Hilldodger
Guru
- Location
- sunny Leicester
Pubs closing isn't a new thiung and the smoking ban can't be blamed. Pubs have been closing down at a steady rate for decades because life has changed.
Everyone seems to be ignoring the obvious problem (the elephant in the room)
It isn't the smoking ban that is the problem, but drink driving. You can'y go to a pub and enjoy "a couple of pints of" anything.
Banning drink driving is a good thing, but the fallout (intended or otherwise) is the death of the country pub.
In my opinion ( am I meant to say IMHO?)
My local pub was a typical unwelcoming locals only, smelly, scruffy, spit & sawdust place. It was never busy and was only a matter of time until it closed. When the smoking ban came in. They did the place up. Made it more family friendly & welcoming. Brightened up the place with new decor & furniture. Did away with the bad element. Bought in a good cook to do some great value decent pub grub. Result it is that the pub is now busier then it has ever been.
tbh one of the biggest things I've noticed is the drop off of either midday or a swift one after work. i'd blame this totally on the price rise of beer and the sort of 'race to posh brand' that seemed to happen when pubs were opening left right and center and seemingly could be full regardless of what they charged.
i used to have a couple during dinner most days, and it really wasnt that long ago when it was easy to have a 1.50 pint(1.20 I think in 2000 , though that was the joseph holts brewery tap )... now its just wetherspoons thats cheap .. but how can wetherspoons charge so little for a lot of real ale, where other pubs have to charge so much more ?
on the plus side, the way the pubco's have got so much debt and seem to have to force high prices for 'main ales' seems to have opened up better competition, more and more pubs do seem to have better choices of bitters than they used to have and seemingly saving money in a lot of cases too...