Pete Robinson: Another year over...
Our industry leaders and spokesmen joined hands with the politicians and antis to reassure us of the "new opportunities" to come. You were all going to keep your smoking customers because most of them wanted the ban. They'd all either give up their disgusting habit for good or quite happily linger outside in the cold and rain.
What's more your bars and lounges would be packed beyond capacity by 'new' non-smoking drinkers who would keep the tills ringing all day long. Lay on a bit of pub grub and you could name your own price as families fought for seats.
Yep, you were gonna be quids in. All the statistics said so. And statistics don't lie, do they?
Common sense should dictate that had there been a market for smoke-free pubs then the trade would have provided it. Yet many of us believed those daft predictions before realising they'd been sold a pup.
Was it worth it? Health wise what has the ban achieved?
Absolutely nothing. The notion of death by passive smoking is so ludicrous even the antis rarely quote it nowadays, focusing instead on the benefits of so-called 'clean' air.
There's been no dramatic fall in tobacco sales while smuggled ciggies appear to be more freely available than ever. What it has done is to socially divide sections of the drinking classes and it's definitely hardened smokers' attitudes.
Normally giving up smoking is number one New Year's resolution with official statistics predicting a bumper crop of new nicotine abstainers. However, despite blowing a fortune in state funds fewer than 2% of smokers are attempting self-denial this year because they've had a gut-full of being told what to do.
We've allowed the antis to legitimise officially sanctioned collective hatred, to the point where it's now seriously proposed by the government that smokers should no longer qualify for NHS treatment. I know many outraged smokers who are cutting up their donor cards and have even stopped giving blood in protest.
Meanwhile, as we increasingly drive smoking underground it's becoming dangerously attractive to the young. Around 450 children start smoking every day. Nearly a third of 15-year-old girls currently smoke regularly, with a quarter of all 11-year-olds being occasional smokers. Ban something and it becomes 'cool' according to the modern kid's logic.
But the real loser in all this has been the poor old British pub, our national treasure and heritage, together with hard working publicans. We won't be able to assess the real damage for anotheryear or so but wet-sale turnover has been hit by an average 10% to 25%.
The plethora of summertime pubco press releases claiming financial immunity ("Ban? What ban?") were less than truthful, as some of us commented at the time. Globe's 442 pubs saw beer volumes drop by a massive 14% between June and August. Expect similar announcements when the others are forced to come clean.
Bingo halls in crisis, working men's clubs established over a century ago finally closing their doors and traditional pubs facing a desperately bleak future. Social division, the elderly lonely and isolated at home, loss of jobs, livelihoods and homes.
Fewer opportunities for those considering a career within the industry, with fewer people than ever choosing to enter the licenced trade. And can you blame them?
If there is one thing we can say with absolutely certainty it's this. After 2007 the British Pub will never be the same again.
We've forever lost something unique to these islands, sacrificed to the powers of political correctness and the nanny state.
Other than putting a smug smile on the faces of a few antis can anyone tell me what this has really achieved, at such a cost?
