smoking ban

Istenem · Post by **Istenem** » Sun May 18, 2008 12:43 pm

i'm a smoker (boo, hiss)

for all the negatives of the ban in terms of fewer people in pubs, inconvenience etc. and all the positives of wellbeing, smell etc.

it strikes me that there are a couple of positives for the AWP/SWP player:

1. in a pub with foul beer (or tactical cokes you don't want), once you've struck gold you can sling the stuff on the flowerbeds/pavement outside without looking like a weirdo.

2. (this is a bit naughty) if a pub has foul beer but a tempting machine, you can buy your pint next door nip out for a fag and walk up to the poison pub with a takeaway pint.

3. nothing to do with smoking but during january/lent it is permissable to buy a half if you allow the barmaid into the confidence that you are not supposed to be drinking, but her indoors will never know if it's just a cheeky half.

rogerthymes · Post by **rogerthymes** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:11 pm

2. (this is a bit naughty) if a pub has foul beer but a tempting machine, you can buy your pint next door nip out for a fag and walk up to the poison pub with a takeaway pint.

*round of applause* That's so bizarre I might give it a go just for a laugh

Almost sounds like a script idea for Curb Your Enthusiasm or One Foot In The Grave!

JG · Post by JG » Mon May 19, 2008 12:23 am

No, let's take this to a new level. Buy your pint in Aberdeen and drive it down to Birmingham and have a quick punt on the quiz machine (you won't need to buy a drink).
Then drive back.

Some might say that would be silly - if you happen to live in Plymouth.

Properpro · Post by **Properpro** » Mon May 19, 2008 7:15 am

JG wrote:No, let's take this to a new level. Buy your pint in Aberdeen and drive it down to Birmingham and have a quick punt on the quiz machine (you won't need to buy a drink).
Then drive back.

You should never drink and drive.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Mon May 19, 2008 12:20 pm

One serious negative (and this is coming from someone who has never smoked and never will) is that the smoking ban must be one of the factors behind the increasing number of pub closures. I can think of 20 or 30 pubs with machines which have closed in the towns I know well and I'm sure this is the case for all of you. Most of these places won't be mourned as pubs but as venues for winning cash many of them will be missed. The apparent closure of all the Yates's, for example, has removed one of the likeliest locations for finding a machine or two, particularly when visiting a town you don't know.

dmac · Post by **dmac** » Mon May 19, 2008 12:41 pm

WaterGate · Post by **WaterGate** » Mon May 19, 2008 1:49 pm

Brown is not just the colour of poo!

ZAX · Post by **ZAX** » Mon May 19, 2008 2:00 pm

I find it has come in handy when I stop for a fag break and when I get back in the pub someone else has jumped on the machine. thus saving me ££££££££££££££s

Cos I am a clueless wannabe

cool · Post by **cool** » Mon May 19, 2008 2:11 pm

the smoking ban led to pub closures true- but often orrible scummy little pubs-----the laurel problem was more deep seated than that & there has been a long term trend towards fewer large pubs for donkey years & also a less welcome trend towards gastro pubs with no machines of any description(discounting the condom machine in the toilets)

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Mon May 19, 2008 3:31 pm

Indeed - in the immediate vicinity of one street I know well (George Street in Oxford) there has been the following sorry tale within just the last year or so:

The Old School - pub closed, now an Indian restaurant
The Goose - has been closed for refurbishment, has just reopened as a similar pub with a couple of fruities but no quiz machine
Yates's - rebranded as Slug and Lettuce with no quiz machine
Cock and Camel - closed, soon to reopen as a Jamie Oliver-owned Italian restaurant
Antiquity Hall - now a gastro pub with no machine
Chequers - has just reopened as another gastro pub

Two of the three pubs that remain have Paragons which in my view is only very slightly better than having no machine at all.

I realise that this list won't mean much to some of you

but I'm sure a similar pattern has been seen elsewhere and it has been bloody depressing to see this happen.

QuizMaster · Post by **QuizMaster** » Mon May 19, 2008 4:13 pm

Pub industry is on its knees. Definite culture shift in society over last 5 years - smoking ban has simply tipped it over the edge.

Sky TV, cheap supermarket booze, Nintendo, Internet, FOBT machines, celebrity chefs. mobile phones are all contributing factors.

Northern Monkey · Post by **Northern Monkey** » Mon May 19, 2008 4:35 pm

Aye its v similar round here. Can think of numerous refurbs, takeovers etc that have seen the quizzy abandoned although TBH the phenomena is even more acute for fruits where a lot of them didnt even cover their rent in city pubs which only open Monday- Friday.

Golden tee went the same way- used to be one in practically every pub on Fleet Street and its backstreets.

IMO the demise/ rebranding of the Hogshead chain was a nail in the coffin of coin operated entertainment .(although obviously the Slug's do all have itboxes which again is useful when visiting strange towns)

I am yet to see a previously quizzie free pub undergo a refurb and then get one - its always the other way round.

dmac · Post by **dmac** » Mon May 19, 2008 4:41 pm

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Mon May 19, 2008 5:15 pm

Northern Monkey wrote:obviously the Slug's do all have itboxes which again is useful when visiting strange towns

Unfortunately many outside London don't, including the one in Oxford which was one of those on my list - it was the replacement for Yates's (I originally put All Bar One as a test to see if anyone was awake...).

QuizMaster wrote:... mobile phones ... are all contributing factors.

I can see all the other reasons on your list but this one has stumped me - why have mobile phones been a factor in the demise of the pub industry?

cool · Post by **cool** » Mon May 19, 2008 5:59 pm

presumably people would meet down the pub for a chat--the public phone box not a good place cost wise and with some person banging on the window to get off/ smell of wee/ vandalised boxes / cost and talking on the phone at home wasnt particularly cheap and national/ international calls were expensive. For example 10+ yrs ago it cost over a £1 a minute to phone Thailand now less than 5p a minute (of couse you are not going to meet the Thai person down the pub). Now with contracts you can talk all day for virtually nothing so why meet up down the pub. This particularly to women.
prbobably find out this is a totally erroneous explanation for his point!