No Smoking At The Bar

[lisner]

IoM online report

 

Grant Paterson was also being interviewed on Manx radio today.

 

He is under the illusion that there is no smoking at the bar in Heron And Brearley Pubs. He obviously doesn't go in the damned places.

 

We were on a bit of a pub crawl the other afternoon/evening.

 

The Bowling Green

Folk puffing merrily away and sat at the bar. Cigars too. Clientele looked tough and unfriendly and gave the "what are you going to do about it" look. We decided to leave in one piece whilst we could.

 

The Waterloo Folk puff, puff, puffing merrily away at the bar too. Clientele looked even more unfriendly and gave the "what are you going to do about it" look. We again decided to leave in one piece whilst we could.

 

C'est la Vie This looked more like it. Clientel possibly a little more intelligent and less arrogant. We were wrong. Definitely more arrogant, not sure about the intelligence though. Those smoking at the bar also gave the "what are you going to do about it look". More arrogant than any we had come across that afternoon. It was explained to me that these were mainly 'professionals' - advocates etc. and hence the extreme me, me, me attitude. (I know they aren't all like that. The chap who conveyed us the house was extremely pleasant.)

 

And so to The Rovers, Corner House, The British. All quite similar. I wish the Brewery would just shut up sometimes. They are the last people to attempt to dictate on addiction.

 

The so called ban is the most ridiculous 'rule' I have ever come across in a pub.

 

The Government should do what the Government did in Ireland. Lets see which MHKs have the guts to do something.

 

(and yes, I know the half baked attempt at The Railway failed miserably. But it was always destined to wasn't it. And exactly as predicted by quite a few on the forum of the day then)

[matty]

The Rovers has nothing to do with Heron & Brearley ( the "Brewery").

 

Possibly this thread will turn into another smoker/non smoker love/hate thing.

 

If you care that much about your health and not wanting to breathe in smoke, stay in - don't go on a pub crawl, don't drive (you create just as much if not more toxic air pollution).

 

The Pub is one of the few last bastions that smokers have left for their enjoyment - leave it alone - we're happy with it.

 

The pubs will lose too much money if smoking is completely banned - just like they are in Ireland - it's been found that fewer people go to the pubs in Ireland now since the ban - many of the locals will stay at home or go to friends houses to drink & smoke, and maybe goto their local for last orders if they feel the need.

 

Maybe the local economy couldn't stand the "hit " if all bars were made "non-smoking" you drinking non-smokers had your chance with the Railway and IMHO, you blew it.

 

Now stop your whining!

[StuartT]

Now stop your whining!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You'd better carry on whining so that the government thinks there's more of you than there actually are. Pretty soon the government is going to see sense, and ban smoking in public places, and then this antisocial habit will gradually wither away. Why should those of us who like to go out and enjoy themselves, have to put up with our clothes getting trashed, fag burns, the stink of smoke, and the impact upon our health.

 

Also why should those of us who work in pubs have to put up with decreased working conditions for the 'enjoyment' of others. No doubt you'd be the first to complain if your office had exposed asbestos in it, but still feel free to f@ck up others lungs with your second hand smoke.

[Lonan3]

You're probably right Matty, the stop smoking Gestapo are probably going to come hurtling out of their sanitised environment any moment now and start freaking out about the perils of passive smoking.

I don't care about restaurants - they charge too much anyway as a rule and it gives the non-smokers an opportunity to spend their cash on something they can claim to enjoy.

As for pubs - I have been told by many visitors from Ireland that, although they may still go to the pub, they certainly do not spend as much time there as they once did. All the fun has gone out of it now that it's occupied by the sanctimonious tobacco-free environmentalists sipping their sherries and discussing the future of wind farms and the plight of the lesser spotted bogtits or whatever. You just wouldn't believe how many declare that they love coming to the island because they can actually enjoy a drink and a smoke in a pub rather than having to step outside and end up feeling like social rejects.

The trouble is that the breweries became too greedy - the old-fashioned pubs had rooms for non-smokers and rooms for smokers, but they found that knocking the walls down between them meant that they could squeeze in a few more paying customers.

If they're serious about following Ireland's example then it won't be too long before smaller pubs start closing their doors for the last time - just as has happened in many places over there - and yet another nail will be hammered into the last remnants of our 'tourist trade.'

[Gladys]

Hey, lets put the Govt's money where their mouth is - ban cigarettes entirely! The man who first linked cigs to lung cancer also mentioned that smokers do not necessarily put a burden on the health system as they die too young! However, they do provide alot of revenue! Oh, to be a patron pariah!

[lectro]

That's rubbish. The pubs in Ireland were losing trade in the 2-3 years prior to the ban. It has nothing to do with smoking but more to do with the greedy publicans who have been driving up the price of drink for a long time. The supermarkets on the other hand have been lowering their prices hence a rise in people drinking at home. There is not a single poor publican in Ireland - pubs around the country have been changing hands for €15 - €20 million. The smoking ban has had little impact on the current trend and in fact pubs serving food have shown an increase in sales. The poor sales figures that the Vitners Ass. keep refering to are for alcohol sales which have indeed fallen due to a combination of high prices and the crackdown on drink driving.

[ykstarr]

whine, whine, whinge, whinge - oh smokers have it sooooo hard. ppffffft.

 

IOM pubs won't lose money in the long run by banning smoking. ireland how gotten over the ban and are back in pubs. places like new york, vancouver, calgary have banned smoking in pubs / bar and if it was really that bad for business, they wouldn't have done it.

 

i love it when a smoker harps on about 'cars are just as bad as smoking is..." - can't they just accept that what they do is bad for their health and those around them and move on?

[matty]

If all you "non - smokers" really care about your health so much, then you wouldn't go out and drink!

 

So don't give us smokers a hard time!

 

if you want to go out and still "enjoy" youselves - then go to Ireland and leave this civilised place alone!

 

And really - stop your whining....

[ykstarr]

and if you really thought cars were so bad, you wouldn't leave you bloody house or drive one.

 

you stop your whining, you big smoking whinger.

[Paul H]

Non Smokers who are Anti-Smoking because they claim it is bad for thier health speak absolute bollucks. They are all guilty of doing things that are a risk to their health each and every day. Including going into pubs to breath in second hand smoke. If they cared so much about second hand smoke they would stay away from pubs etc. Then we would see 'The brewery' automatically make pubs non-smoking to attract all the peace loving, clean living sherry sippers back into their bars.

 

Of course this won't happen will it. That's because non-smokers are people who get a kick out of complaining and not actualy having the nouse to come togeter and do something about it.

 

Fact is the fag smoking beer swigging individual is exactly what 'The Brewery' need in their bars to make this thing commonly known as 'money'. Without this there will be no bars, no pubs and no where for non-smokers to pull funny faces anymore.

 

Instead we will have secret little get togethers around at people's houses. For the smokers whey will buy cheap booze from the off license and choke merrily to death on uncle Fred's Duty Free Camels. For the non smokers they will by cheap booze from the off license and wait a little longer for liver failure to see them off.

 

Oh, and if I had my way I would kick all the office staff who don't smoke out in the street during tea breaks and let them back in when we've all finished our cigs. If fresh air is what they want there's a whole load more out there!

 

(Secretley I wan't to give up. BUT WHEN I GIVE UP I DON'T EXPECT THE REST OF THE WORLD TO!)

[sarahc]

Didn't Ireland get a fat wad from the EU for banning smoking in the workplace?

[Tugger]

I'm an ex-smoker, and don't much like the smell of smoke, but I'm with matty. Smoking is legal, and if the government wishes to benefit from the revenues it makes from duty on cigs then why should people not be allowed to do something that is totally legal.

 

The only real argument against relates to employee safety, not whingeing non-smokers who want to dictate how bars are for everyone else

[Survivor]

i'm an ex-smoker as well, and agree with tugger in that I don't care much for the smell either. However, when i go out, i try to eat where it's non-smoking - never did care for smoke when I was eating, even when I was a smoker. But if i'm going out for a night drinking, then i expect to see smoking going on around me, and even though I hate how I smell when I get home, I can always shower!

 

As far as the health side goes, i'm not wholly convinced on the 2nd hand smoke thing, no matter what evidence you provide me with lol. If you don't like it, don't hang around it, problem solved. Where kids are involved, I don't think people should smoke around them, its' not like they have a choice to move away be honest, so it's not fair on them. I gave up mainly for health reasons and I do feel better for it, but then I am an overweight, pill taking (i'm talking contraceptives here!), type 2 diabetic woman so one thing had to go and it certainly wasn't going to be the chocolate!

 

One of the reasons that the Railway didn't work is because most non-smokers have smoker friends and they don't want to go there for obvious reasons! It will only work if you make ALL pubs/bars non-smoking, but I don't think that's fair on smokers either.

[joeyconcrete]

I'm an ex-smoker, and don't much like the smell of smoke, but I'm with matty.  Smoking is legal, and if the government wishes to benefit from the revenues it makes from duty on cigs then why should people not be allowed to do something that is totally legal.

 

Burping and farting is legal, but I wouldn't fart on everyone in the bar so they go home smelling of my farts. Or fart on their coats, or fart in the face while they're eating.

 

Smoking is dangerous so non-smokers shouldn't really have to inhale other peoples fumes. Fair enough, drinking is dangerous too - but, me drinking a JD and coke on one table isn't going to have any adverse effects on anyone else - unless I go round the bar and force people to inhale my drink-mist.

 

The best compromise is to have smoking and non-smoking areas.

 

 

EDIT - I think the Waterloo has a "non-smoking" seat, and a smoking-only at the bar

[lisner]

Although I enjoy a good smoking/non-smoking debate same as anyone else, I was trying to make the point that the boss of the brewery really did believe that there was No Smoking at the brewery bars. Because he said so.

 

He really does believe it. So he hasn't got a CLUE what the people who go in to the pubs think and how they act. Not a clue.

 

So with that qualification, I think he should be made Chief Minister.

 

And why on earth does the brewery think the Government should listen to them on the matter?

 

ps Matty. Good avatar though