It all started here
Today is a dark day in Irish history.
On this day twenty years ago Nanny brought in the smoking ban in all public buildings including pubs in Ireland. This was the start of the rash that spread around the planet leading in turn to the start of the rapid decline in public houses particularly in Ireland and the UK.
There was no sound reason for this ban. It was introduced as a result of personal prejudices, disinformation and downright lies. Since then of course the ban planted the seed of distrust and, in some cases, of hatred for the smoker. The propaganda machine went into relentless overdrive until eventually the lies are taken by the vast majority to be the truth.
Another aspect of the ban was that it removed the basic right of a publican to decide how to run his [or her] business. This should be a fundamental right of any property owner to set their own rules, but not only did this ban ride roughshod over this right, it also forced the owner to police the very law that was heavily impacting on their own business. It also gave Nanny a taste of the power they could impose on the public.
It was a sad day for pubs and, in particular, rural pubs which used to be the social hub. Now a lot of those pubs that survived the onslaught became “gastro pubs” where the single person looking for a bit of social contact was frowned upon unless they ordered a meal.
It was a bad day for publicans. They were promised in the propaganda that the ban would lead to a huge increase in custom. Of course the opposite happened.
I wonder if, in hindsight, they would have accepted the ban so readily?
In the UK, the Blair government made a backroom pact with the big pub industry the year before enacting that disgraceful law, the pubs would first be permitted 24-hour opening if they acceded to a smoking ban later. And so it came to pass, without a squeak of protest from the industry.
Their calculation was that longer openings would compensate, also that they were already moving away from being mere beer-sellers, towards being property companies, so any ‘lost’ pubs could be handled as part of their property business, regaining capital from under-performing assets. The bean-counters approved.
I have not patronised any local pub or restaurant since that date – if they wanted my custom, they should have protested, they clearly didn’t, so with many others taking the same stance, pubs have closed in their thousands. Tough titty, they brought it on themselves.
One incidental benefit for governments is that local pubs used to be the places where free an open discussion took place, often critical of government actions – by eliminating ‘the local’, they emasculated this form of public debate, silencing government critics along the way. Surely that was unintentional?
Mudplugger, that is an extremely incisive comment. Is it worthwhile popping it on another Scriblerus page https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/ as there could be all sorts of interesting comments to endorse what you said!
I’ve never thought of these issues like that before, so thank you, and best wishes!
(I hope I’m not gate-crashing your site, Grandad, but this is quite an eye-opener for me)!
The only kind of gate crashing I worry about is when the neighbours opposite try to maneuver something big into their garden. I have had damaged gates in the past.
The bastard politicians in the UK can smoke in their subsidised pub, supposedly it is a club so the rules are different, in that case, any pub in the UK could become a club, instant membership for a small fee to anyone who enters. Most politicians are kippers-Two faced bastards with no guts.
When the ban took place here in Oregon a large number of restaurants and bars made changes to allow for outdoor seating.
Within a few months reviews on these places were generally favorable. Naturally, there were also a number of them that complained about it being such a nice day we decided to eat lunch outside, but some people were smoking, and we were forced to go elsewhere.
No lady, you chose to go elsewhere!
A little something from Samuel Clemmons AKA Mark Twain.
“I don’t want any of your statistics. I took your whole batch and lit
my pipe with it. I hate your kind of people. You are always ciphering
out how much a man’s health is injured, and how much his intellect is
impaired, and how many pitiful dollars and cents he wastes in the
course of ninety-two years’ indulgence in the fatal practice of
smoking; and in the equally fatal practice of drinking coffee; and in
playing billiards occasionally; and in taking a glass of wine at
dinner, etc., etc., etc. . . . You never see but one side of the
question. You are blind to the fact that most old men in America smoke
and drink coffee, although, according to your theory, they ought to
have died young; and that hearty old Englishmen drink wine and survive
it, and portly old Dutchmen both drink and smoke freely, and yet grow
older and fatter all the time. And you never try to find out how much
solid comfort, relaxation and enjoyment a man derives from smoking in
the course of a lifetime, (and which is worth ten times the money he
would save by letting it alone,) nor the appalling aggregate of
happiness lost in a lifetime by your kind of people from NOT smoking.”
Mark Twain San Francisco, 186
My sentiments exactly! It should be written into the constitution.