Recession exacerbated by sSmoking Ban in public

JonnyBravo

matbe wrote: »

The nhs spend more of its money on alcohol related problems than on smoking.

Not true.

A little googling reveals some disparities in the figures but it might be fair to suggest they are about the same at the moment. £2.7bn each.

Not really sure what your point was here anyhow. Cos drinking might be worse you get to smoke wherever you like?
Am I allowed to drink wherever I like?


A bit like your eloquent offer of "If you don't like smoking go to a non-smoking pub", I suggest if you don't like the possibility someone will set upon you due to drink go somewhere where no-one is drinking.
:beer:

Me? I'll be in the pub. Lovely!


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4377795.ece
"Time is being called on happy hours and two-for-one offers on alcoholic drinks as figures indicate that excessive drinking puts 800,000 people in hospital a year at a cost to the NHS of £2.7 billion a year. "


http://www.ash.org.uk/ash_eyhkq96u.htm
The annual cost of smoking to the NHS in England has soared from £1.7 billion a year in 1998 to £2.7 billion this year. Presented at the NCRI conference today the figures are included in a major new report, ‘Beyond Smoking Kills' published by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), in collaboration with the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and endorsed by over 100 health and welfare organisations (1). The cost of smoking to the NHS would have risen even more – to more than £3 billion a year - if Government action, health education and changing social attitudes had not led over the last decade to a fall in the total number of smokers from nearly 12 million to just over 9 million (2).

lostinrates

bikeulike wrote: »

Long time lurker here,

Wow, by this forums standards you really have managed to keep quiet for ages! Welcome.

Dithering_Dad

lostinrates wrote: »

Wow, by this forums standards you really have managed to keep quiet for ages! Welcome.

Yes, it is amazing that some of these 'lurkers' have been around for years, through all the contentious subjects such as HPC and have somehow managed to refrain from posting. One does wonder why anyone would bother to access a discussion forum and NOT discuss anything?

lostinrates

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

One does wonder why anyone would bother to access a discussion forum and NOT discuss anything?

Maybe because you would, on reading, see how newcomers are often treated?;) My DH thinks I'm crazy to post here....and he's registered here too..

uzubairu

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

Next on the list should be companies banning their employees from loafing about outside the front of buildings, littering the gutters and pathways with fag ends and making the company look a little seedy. You almost get lung cancer trying to force your way into reception through the massed ranks of stinking and coughing smokers huddled around the doorways.

We had that problem where I work and the Store Manager was getting complaints daily (and as the Customer Service Manager, I had to deal with them all :sad: ).
They have now been banished to a corner of the carpark where the majority of customers can't see them.

stonethrower

As a non smoker gave up 10 years ago I have stopped going to my local as much because of the smoking ban, this is because I seem to be waiting half of the time for a drink because the staff are outside smoking.

maninthestreet

dervish wrote: »

The Smoking Ban of smoking in public has certainly not helped the gernal ecnonomy or the recession.

1) Lots of people are not applying for jobs becuase nowadays they are not allowed to smoke on the premises - mechanics, factory workers, office workers etc - this has driven the figures up.

2) Pubs / restuarants / cafes / liesure centres etc have seen a pllummet in customers becuase now trhey cant smoke in peace.

3) The Wills factory (woodbines) in Newcastle upon Tyne has closed and had its factory turned into flats becuase the company went bust.

4) People are feeling more depressed now and thereofre wanting to smoke now which is not allowed now so it reinforces the whole vicios circle again.


When the ban came in to force last year people said it wouldnt harm any businesses or close pubs etc. It is obvious that thousands of people are now suffering / losing jobs or not applying for them becasue of it.

It's absurd as it is ridiculous to suggest people are giving up jobs, or refusing to work simply because they cannot smoke in the workplace.

Pobby

How much the smoking ban has played in the downfall of many a pub is difficult to equate. Publican friends of mine say it plays a part. The other components are high beer duties versus very cheap beer from the supermarket, and very greedy pub companies.

I was staying with a buddy last week at his pub. It comprises of a decent sized bar, 5 letting rooms and a bistro. His rent is a staggering £48,000, a lot for a village based pub.

Another friend has a pub in a back street. It`s an old " terrace " pub and basically needs gutting. It`s not very large and is a bit off the beaten track. His rent is over £25,000 a year.

The problem, imho, is that the freeholders are property firms not brewers. In the old days it was normal for breweries to own their own outlets and would be run by a manager or a tenant. The profits generated would come from the beer sold.

If I recall, it was an issue for the last Conservative government due to breweries holding monopolies. Personally I liked the old way of doing it.

It`s interesting that some of these pub property companies are now trying to offload part of their portfolios.

boyse7en

2) Pubs / restuarants / cafes / liesure centres etc have seen a pllummet in customers becuase now trhey cant smoke in peace.

This one made me laugh (and not just because it looks like a cat wandered across the keyboard while it was being typed).

Before the smoking ban, how much smoking do you actually think went on in Leisure Centres? As a regular at our local LC for years, I don't remember people puffing away as they did lengths in the pool, nor did they leap from the treadmills to undo their hours of keep-fit efforts with a crafty fag.

StevieJ

The pubs have lost atmosphere since the ban but I think the ban was good to see. The landlord of one of the pubs in town told me that his doctor had asked him how many he smoked after an examination of his throat, he was in fact a non-smoker :eek: