"Bru" <[email protected]> wrote: >Nigel Stanley wrote ... > >> though I don't miss the smokers' fug. > >Well I hope you're not going to miss the pubs as well then! > >'Cos if you talk to the people at the sharp end, business has been going >right down the tubes ever since the smoking ban - whatever b*llsh*t the >government might like to spout
Two responses. First, I have a cousin who has just acquired his third pub. He brews the beer for all of them. Yes, two of them do do meals (the third doesn't yet, just snacks, and may not be going to), but it's the beer that interests him. And his customers, it seems. He doesn't seem to have suffered from the smoking ban. BTW the third is waterside, just downstream of Ipswich dock. Second, have a thought for those who, like me, play in bands that perform in pubs. Before the smoking ban, I'd come home reeking of smoke, and with a sore throat. Now such gigs are a pleasure (well, with respect to the air available anyway). AIUI, the pattern for the smoking ban has been an initial drop in takings/custom, which has now largely been reversed. [email protected] wrote: >Nothing within a mile of the Oxford Canal between Banbury and Napton (so >presumably the pubs at Cropredy, Claydon and Fenny Compton were keg only), no >pubs listed in Braunston at all, and down on the southern GU in several places >the instructions involve catching a bus from a canal bridge (or in one case a >train from the nearby station) to the next town for a pint. <Vanished Britain> Ah, local trains! >Once I'd been drinking long enough to tell the difference Aged four, Martin? I agree, though, that beer prices are a significant factor in this. Interesting what's happening here in Hertford though. My local sells its own, nice, beer for about £2.80 / pint (other brands are more; all real ale). Wetherspoons is selling Greene King IPA for £1. Both are doing good business. Too bad the IPA is served much too cold, though. Adrian . Adrian Stott 07956-299966
