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Traditional Pubs Close.


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The breweries themselves created a lot of the problem by imposing impossible targets for managers to meet, meaning that they struggled to find the rent/cost of beer and could not afford to try things to entice customers. Also there was a tendency to penalise success by increasing the rents.

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Come on; it's all because of the smoking ban - a disproportionate number of drinkers in any pub/club were smokers - they've just grown fed up with having to stand outside when they light up. :roll: Meanwhile, the Army of anti-smokers who were gagging to replace them don't seem to have materialised. :wink:

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The irony of course is that the majority of pubs that have been forced to close are the traditional ?boozers? where a man might go and have a pint with his mates and such places were never family, child friendly eating establishments in the first place.

 

Bill :)

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You're Right Bill, & one of the effects I've noticed is that many of the family friendly pubs are now attracting significant numbers of people behaving as they would back in their own boozer - language, shouting, arguing etc. It's definitely made a pleasant Saturday / Sunday teatime meal out, less pleasant

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Peter

 

I think a lot of the licensed trade would disagree with that.

 

The effects on alcohol sales and subsequent pub closures were clearly evident in Ireland when the ban came into force; despite the Irish economy being buoyant at that time and far removed from any talk of recession. Exactly the same was true when Scotland changed, even more so than it is here.

 

Bill :)

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Come on; it's all because of the smoking ban - a disproportionate number of drinkers in any pub/club were smokers - they've just grown fed up with having to stand outside when they light up. :roll: Meanwhile, the Army of anti-smokers who were gagging to replace them don't seem to have materialised. :wink:

 

If it's ALL becasue of the smoking ban how come all the trendy new pubs/bars etc are thriving then ? You can't smoke in those either :wink:

 

I rather think old traditional pubs are declining becasue of the hefty cost of a pint these days :shock: The 'older' customers probably value their money a little more and can see when they are being ripped off :wink:

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Peter

 

I think a lot of the licensed trade would disagree with that.

 

The effects on alcohol sales and subsequent pub closures were clearly evident in Ireland when the ban came into force; despite the Irish economy being buoyant at that time and far removed from any talk of recession. Exactly the same was true when Scotland changed, even more so than it is here.

 

Bill :)

 

I don't know about Scotland and Ireland, but the Dog and Dart, The Railway, Black Bear, White Lion, and The Oak Branch? , Riverside shut because of the epidemic of night clubs in Town, not the smoking ban.

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Nah, Bill's right, it's down to and coincided with the smoking ban. :roll: Prior to that, old drinkers were going in later in order to spend less, but they still went in. :? As for the Town Centre; thought they did most of their drinking on the streets anyway, so they can smoke their heads off, plus the way they drink now (to get drunk as fast as possible), they're not in that long! :wink:

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obs,

You can't have it both ways. The pubs I listed closed because they weren't making "enough" money for the managers to pay the breweries, and hence they couldn't get managers.

This was caused by the nightclubs taking the future drinkers(/dart throwers) away from the local pubs and probably the drink driving laws.

I would also suggest, that the smoking ban has been less of a problem than expected as a lot of pubs have created outdoor sheltered smoking areas.

 

Perhaps the modern generation have started to change their habits on health grounds. :wink:

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I was talking to the manager of the Chapel House in Sankey and he said that the smoking ban has had little effect. The biggest problem has been the rock bottom prices that the supermarkets are charging. He has even had people trying to bring in tins of lager to drink on the premises that were previously bought in the supermarket.

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Errm, the biggest single event that has coincided with an acceleration in the demise of the pub/club, has been the smoking ban - end of! :roll: Yes, it may be cheaper to buy from the s-market, but the incentive is now greater cos smokers have to drink at home! :shock::wink:

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I once asked the manager at the Hoop and Mallet (this was before the smoking ban) why he allowed people to bring their own fags into the pub to smoke. He looked somewhat confused until I pointed out that he would stop people bringing in their own beer and spirits and also would stop people eating their own crisps; all because they sell them on the premises. I pointed out his fag machine selling fags at ?5.00 odd a pack while the Spar next door was considerably cheaper. As most pubs still have fag machines, this is still the case. Most people would never dream of taking their own beer in to a pub would they? so why get them out of the habit of taking their own fags in?

 

Why did they never stop people bringing their own fags? I guess even now they should as the pubs provide the shelters on their premises. So maybe they should look at this additional revenue stream??!!

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I can only comment on the one pub where I have had a chat with the manager and he assures me that most of his old smoking regulars still turn up, but they are buying less as are the non smokers.
This won't be something any of you can reference as it's by Coventry, but i work away from Warrington, and live in a village called Wolston during the week.

 

We have four pubs in a small village, and one I've just discovered closed about six weeks ago. It's across the road from the pub I go to, but I had been in once.

 

I asked the landlord how it had affected him, which got a nothing much response.

 

Reason for closure imo - it was a bloody scruffy dump, and with three other pubs to pick from, why go there? The tohers are all still busy, only one of which has a beer garden, and which i drive past every night on the way back from the golf course, invariably the car park is packed.

 

I should point out that although two of them serve food, they are not foody pubs in any way, and defo not family pubs.

 

So ostensibly we have a pub that's fallen victim to the smoking ban, but in reality it's fallen victim to being a dump, and you'll find that echoed across the country. It's all the horrible little pubs that have gone, because their days were numbered anyway with peoples rising expectations on what they expect when they're out spending their hard earned cash.

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Very few pubs stand the test of time and most do end up shutting at some point and as Fatshaft rightly points out it?s normally the ones that have either been allowed to fall by the wayside or face too much competition. So if you?re trying to assess the impact on the smoking ban, it?s no good looking at individual cases which have all sorts of factors involved.

 

I recall speaking to one of my customers from Galway in Ireland about the affects of the smoking ban which came in a couple of years before the UK. She said she used to be a regular down at her local, which was the only pub in a small village and that as a none-smoker, she thought the ban would be a good thing.

 

What happened there though was that trade took an immediate down turn, and the pub selling a lot less beer, was forced to increase it?s prices to stay in business which in turn only made matters worse. She said that with so few customers, the place had no atmosphere and if your going to sit in an empty pub you may as well stay at home with a bottle from the off-licence.

 

Bill :)

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Errm, the biggest single event that has coincided with an acceleration in the demise of the pub/club, has been the smoking ban - end of! :roll:

 

You don't give up easily do you Obs :wink:

 

I think both KeithR and Fatshaft both raise very valid points with regards to the old pub closures ie: having to compete with prices and unfortunately many of the old pubs were rather dark and dingy as being privately owned I guess there was not the funds available to improve....

 

I'm not saying they were bad but in this day and age you can't rely on a room full of OAP's having a few pints and a game of dominoes or darts to keep your business alive (Guess that one will come back to slap me in the face :shock: )

 

There are still some very old pubs which are thriving (although that I suspect is more to do with location and the very close proximity to all the other pubs/bars/restaurants :wink: ).

 

For example the Red Lion in Stockton Heath. I personally don't like it that much as it's always packed and I find the small old fashined rooms rather clostrophiblic but it certanly attracts the drinkers every night.....

 

I still dont think the closures of the out of 'town' lone traditional pubs has anything at all to do with the smoking ban but more like the changes in society and not being able to keep up with the opposition :cry:

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