'Don't become a licensee, says Scot pub trade boss'

The pub industry's much-publicised problems including the smoking ban mean Scots should not to join the trade, says Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association. Waterson issued the stark warning as Punch Taverns, Scotland's biggest pub landlord, was urged to rethink its rental policy for around 450 of its local tenants. "I would certainly advise people to think long and hard before signing a tenancy agreement with Punch or any of the other big chains as things stand today," said Waterson. "Conditions...are particularly hard on tenants who have signed fixed rental agreements and have no room for flexibility when trading conditions change." - Sunday Herald​

Ian Payne, chairman of the two businesses that operate the former Laurel Pub Company estate, believes the 4p duty rise is why people have stopped going out two nights a week to the pub. "The industry has lost a night and it tends to be Friday. People still want to go out one evening a week, but they have chosen another night to stay at home, drink lager from the supermarket and smoke." However licensees' real wrath remains reserved for the pubcos, which tie their publicans for beer and other products. - Sunday Times​

Not everyone is drowning their sorrows over the industry's problems. "There's a real flight to quality," says Simon Emeny, managing director of Fullers' Inns. "Yes, the market is oversupplied - we're drinking less and eating out more - but good outlets with investment behind them and great staff will continue to do well." More vulnerable, he says, are companies with shorter-term business models that have borrowed heavily to make a fast buck: You can see that in the groups that are currently up for sale or refinancing." - Observer​

"My heart leapt last week upon hearing that the Tory [London] mayoral candidate Boris Johnson had pledged to hold a referendum on the smoking ban if he were elected on May 1," writes columnist India Knight. "Johnson said if he had his way, we would have an online referendum in London about whether to give boroughs back the power to give discretion over smoking to pubs and clubs. The smoking ban is killing social life and killing the businesses of those who try to provide it." - Sunday Times​

Scots playwright John Byrne is campaigning for an exemption to the smoking ban for theatres. Byrne claims that the ban on lighting up on the stage is "censorship" and makes performances of plays unrealistic. In Ireland, which brought in its smoking ban before Scotland, performers are allowed to light up with herbal cigarettes on stage, but no such exemption applies in Scotland. - Scotland On Sunday​