Pubs. What are they these smoke-free days?

[Burner]

There has been a long running trial with a group of people suing his estate for the effects of passive trumpet playing.

dedication, dedication ......that's what you need

Excellent. You'd have thought that all trumpet players ought to suffer a similar fate before thinking about bringing in a ban - Bet they didn't check!

[BIG-KHOL]

i've just got back from a tour of the alps covering france switzerland germany italy and austria .
....i try and do this at least once a year and really look forward to be able to have a agood germany beer or a nice glass of french wine and then a smoke afterwards . in fact it was always a real treat and added to the holiday.
....this year only austria was allowing you to smoke inside and there had to be a proper smoking and non smoking areas in bars and surprisingly resturants.

....in Solden we find a lovely little biker rock bar with a small humi and a few decent cuban sticks ( a little over priced) walking in to the place the first thing that came to mind is that it smelled like a bar should.

a few beers some good music and a ryj no1 and i was a happy bunny....it didnt take a lot to achieve this ..so why carnt this be done over here.

cannot remember the last time i went to my local as the pleasure for me was always a pint and a smoke

[tippexx]

The stupidest part of the ban is that they could have included provision for small enclosed smoking areas with appropriate fume extraction facilities with no hazards for workers a competitive edge for establishments willing to invest and probably a lucrative licensing scheme for the government but that would have required a bit of thinking to achieve. I blame Roy Castle - The git.

Yes. But no one made him work in those places. And I can't believe every venue was as smoke-filled as Ash might like to make out.

[monkey66]

I blame Roy Castle - The git.

There has been a long running trial with a group of people suing his estate for the effects of passive trumpet playing.

dedication, dedication ......that's what you need

[Burner]

The stupidest part of the ban is that they could have included provision for small enclosed smoking areas with appropriate fume extraction facilities with no hazards for workers a competitive edge for establishments willing to invest and probably a lucrative licensing scheme for the government but that would have required a bit of thinking to achieve. I blame Roy Castle - The git.

[Simon-JG-hr]

For me, a pub is somewhere that I can go for a nice pint of beer. I'll simply walk past 'pubs' which don't serve real ale, or which serve it badly. One of my two locals in Gloucester serves beer woefully (on the whole), but the other serves it wonderfully. Guess which we frequent.

My go-to pub in Plymouth is about the fifteenth closest pub (if not further) and is about a fifteen minute walk. There are plenty of good pubs which are closer, but not quite as good... It's a 'proper' pub in my opinion - and in my stereotypical view, that means that it looks like it's not changed much since the Victorian era. They serve great beer, and there is a very odd, ecclectic mix of patrons, which works surprisingly well. It helps that the landlord and his good wife (and their Thursday afternoon stand-in) are friendly and know pretty much everyone in there. Oh, and they don't serve food (the occasional finger buffet for birthdays/big sports matches, but that's it) - it's a one room pub...

I'd probably spark up a cigar occassionally were I able to, but for me, as a beer aficionado (probably more so than a cigar aficionado), a pub is about the beer. So if that's good, everything else can slide. Unless its a real shit-hole and frequented solely by complete tossers.

[akreissl]

Yes, these pubs exist but trekking outside for a fag or a cigar is not enjoyable!

[captain duff]

I actually don't have any problem with the smoking ban. Sure, I miss being able to smoke inside, but at the same time while pubs are leisure facilities for customers, they are workplaces for others and those people - often on minimum wage - deserve the same health & safety protection as anyone else. I was a civil servant when it was banned in offices around 15 years ago and you had to use the smoking room (that themselves have now disapeared), and that was absolutely correct - but then why should pub workers be treated with any less respect than office workers?

And I have to say it doesn't stop me enjoying pubs at all. Because I can still go in one of the many great ones (not called wetherspoons), drink great beer and choose to either sit quietly contemplating life or spark up conversations with complete strangers and talk about complete bollox for half the night, and satisfyingly put the world to rights. I don't know anywhere else that you can do that. Certainly not in your garden! Or in a poncy whine-bar for that matter. And while things are tougher down south given that you're all miserable bastards, I refuse to believe that there don't exist some great pubs down there where life can truely be given meaning over a pint of best...

[akreissl]

This ban is a real shame, no-where has really made the effort to accomodate the smoker since the ban came in. And all of these non smokers who swore blind they would now go into pubs since then ban seem to have not bothered. Scrap it I say. It's killing our pubs and, the traditional feel of a pub was smoke and spilt beer. That's what we need back!

[rollzst]

I won't even go into a pub that doesn't have an outside, comfortable space for me to spark up a cigar.....

I'm the same, the smoking ban has really put me off both pubs and restaurants unless they have a good outside area but I've got that at home lol

[celsis]

I won't even go into a pub that doesn't have an outside, comfortable space for me to spark up a cigar.....

[satch]

Surbiton is similar.

As is Wakefield.
I was in the Rotherham one a few months back,
amazingly it was quite pleasant!

[Robusto]

Surbiton is similar.

[Burner]

Wetherspoons seem to be the haunt of Chav moms doing their giro and spilling vodka over the pushchair while ashen faced alcoholics hunch over their pints gibbering away to themselves. Well the Croydon one was.

[captain duff]

Well look, there are a few good points about the 'spoons. First, you know exactly what you are getting because they (and the linked Lloyds bars) are the same everywhere even though their external appearance will vary (although I see that as a bad thing - I like individuality in pubs, not a mass produced branded look). And the beer is normally good (but the cask is often kept too cold for my tastes), and it is cheap.

So if I find myself in London without much money but want some cheap food and real ale I will use one because unless you know the local pubs the chances are you will be paying silly London prices if you don't. But essentially they are like any big chain, they lack any sort of character and are utterly souless. Ever heard of one with its own darts team? Or running a coach to the races? Or putting on a free buffet for one of its regulars for a birthday or when they have died? No, me neither. They are a beer shop disguised as a pub, but a beer shop they essentially remain.

Having said that, on a couple of rare occasions I have actually welcomed the ability to get a pint at 9.30am alongside a breakfast - thats a nice touch, but not one that I abuse. Wouldn't want to be classed as a sad old man too often after all...