I went out for a couple of drinks last night with George and Roisin to the Black Boy. For those not in the know, it’s a great pub in Winchester, with a great atmosphere and an interesting mix of people.
However, getting up this morning I could smell the smoke in my clothes from the other side of the room. Yuk.
It’s a controversial issue I know, and it’ll probably lessen the atmosphere in the Black Boy, but I’m looking forward to July 1st 2007 when I won’t smell of smoke after coming out of a pub.
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If the Black Boy wanted to go smoke-free, it could of course already do so. So presumably the owners think I’d be a bad move. Incidentally, one of Winchester’s previously excellent pubs, The Green Man, was non-smoking and has now switched back to allowing it (along with a stupid big screen showing stupid football and a drop in the quality of food). Maybe outlawing smoking in pubs risks not giving pub-goers what they want.
NB: I am not a smoker. I am, however, a liberal (small L).
Indeed. I’m sure it would be bad for business, but what’s good for business isn’t necessarily good for society. I too consider myself to be a liberal but on the balance I think the impact on public health outweighs the civil liberties issue. You can continue to do what you want in places that don’t harm others so I don’t see it as being overbearingly restrictive.
Hmm, well, in this case, aren’t the two fairly closely linked? If people want smoke-free pubs, those pubs will succeed in the marketplace (an example being the The Old Vine in Winchester, which I now frequent out of preference, and which is normally very popular). I don’t really see a need to victimise those who choose to smoke. Outlawing it seems a pretty harsh solution, even from a nanny state. There are other, gentler, solutions, such as taxing smoking pubs more – which I wouldn’t approve of either, but might achieve the objective you’re looking for without criminalising those who aren’t really doing anything immoral.
I should have explained more clearly – I’m liberal in the old-fashioned sense, not in the ‘Liberal Democrat’ sense. These days, this is normally called libertarian. Telling pub owners what to do with their property isn’t very liberal
maybe pubs should be banned on the grounds that drinking alcohol is bad for one’s health and soceity. then everyone can stay at home and sing around the piano