smoking ban

fotherz · Post by **fotherz** » Mon May 19, 2008 8:30 pm

Nil Satis wrote:Antiquity Hall - now a gastro pub

A former Word Up world record venue. Its now the Oxford Retreat.

fotherz · Post by **fotherz** » Mon May 19, 2008 8:32 pm

dmac wrote:Pint Pot RIP

indeed.

QuizMaster · Post by **QuizMaster** » Mon May 19, 2008 9:09 pm

Because when I was 16/17 I used to go to the pub to catch up with all my mates and find out who'd been up to what. There's just no need for today's youngsters to do that - everybody's got a phone, or access to facebook. The rise of social networking et al.

When you were 16/17, it was ALL about going to the pub.

Pete187 · Post by **Pete187** » Mon May 19, 2008 10:08 pm

16/17 year olds still attempt to go to the pub. You can blame the police for cracking down on it for that one.

donttellhimpike · Post by **donttellhimpike** » Mon May 19, 2008 10:14 pm

Well this has wandered off topic hasn't it!!!!!!!

1) Noticed a couple of weeks ago that some venues which had grown an extra itbox had dispensed with them again. eg spoons in chancery lane, romford etc. Although some venues have added an IND:E to their paragon (yippee!!)

2) On the smoking front i banned myself from it in 1992 after an excessive 7 years but do appreciate the occasional one i'm offered

Pike cough cough

Terry Tibbs · Post by **Terry Tibbs** » Mon May 19, 2008 11:00 pm

Nil Satis wrote:One serious negative (and this is coming from someone who has never smoked and never will) is that the smoking ban must be one of the factors behind the increasing number of pub closures. I can think of 20 or 30 pubs with machines which have closed in the towns I know well and I'm sure this is the case for all of you. Most of these places won't be mourned as pubs but as venues for winning cash many of them will be missed. The apparent closure of all the Yates's, for example, has removed one of the likeliest locations for finding a machine or two, particularly when visiting a town you don't know.

its sped up the inevitable basically. what looks like it would have been a slow decline has hapened basically overnight.

at the time of the ban there were around 60k pubs in the UK - hugely bloated number and with all the issues such as declining disposable income and growing 'opportunities to spend' on other areas of entertainment alongside changing tastes the decline was inevitable.

What seems to be happening now is a much needed market correction. the lower quality pubs will fail with the more savvy licensees remaining and offering a much better quality experience catering for more needs than before

Northern Monkey · Post by **Northern Monkey** » Tue May 20, 2008 9:54 am

On the smoking front- I am finding that I get through even more as every time I'm between pubs I chain through a couple.

Sometimes I am even guilty of Istey style wandering reported in another thread- ie I will just wander up the street with my fag and pint to the next venue.

Istenem · Post by **Istenem** » Tue May 20, 2008 1:04 pm

good skills NM.

a little story:

last thursday i was having a pint with an old mate and some half-hearted SWPing. anyway one of the boozers on carnaby street served me a glass of poison so i was just outside chatting and smoking and had jettisoned the pint on an A board. before long a homeless fella sidled up, did the obligatory "spare change guv" spiel. then he picked up my pint and necked it.

moral of this story: i am more discerning than a tramp.

rogerthymes · Post by **rogerthymes** » Wed May 21, 2008 6:49 pm

Visited a couple of nearby towns and cities recently - less pubs and less machines.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Fri May 23, 2008 5:13 pm

I'm sure this pattern will be seen almost everywhere.

P.S. Mr Picky says: you meant "fewer pubs and fewer machines"...

BigEd · Post by **BigEd** » Fri May 23, 2008 7:59 pm

Nil Satis wrote: P.S. Mr Picky says: you meant "fewer pubs and fewer machines"...

Should that have been "less pubs and fewer machines", as it would be hard to count the total number of pubs in the towns and cities, but you could count the total number of machines in the pubs visited?

Dyonn · Post by **Dyonn** » Sat May 24, 2008 12:42 am

No, that would mean there was less of the pubs, so maybe all the roofs had disappeared.

rogerthymes · Post by **rogerthymes** » Sat May 24, 2008 10:56 am

BigEd wrote:
Nil Satis wrote: P.S. Mr Picky says: you meant "fewer pubs and fewer machines"...
Should that have been "less pubs and fewer machines", as it would be hard to count the total number of pubs in the towns and cities, but you could count the total number of machines in the pubs visited?

I was talking about going to pubs I used to frequent - and finding the pub was closed down. At the same time other pubs had got rid of their itboxes. A double whammy of sorts. (nb: to Nil Satis's grammer police...I am aware this last sentance doesn't have a verb

)

fotherz · Post by **fotherz** » Sat May 24, 2008 12:57 pm

It isn't a sentance, or even a sentence.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Sun May 25, 2008 4:49 am

... and 'grammar' is spelt with 2 As.

If anyone is still unsure of the distinction, you use 'fewer' with countable nouns and 'less' with uncountable nouns:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learn ... v260.shtml

and so because you can count both pubs and machines the correct word is 'fewer'.

Blimey, you really do get a better class of posting on this forum!