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Smoking ban is a killer

11:52am Tuesday 27th November 2007

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I AM a professional musician of some 30 years, playing in bars and clubs, and have been dismayed by the effect of the smoking ban. Whereas we were promised that the grateful customers would flock to premises providing a smoke-free environment, the reality has been that I have been playing in mostly empty bars, while the few customers left have been shivering outside in the rain and cold.

I have never seen such a collapse in trade, which happened immediately after the ban and has not improved since. This ill thought out law has destroyed social life in this country at a stoke, as people decide to stay at home, guzzling cheap supermarket alcohol and no doubt smoking in front of their children. I have no problem with restrictions on smoking in shops and other public places, but a total ban in pubs, forcing people to sit outside in the wet and freezing cold, while being denied adequate shelter is surely unreasonable.

Most people I know are upset and angry about this ban, and if it is not reversed it will lead to the demise of many premises which have previously been the hub of the community.

Peter F Cooke Fitzhardinge Way Berkeley.

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Your Say YourGazette Series

NoBanJan, Manchester says...
12:45pm Wed 28 Nov 07

With compromise from the anti smokers, things wouldn't be in this sad state. We need smoking bars & non-smoking bars. Our freedom is quickly being erroded. freedom2choose.info

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clif, london says...
1:20pm Wed 28 Nov 07

if i owned a pub or club i would be demanding compensation for imposing losses and stress to me and my customers with this silly law that the goverment has imposed on all private companies, which seems to be distroying pubs and clubs in this country.

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mark, Leicestershire says...
1:42pm Wed 28 Nov 07

My web site is receiving emails like this every day,from the public and from business owners.
A compromise needs to be found and quick,to save thousands of pubs from closing.
The European bans allow indoor smoking rooms-thats what we need.
www.smokingbanstinks
.co.uk

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Pi**edoffPublican, Herefordshire says...
2:13pm Wed 28 Nov 07

We all knew this would happen, it has closed over 2000 pubs in Ireland, 250 in Scotland, nearly 400 in Wales and 650 in England already. why arnt the British people standing up to fight this. freedom2choose.info are the only group fighting this unjust law, join us NOW and help fight this ban.

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lyn, Worcester says...
2:46pm Wed 28 Nov 07

Apathy! That is why the British people are not standing up to fight this ban. I am sick of hearing from smokers, my husband and some work colleagues included, that 'We will get used to it' or 'It's here now and there is nothing we can do, so we have to get used to it'. I get so angry and often feel that I am fighting a one woman battle! Thank goodness for F2C, which I promote at every opportunity as well as any other site, such as smokingbanstinks.

I often hear people saying how the Spanish, French and other European countries have stood up to their bans and got them quickly amended, but the 'Great' has gone from Britain and mostly we are load of yes sir, no sir whimps! It's about time we got fired up again and stood up for what are basic rights. All we ask for is compromise and if the government, never mind the nannies, could find half a brain cell between them, they would see that it is not rocket science to provide compromise and it would cost a lot less too.

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JAMES LAWLER, temp london says...
3:25pm Wed 28 Nov 07

ask boris johnson in his quest to be londons mayor to campaign for london smoking pubs
text him it could be the start of a comeback do it now
is he brave enough?

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Chris F J Cyrnik, says...
7:10pm Wed 28 Nov 07

Send these kind of comments to your MP - Now!

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Charlie, UK says...
7:31pm Wed 28 Nov 07

Smoking bans are a gross infringement of private property rights. Whether smoking takes place in pubs which are private property and the public are invited in not forced in the decision on smoking should be the owners and no one elses. I just wonder which political party wants to pick up 13 million smokers votes at the next election you can bet they wont be voting Labour.

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emma, Withernsea says...
9:00pm Wed 28 Nov 07

I live in a small seaside town and since the ban one pub have closed and 2 more are on the brink of closing most pubs have tried everything to keep open but nobody wants to into a pub any more they prefer to go to the local supermarket and buy cheap drinks than stand outside
Also they is a out cry about closing post offices that it will ruin communitys and village life but people are doing a lot of moaning about this ban but not willing to anything about it not like in Paris where they was a protest march through the city but we have not had any thing here we should be standing up to this government

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ROBERT WOODS, says...
10:23pm Wed 28 Nov 07

AS A NON SMOKER I AM APPALLED AT THIS SMOKING BAN. PUBS ARE AWFUL PLACES TO BE IN NOW, NO ATMOSPHERE, CLINICAL AND NANNY STATE RUINED BY OUR PATHETIC GOVERMENT, WHO`S ONLY AIM IS TOO KEEP US ALL UNDER IT'S DICTATORSHIP. WHAT WAS NEEDED WAS SMOKING AND NON SMOKING BARS AND CLUBS. BAN IT ELSEWHERE, BUT LEAVE THE PUBS AND CLUBS ALONE. WHAT A VERY SAD STATE THIS COUNTRY HAS BECOME UNDER LABOUR. I DESPAIR!

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chas, suffolk says...
10:50am Thu 29 Nov 07

I feel that it may be too late now for publicans. Before the smoking ban the majority of people drank indoors. The majority of regular drinkers were smokers and they now have started to drink indoors. When customer stay away it is very difficult to get them back.

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Dennis, Cambs says...
12:05pm Thu 29 Nov 07

Apart from the now minority "anti brigade",there seems to growing unity amongst pub goers that this law needs repealing or modifying, if the pub as we know it is to survive.
It's so annoying when we keep hearing propoganda about how well the ban is working etc, which is probably from folk who hardly ever set foot in a real pub.
The truth needs to be reported nationally.

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Pete, Bristol says...
12:36pm Thu 29 Nov 07

Thank goodness for common sense and the smoking ban. Everyone else has moved on to enjoy a more healthy lifestyle and better environmental conditions. If you want to pump the air with tobacco smoke do it at home. The rest of the coutry has moved on. It's old news, and will never be reveresed.... Hurrah for progress.

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Dennis, Cambs says...
1:48pm Thu 29 Nov 07

Everyone else has moved on to enjoy a more healthy lifestyle and better environmental conditions.

What I want to know is where is it, they moved on to?It's certainly not the pubs.

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Jenny, North Yorkshire says...
1:57pm Thu 29 Nov 07

What a statement - hurrah for progress! When, for example, jobs are sent off-shore with thousands of UK redundancies, is that progress? When pubs and other establishments close with the loss of thousands of jobs,is that progress? Common sense would be to allow places where people can have a drink and a smoke as well as having places where people can't and don't smoke. Now, there is no compromise and no choice with the result that places are closing down. If you, Pete of Bristol, believe that everyone has moved on, you are very much mistaken. People can move on, if they've got someone to move to. A lot of people haven't got that now, but there is a movement people may explore to be found at www.freedom2choose.i
nfo - we're always being told we have to move on when something unpleasant happens and that old refrain is becoming very dated and boring.

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Jenny, North Yorkshire says...
2:00pm Thu 29 Nov 07

Apologies - I meant 'somewhere to move to' - and Dennis of Cambs is correct. They certainly have not moved to the pubs because most of them now seem to be almost empty most nights.

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chas, suffolk says...
2:44pm Thu 29 Nov 07

Everyone else has moved on to enjoy a more healthy lifestyle and better environmental conditions.
'EVERYONE', then why are pubs almost empty now and as for 'better environmental conditions', if you enjoy empty pubs you can keep them.

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Jon, Kent says...
3:36pm Thu 29 Nov 07

This ban has got to be one of the worst pieces of legislation that this incompetent and corrupt govt. has introduced. It will decimate rural areas and lead to the closure of thousands of pubs. If you live in a Labour area make sure your MP knows your views. If Labour think it will hurt them they will modify the ban.
Why is this madness not being reported in mainstream media????
Have ASH (who are funded by the pharmaceutical industry) got that much influence? Sales of NRT are whats behind this - nothing else.

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mandyv, cambs says...
3:49pm Thu 29 Nov 07

Yes I agree with Dennis and many others one here. You only have to read these comments, it is quite clear why the pubs are empty. Because Pete and othe antis, are in the MINORITY, many smokers have non-smoking partners,friends and family. They would like to go out to socialise, TOGETHER. There are not enough antis to fill all the venues, there never was. The media carried on the lies, about how well it was doing here there and everywhere. Misreporting and scare-mongering has been rife throughout a lot of the media. Luckily we do still have some great journalist left with integrity.
I along with many others still here the echo, from online anti comments. If you do not like going outside, stay at home. Thank you, I and many others will. Pubs and other venues should be able to get compensation, why aren't they? The farmers who were forced to kill their livestock, were quite rightly given it. The prisoners who had to go cold turkey, were given it. The pubs who were forced to ban smokers from inside with loss of trade,should get it too. The antis lied, they did not all rush to the smokefree venues, did they. But will they pay it. Yeah right, I think not.The antis were NEVER banned from opening their own venues. More and more studies will be done, to "prove" the lies of passive smoke.
freedom2choose.info for tolerant non-smokers and smokers alike

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Chris, Gloucestershire says...
4:18am Sun 2 Dec 07

A man at our local stepped outside for some air as it was hot inside. He then had the audacity to complain about the smoke blowing about on the forecourt!

My friend is 79 years old and so far she has had to brave frost, gales and torrential rain just to have a smoke. I hope someone will sue the Government on H&S grounds when they get pneumonia!

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Cathy, Ryde, Isle of Wight says...
3:29am Mon 3 Dec 07

The only thing I hope is that people will NEVER accept it and continue to boycott pubs, clubs and restaurants. I do my part. I haven't had a drink inside a bar since the ban started. Most of my friends are smokers, but some are non-smokers, and they follow suit. This is the ONLY way to do it - vote with your feet. As far as I'm concerned, this is a war.

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mandyv, cambs says...
6:09pm Mon 3 Dec 07

Yes Cathy, I agreee, it is war. The goverment want our money, Tax on ciggies should come down, seems they no longer want to treat us. I will only go on holiday on short haul flights, to Countries, that do not denormalise me, for using a legal product. We will soon be fighting another war, to be allowed alcohol in the pubs. For those antis who dislike others, smokers/smoking, wait until the teetotallers, tell the drinkers to stop wingeing.
freedom2choose.info
for tolerant non-smokers and smokers alike

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Steve Day, Essex says...
11:19am Tue 4 Dec 07

I won't prattle on about my rights being taken away from me, I think everyone here already agrees that. My overriding concern is the demise of the traditional British pub, I'm talking about the private pub owner not one of those horrible chain or themed pubs, sadly these are the pubs which will probably survive all this ridiculous law

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Fagend, Freezingoutside says...
10:26pm Tue 4 Dec 07

NATIONAL SMOKING DAY IS 31ST DEC 2007.Visit nationalsmokingday dot com/ to find out about it. Fight the ban.

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Paul Gate, Luton says...
5:26pm Wed 5 Dec 07

It makes me quite furious that we have allowed ourselves to be shoved about like this; like children in a playground.

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pat, herts says...
12:29pm Sun 9 Dec 07

I have read all the comments and the best advice I can give is WRITE TO GORDON BROWN and complain that we are being treated unfairly. TELL all your friends to write and complain and keep writing to complain until they are sick of recieving letters about the subject.I have just recieved a letter from the department of health stating that the smoking ban is popular I have wrote back and told them that this is a load of .......and the only way they will realise this fact is at the next election.We are letting this government get away with controlling us and we should not allow this to happen.And I also will only now travel to places that allow smoking in public places Majorca is one.So come on stand up to this government with your protests and write write and keep on writing. I also blame pub owners and club owners for not making a stand when this ban was approved.

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pat, herts says...
12:45pm Sun 9 Dec 07

JAMES LAWLER wrote:
ask boris johnson in his quest to be londons mayor to campaign for london smoking pubs text him it could be the start of a comeback do it now is he brave enough?
Dear James I would text Boris Johnson can you let me know what his text number is I will do it

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manicmand, liverpool says...
11:48am Sun 10 Aug 08

I am thinking of sueing the government due to the depression they have caused me, as i now feel i cannot go out and enjoy myself so i have nothing to look forward to.

I am also getting colds due to the fact every time i want a cigerette i have to go outdoors in the cold and rain.

I am being treated worse than an heroine addict, as they get empathy, but i get treated like i am a piece of dirt simply because i smoke.

I do not want to pack in and i do not want to be told what i should do with my body.

The houses of parliament have a so called private bar which they can drink and smoke in for enjoyment. How is it private if people congregate together like they do in pubs and they must have barmaids who are subject to the smoke! Double standards at it's best.

I stand in the street smoking to hear people huffing and puffing because they have to endure my cigerrete smoke. Non smokers have never had it so good yet they are still not happy. It is against the law to smoke in a bus shelter but non smokers don't seem to mind the fumes off the bus that is chugging next to them/

Folks please realise the bigger picture herewe are having legal rights removed and don't moan when something you enjoy gets taken away against your will.

Bring back the go0od old 80s!!!

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