Has anyone noticed the amount of Pubs that have closed or that are up to let?

Question

Why is that do you think? OK i admit i am a smoker, but it's no coincidence that since the smoking ban came into effect in England on 1 July, their has been a decline in the pub industry.
It is now nearly Christmas not even 6 months down the road and their seems to be an abundance of pubs up for sale, to let or just borded up. and its not just pubs, bingo halls, bookies, indoor amusments have all seen a drop in trade and i would guess other businesses would be suffering too.

By the way i don't drink acohol, i dont go to the pub so why am i so bothered? because if i went to my local, unfortunatly i cant get in as it has closed down due to lack of custom.
Having spoken to a few ex landlords, they all seem to blame the same thing, The Smoking Ban.

So has anyone noticed the amount of Pubs that have closed or that are up to let?
Is it just coincidence?
Tell me your opinion?
Especially if you are a current or ex landlord.

Answer 1

Drink/driving law was introduced in 1967 and only had a marginal effect then and most probably has no bearing on pub/club sales today.

The world of greed was started by Maggie T in 1979 and has resulted in a slow decline ever since.
Nowadays,many pubs are charging £2.50 to £3.00 for a pint that costs them 50p.
Granted they have overheads to come out of this,but it still leaves a disreputable bottom line profit.
This is why pub chain share values have been rather high in recent years.

Some 5 years ago Wetherspoons made some pubs non smoking and the trade plummeted. Whilst the managers knew this, they were told to say nothing about it and stress that food sales had increased.
It is odd that they did not make all their pubs non smoking!!!

Now, smoking restrictions are not new. The first examples appeared in the States some 12 years ago and other countries have followed,all with the same general results.
Some busines has flourished,but the licensed trade has gone down the pan,but a status quo as evolved.
Many bars in the states now ignore the ban in order to survive and no one is bothered to enforce it because many enforcers use the smoking bars,and most people are happy because there some prosperous non smoking bars.

I would also point out a problem with official statistics. They say only about 30% of the population smoke. NOT STRICTLY TRUE
Take out the under 16 year olds and the figure rises to about 45-50%
Take out tee-totallers and it rises to 65-70%

Finally,for the last year or so,property companies have been heavy buyers of pub chain shares thus keeping the share prices up.
Draw your own conclusions.

Answer 2

Bit of a coincidence, since a survey in Scotland has stated the seventy three percent of landlords don't want the smoking ban overturned.
So maybe pubs have shut through the ban. I couldn't care less. Bet you anything the kind of places that have shut are the one's that couldn't adapt to it because half the clientele were over eighty and when they snuffed it the places were going to shut anyway.

I can't help but wonder, given that you don't drink, why you'd be bothered about the fact that your local boozer has closed. Seems like you could be worrying about something a bit more relevant.
Like the fact that unless you're in your own house, you're outside for your smoko.

Answer 3

Not in York which seems to have become the capital city of Hen Nights. The smoking ban has obviously upset a number of people but we have friends who will now go into their local pubs to meet friends because they can breathe uncontaminated air and their clothes dont smell repulsive.
Oh! just thought i would mention that there has been a proposal from Browns think tank to stop people smoking in their own homes if they have children. So for all of you who might have had to change your lifestyle and invite your pals around for a meal and drinks at home, if you have children the smoking inspectors just might turn up too. Where will all of this end? The word FREEDOM is rapidly disappearing for ordinary people in England. Browns thought police are everywhere trying to justify their over exhorbitant salaries.

Answer 4

i'm a smoker i additionally attempt and verify out the two factors of it and all i say is that the alternative could get carry of to landlord and shoppers the suitable concern in this united states theres no ventilation in our previous pubs as somebody else placed to prohibit in pubs and golf equipment substitute into far greater than the real inspite of each and all of the anti-human beings who smoke my one excitement in life remains to take a seat with a pint or espresso and a cigarette which i normally did after being on my ft for 12hours an afternoon now i don't try this basically flow domicile and open a can its loopy however the single component i appreciate now entering into another country is sitting interior with and so on.. and finding at happyier human beings

Answer 5

I completely agree with you and yes I am a smoker too! The amount of pubs up here in Scotland that have closed or are up to let since the ban came in to force is incredible. I don't often go to pubs anyway but friends that do tell me they don't stink of smoke anymore only B.O and stale beer! Think I know which one I'd prefer.

Answer 6

It was only today that the JD Wetherspoon chain announced a fall in profits of around 10% over the summer since the introduction of the smoking ban, this in despite of the initial pronouncements that business would increase on the food side of things, which actually it has relatively. The only problem is...pubs aren't restaurants. Food in pubs is a side-line only. The expected increase in non-smokers attending pubs hasn't materialised and now publicans and chains groups are struggling, and that is only set to get worse over the winter period. These health fascists make me laugh, they force us out of the pubs on the premise that they can't drink in them because of our smoke. When they get their way, they don't then choose to drink in the pubs that they have forced us to vacate but instead now start whinging about having to suffer walking past smokers in the street...if they were in the pubs they forced us out of i wouldn't be a problem. But they're not. They're all sitting at home with their copy of the Guardian and their tofu and chick pea stir-fry plotting how to wipe out drinking alcohol in pubs so they can then declare that drinking establishments in the UK are free from drunken hooligans who might spill their organic smoothy over their soy crisps...

Answer 7

have you noticed that this isnt happening in the town centres, maybe it is to keep trouble from your door step, they close down pubs on estates because it is usually the haunts of criminals, and people stop using them because of the trouble the crims and the bullies cause, they lose money and they shut, nothing to do with smoking, its to do with letting you drink in a controlled area where the police can get to fast if there is trouble caused through alcohol, so the pubs in the town centres get more buisness and they stay open but they are watched in case of trouble

Answer 8

It started with the drink driving laws and now it's because I can get a whole bottle of wine at a supermarket cheaper than a glass of pop in a pub.

Answer 9

The pub trade in IRL has been decimated. I forget how many thousand have closed since the smoking ban came in.

Answer 10

yes it has a lot to do with the ban but they have brrn quite empty for a few years now because you can get your mates round your house and all get p1ssed for the same price as a round in a pub so why go out?