LETTERs

Ban the ban - or I'll stay at home

I visit my local to enjoy the atmosphere, and have a pint or three with a smoke among friends. If any of the above disappears, I may as well stay at home. How dare non-smokers dictate how I live my life? At a non-smoker's home, I don't smoke. If a smoker or a non-smoker is eating, I don't smoke. But a pub has always been a beer and baccy domain - and long may it continue. One more thing - most non-smokers belong to the "small white wine" brigade. Hardly going to keep a pub going, are they? Michael Davie Via email from mwgy@btopenworld.com Support pubs - not robbers Re your front-page article on pubs "killing" football gate revenue (Morning Advertiser, 24 August), I'm amazed that the people at Blackburn Rovers have the bare-faced audacity to blame pubs for showing football. Your front-page article carries the comment: "We (Blackburn Rovers) have gone up in the league but crowds have gone down. There is no logical explanation." Their blindness is astounding. The reason people prefer pubs is clear - take a good look at ticket prices. Admission costs £89 for a senior citizen, his adult son and two grandsons, but I charge customers nothing at all to enter my pub. I got rid of Sky because they are no more than robbers. I don't have a foreign satellite set, but the more I read, the more I consider having one. As our Government appears to be all in favour of free trade, I may choose to "trade" TV with another country. Jack Straw may not like the gate getting smaller at his local football ground, but if he went to a game, I doubt he would even pay to go in. Mick Macauley Via email from mick@theoakinn-burton.co.uk Footfall costs less for pub football It is interesting to note that Blackburn blame pub screenings for a ticket sales decline. I've been a Manchester City season ticket holder for 28 years and never considered non-renewal until this year; now I'm sick of matches being re-scheduled. I missed eight of 19 home games played at inconvenient times last year, at a cost of about £250 - season tickets can't be refunded. Seven out of 14 friends cancelled their season tickets in the last 12 months for similar reasons. Why can't clubs accept that they are killing the game by allowing Sky to impose a "closed period"? For Sky to show more matches, each game has to be screened at increasingly ridiculous times. I recall the mess last year when all matches were shown on New Year's Eve instead of 1 January. But still the Blackburn spokesman maintains that the only logical reason for plummeting attendances is action taken by the pubs... Rick Hart Via email from rick@things4u2do.com What amounts to a real premium? Re: Christie+Co's comments on premiums (Morning Advertiser, 24 August). Surely a "premium" charged on a lease is usually a measure of the goodwill element in the business, based on the effort and work of the existing licensee and relative business success? In my view it should not be viewed as just another income "opportunity" for the big boys. In many cases, the manager will no longer be running the pub, the product range will change, and the ethos and style of the old company will no longer be in evidence - so how can anyone apart from an opportunist stone-squeezer expect a "premium", in the truest sense of the word? Referring to it truthfully as an "auction", would have have been honest, at least, rather than misleading. Perhaps the next stage will be an invitation to applicants for sealed "premium" bids for these prime leases. After all, maximum money appears to be the only driving force these days. Ken Nason Via email from ken@innmentor.co.uk Waiting for the Punch line I read with great interest your informative article (Morning Advertiser, 17 August) regarding the finding that fewer than 50 Punch licensees have exercised their right to jettison free-of-tie leases. I suggest that quite a few Punch lessees are not aware of this option - Punch have not openly let it be known, even to some of their district managers. I just wish that I had the option! Jim Storey Via email from theship@btinternet.com Xxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Name Address Xxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Name Address Xxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Name Address