health, said: "On average a smoker's life is 14 years' shorter than a non-smoker. This means the smoke-free legislation may have helped to save 80,000 years of life in our region."

But people in Scarborough are still buying as many cigarettes as ever, says newsagent Graham Whitewick, who runs a shop in Huntriss Row.

He said: "Sales of packets of cigarettes are the same as they were this time last year. We've found loose tobacco sales have been down for a number of years, since people started bringing cheaper cigarettes back from holidays abroad."
http://www.scarborougheveningnews.co.uk