From the mouths of publicans
Sunday, June 26, 2011 at 9:27 Further to my post about the latest Save Our Pubs and Clubs report on the impact of the smoking ban, the London Evening Standard reported on Friday that:
More than 700 pubs in Greater London have closed since the start of the smoking ban, research reveals today ... Research by CR Consulting for the Save Our Pubs And Clubs campaign found 4,800 pubs had closed in England during the same period.
See also: Inner city pubs were hardest hit by smoking ban (Big Hospitality)
Meanwhile I received an interesting email last night from a publican who shall remain anonymous but he has good connections within the industry. He writes:
Like many publicans I sympathise with your views on the issues of the smoking ban. My pub has seen some fairly radical changes in clientele since the ban. Luckily for us we have some outdoor space and have managed to accommodate the upheaval but I know many have not been so fortunate.
I will be the first to admit that the smoking ban, supermarket pricing and tax have all had their role to play in a very turbulent and demanding time for pubs, but I see JD Wetherspoon and all the managed house groups seem to be fairing pretty well, with like for like profits increasing year on year and plans for expansion and development.
The one thing that differentiates the latter from the majority of pubs actually closing is the beer tie and with the tied tenanted model offering little in the way of tenant earnings sadly many have insufficient resources to weather the economic storm of the combined influences and a further downturn in turnover as a result.
The pub owning companies cure for this downturn in volume sales is to try and achieve similar returns from the dwindling customer base by increasing their prices to tenants, who in turn must pass it on to the customer and practically drive them away with a shi**y stick into the arms of those pesky supermarkets who rather inconveniently are passing on their discounts, achieved by their buying power, to their customers.
Be under no illusion, I believe as publicans we should have been offered an opportunity to offer smoking and non smoking areas, or even choose whether our pub was a smoke free or not venue, but with 2.3% of all tied tenanted pubs closing (660) as against 1.3% of free houses closing (300) – the latter includes wine bars and cafes – in the 12 months between Dec 09 and Dec 10, I think it's fair to say there is a pattern of closure reflecting tied pub profitability being at an all time low.
Simon Clark
In Scotland the Save Our Pubs and Clubs report was mentioned on Good Morning Scotland and Radio Scotland News and featured on Reporting Scotland (BBC One).
The Scottish Government responded by saying that the off sales of cut price alcohol is more significant [than the smoking ban]. "We will not be relaxing the smoking ban because of its health benefits."
Reader Comments (8)
To permit smoking in an unstaffed air managed smoking room, could mean thirty percent plus more pub customers. With the right air filtration this woild be of absolutely no health risk other than to the people in the room smoking themselves. What right does government have, to stop adults that prefer to socialise in a smoking environment from doing so?
Introducing smoking rooms would almost stop the current trend of closures.To give vague answers such as, that they are not prepared to change the ban due to the health benefits
Is not good enough. The ban is destroying the hospitality industry and peoples social lives.
Govt should have no right to stop adults from smoking, in situations where its been proven there is no health threat to anyone else. Smoke doesn't travel through walls and modern air management systems do work. It should not have the right to denormalise and dictate peoples legal lifestyle choices, by banning smoking outright inside as it has done.
Simon,
Did you notice the tag at the bottom of the article in Big Hospitality? I reproduce it below:
""Number of pub, bar and club licences drops 13%""
I seem to remember reading in some ASH propaganda fairly recently a statement that alcohol licences were increasing.
I worked for a small brewery up to the smoking ban. They ended up closing their entire managed estate and concentrating on the tennanted side.
Mark said "With the right air filtration this woild be of absolutely no health risk other than to the people in the room smoking themselves."
I beg to differ Mark; air filtration nowadays is that good that it would benefit everyone by not only removing harmless smoke from the atmosphere but also the deadly toxins produced by vehicles which infiltrate all premises every time the door is opened. It would also negate the need for artificial air fresheners which, themselves I believe, are carconegenic!
The smoking ban, in my opinion, has nothing to do with health and everything to do with the control of the population - smokers are just the starting point as others are beginning to realise.
One cannot help but feel that Ms Simmonds is pushing that aspect of the reason for pub closures which she thinks might succeed - lowering beer duties. I would imagine that she sees no reason to get Government backs up by going on about the smoking ban. She will be perfectly aware of the damage done by the ban.
With absoutely no research to back up my comment - casual observation on my part would suggest that pubs like Wetherspoons tend to have city centre locations and so cater for office workers/shoppers etc. Also, they tend to be located in richer areas of the country. They also have scope to ride out differences in profits from all their locations - some of the most profitable pubs will support to the less profitabe ones (do all Wetherspoons pubs turn a profit? I would doubt it). No one on this blog has ever suggested the smoking ban is the sole reason for the difficulties in the pub trade - but it is a far bigger issue that many others try to suggest.
The pubs that are being hit the hardest are the ones that are the most important to the community - 'locals'. They are far more important to us - saying 'Wetherspoons is doing ok' is a bit like saying 'Tescos is doing OK' while the corner shops close.
I agree with you Mark Butcher. Wetherspoons, however, are also the type of pub that caters for every type of customer. They do morning coffee and afternoon tea in areas that are more 'cafe' style than pub style, which attracts customers who would not go to an everyday 'wet' pub; they do food and as a pub are more, in my opinion, 'wine bar' style.
It was interesting to see, however, that prior to the ban when Wetherspoons made some of their pubs No Smoking that the experiment didn't work so they reverted back to allowing smoking in them.
I often wonder if, with the size of the Wetherspoon operation, this little experiment didn't have something to do with the total smoking ban as opposed to the original idea that would allow some choice. I recall that 'level playing field' was a term used with regard to the total ban.