We are more than disgusted with the Government's White Paper on Public Health, released last week, that is completely taking away our choice in the way we want to run our public house business.
We now face a smoking ban, but where will it end? Non-alcoholic bars and pubs, too?
The only choice for us now will be food-led or smoke-led trade. We should be able to do both.
We understand and agree that offices and restaurants should be smoke free. But, pubs are a place of relaxation and entertainment a place to meet with friends to relax and enjoy each other's company and wind down after a hard day's work. Pubs are not, in the first instance, family places (children cannot drink at the bar until they are 18), they are drinking establishments that allow children in.
The comments being made that the trade in Ireland hasn't been affected too badly because of its ban is laughable. It is already public knowledge within the trade that, so far, 8,000 jobs have been lost and there's been a 22% downturn in takings. There s also been a knock-on effect on snack sales, wholesalers and manufacturers
If landlords had been left, or encouraged, to make their own choice, smoking or not, then everyone would have had the choice of where to go. Let's face it, if you don't like the beer in one pub you go somewhere else, if you don't like the food in that pub you go somewhere else. If we didn't like the smoke in a pub we would go somewhere else. When are we going to get back our freedom to choose?
The right to choose also applies to pub staff. Shouldn't the "staff who work in these (smoky) establishments" simply take responsibility for their own health and find a job where the air quality of the workplace is to their liking? It's not like smoking in bars is a new craze; we doubt very much that there is any "staff" that weren't fully aware of the atmosphere in bars before they signed their employment contract.
If I didn't like the smell of petrol I would hardly go and work in a garage.
We own our pub and invite the public in to try our drink and food. This is our home and we set our own rules on behaviour. We have worked very hard to build up the customer base that we have now and are not backed by any multi-national company with endless finances to tide us over the drop in trade that a no-smoking ban will cause.
Nor are we a working man's club but at least 90% of our clientele are working people. Why should we be deprived of the right to carry on our business in the way that we see fit?
If we could get more business from having a non-smoking policy, don't you think we would have already done it?
A survey of customers we completed recently, showed only two people wanted a complete smoking ban. The rest were quite happy with the improvements we have made.
We already have a totally separate no-smoking area; a well-ventilated smoking bar area, and a strong base of both smoking and non-smoking customers, who all regularly eat.
We are about 70% wet, 30% dry, and will lose a lot of our customers on both sides when and if this smoking ban is enforced.
I wonder what the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Brussels would make of it all if anyone bothered to push it? This is a flagrant disregard of our civil liberties.
If non-smokers can have a no-smoking area then smokers need to be able to have smoking areas. Apart from Ireland and parts of North America, there isn't anywhere else in the world where you would have to make the choice of eating or smoking.
In fact, in most places in Europe, you can still find the barman or the cook smoking behind the bar and in the kitchen.
Is there any other pub owner out there who feels the same? And what can we do about it?
Pauline Payne and Jane Bishop
The Anglers Retreat
Marsworth
Buckinghamshire
Government delivers yet another bloody nose'
For me the smoking debate has been another of those issues where the trade has failed to grasp the essential issue Government doesn't care what it thinks, right or wrong.
Conservative and Labour alike have delivered bloody nose after bloody nose to our trade leaders, who persist in standing there and taking it like the punch drunk amateurs they are.
The Conservatives battered the beerage into submission with the MMC Report and Labour landed some heavy shots with licensing reform.
Now we have the proposed smoking ban.
When will we learn?
The views of the trade are not relevant to Government thinking. Sure, we can kid ourselves that employing lobbyists, sitting on committees, forming action groups and taking tea with the minister is all very worthy. However, history shows that cozying up to the legislators is an utter waste of time.
To be fair, smoking was never going to be a winner for the trade. An outright ban on smoking was always on the cards and in my view the decisionto ban smoking in food pubs is just a step on the way to that scenario.
And while non-smoking areas and extraction systems offer some alternatives, it's clear that allowing smoking zones in a pub is a bit like letting people urinate in designated areas of a swimming pool.
The best thing the trade can do is accept the smoking issue as a necessary evil and get on with it. In any case, the trade needs to get in training for the next big battle responsible drinking.
Lewis Eckett
Marketing Consultant
via e-mail
How to contact our new No Fibs organisation
After the splendid coverage Rosie Davenport gave the new No Fibs (National Organisation For Foreign Imported Beers) in your last issue (Morning Advertiser, 11 November) many brand owners or UK distributors of imported specialist beers will be wanting to know how to join or to get further information about this new organisation.
They should contact John Harley, Budvar UK (john.harley@budvaruk.com), Rob Marijnen, Heineken (UK) (rob.marijnen@heineken.com) or Philip Parker, Ubevco (philip@ubevco.co.uk)
Denis Cox
Public Relations Controller
Budweiser Budvar UK
Hamilton House
Mabledon Place
London WC1H 9BB