Profits slump 30% as regulars stay away
Lee Seinfeld says one of his three local corner bars, the Broadway Dive in Upper West Side, had seen a 30% drop in profits.
"I've lost a lot of regulars who now stay at home or go to bars that cheat on the ban," he says. "And a guy who used to stay two hours and have four drinks is now down to three drinks because of the time spent smoking outside."
Seinfeld estimates that around 25% of his customers smoke and 50 to 60% are recreational puffers. While his food business is up slightly, he says it has failed to stem falling revenue as the profit margins are less than for wet sales. Seinfeld is having to work seven days a week and has taken a fall in salary since the smoking ban. His barman at the Dive on Amsterdam and 96th Street is now working five instead of four days to make the same money, he says.
Seinfeld says the Mayor was out of touch with reality and had not given the trade the chance to show that high-grade air filtration could work.
Long-standing Dive customer John Breman, who has a 60-a-day habit, says: "The Mayor says he's doing this for our health, but I've had more flus and colds than ever this winter, freezing my butt off smoking outside. "I have cut down on the amount of time I spend in the bar because I might as well go home and get a bottle of wine and have a smoke."
