Quick question, you are quoting the number of pubs which closed last year but are not quoting how many opened... So how many new pubs or old pubs opened/reopened? Also I don't think the smoking ban can be to blame for most of those closures as the smoking ban came in July of last year(2007) which would be almost straight away 50 odd pubs closed down in July because of the smoking ban, before the smoking ban should really have an affect on businesses in that way.
I also disagree with that people would now rather stay in that go out and get rained on every five minutes just to have a cigarette. Everywhere you go where there is pub there are masses of people standing outside even when it is pouring with rain just to have a cigarette. The only place I haven't seen that is at my local pub in the village, but then normally there is about 10 people in the pub and there were less before the smoking ban. Personally I find myself going into pubs more now that the smoking ban is in place because I don't go home feeling incredibly ill from all the smoke and then having to spend a whole week trying to recover.
|