Forest is hosting another webinar on Monday (13th July).
The topic for discussion is 'Patriotism, smoking and the pub'. It was prompted by Boris's suggestion, a few weeks ago, that it's our "patriotic duty" to support the pub.
The PM's rallying cry led to an article by Madeline Grant in the Telegraph. According to Madeline:
The PM insists supporting pubs is a “patriotic duty”, and so it is – not because this timid Government says so, but because, through no fault of its own, a great British institution is in mortal peril. Pandemic, lockdown and excessive caution have conspired to create a situation so dire that we should assume many of our favourite watering holes will never resurface from this economic maelstrom, and spend as if their – and our – lives depended on it.
I know how strongly many of you still feel about the smoking ban (me too!), so much so that some of you have stopped going to the pub, so here's an opportunity to respond to Boris's suggestion that supporting the pub is a "patriotic duty".
Discussing this on Monday evening are:
Madeline Grant (Telegraph), Chris Clarkson MP (tbc), Nick Hogan (former publican), Jim Butcher (writer on tourism), Frank Davis (smoker and blogger), John Mallon (Forest Ireland) and Rob Lyons (author, 'Road To Ruin: the impact of the smoking ban on pubs and personal choice').
I should add that we have invited a number of people from the pub industry (and CAMRA) to speak – and we have drawn a complete blank.
Invitations to publicans, campaigners and trade journalists have either been ignored or we've been fobbed off. The most considered response we received read:
I was quite equivocal about [the smoking ban] at the time, seeing the benefits yet worrying that it would shut some vulnerable people out of the pub.
Now, though, I can't see the point in resurrecting the debate. There are so many bigger issues the pub sector is having to deal with. So, thanks for the invitation, but I'll decline.
I suspect this is the view of most people within the hospitality industry. If so, it's a tad dismissive of Britain's 6.9 million smokers, many of whom no longer go to the pub thanks to the smoking ban.
They want our support but they're not willing to even talk about smoking?
Anyway, do join us on Monday. If you have something to say on this issue, now's your chance. Alternatively you can just listen to the discussion.
Either way it would be good to put faces to some of the names that comment on this blog, although you can listen via audio only.
To register click here.
Update: The following comment was added by Joe Jackson on another post (Is it really our "patriotic duty" to support the pub) several days after the post was published so it probably wasn't read by many people.
I am therefore re-posting it here because it's also relevant to this post:
This is an agonising question for me. To the the smoker commenters saying, if I'm not wanted, I'm not going: 'I feel your pain'! I stayed away from pubs almost entirely for years after the ban. More recently though, I've had to ask myself: do I really want them all to die? And do I never want to go to a pub and enjoy a pint, ever again?
My answer now is no. Instead I've figured out which pubs are still really making an effort and that includes for smokers. Often they're run by smokers and provide the best facilities they can. I want to encourage them and I believe they get the message. They also allow vaping inside which I find makes a big difference, though I still prefer real tobacco and understand others who aren't interested in vaping. The situation stinks and plenty of people know it. No one has come up with a way to actually change it, though. I think it will happen, but in some way we can't see right now, and may never live to see.
Meanwhile I think we all have to deal with it in the way we feel most comfortable with. For me that means going to a select handful of pubs because I can still enjoy them on the whole, and don't want them to disappear. They know I'm a smoker, and they know many others are staying away. I wish the pub trade had done more to stop the ban, but I'm not sure it would have made much difference, and I can't take it out on the individual publicans who still give a damn and are doing the best they can. Though if vaping is banned inside and smoking outside, I may well once again wish them all to hell ...
I think a lot of us would agree with that. If a pub does its best to accommodate smokers we should support it.
The industry as a whole? Meh.