Re: smoking and the pub
 

Sorry to seem picky, but a few questions about your last paragraph:-
a) how do you know they were "lower class"?
b) how do you know they were "out of work"?
c) how do you know they were "between trips to the betting shop"?

Remember, you were in there at the same time, so they may have thought the same things about you...... ;)

And if you weren't, how do you know they were?

Re: smoking and the pub
 

He said "it seems" ....

Re: smoking and the pub
 

He said it seems they are giving the pub a miss, not they seem to be lower class and out of work ;)

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Living in a fairly small town and frequenting a fairly small pub as my regular the answer to a) and b) are very easy because everyone is known and new faces are not as common as city pubs. The pub is 95% frequented by regulars in the day, any people coming in for a business lunch such as workers from the near by council offices tend to use the restaurant upstairs which has always been smoke free. (The shirt and tie as opposed to the dirty jeans and lonsdale sports gear usually gives them away)

Downstairs in the daytime used to consist of a very smokey atmosphere with the TV on the racing channel, racing paper on the bar, the pile of betting slips behind the counter and the landlord collecting money and slips, running back and fore the betting office (directly opposite) was a dead giveaway.

The out of work candidates can be spotted a mile off, many of them are are the ones who are unable to stand up at 8pm on a friday night or leaving on a Wednesday night in a similar condition when I get there at 9pm. Remember I live in a fairly small town unlike large cities where people can blend in easier customers are uaually well known.

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Exactly the same in my local. If I'm on a day off and go for a pint, you see the same people. (Often with the same scuffy lonsdale top on) Then I go home, go back later for a few pints and they're still there, albiet hammered out their heads. They make their money by doing odd jobs and spending the money in the bookies. I used to run a pub, these people, as Escapee has said, stand out a mile no matter where you go

Re: smoking and the pub
 

you've just described the entire population of grimsby:):)

Re: smoking and the pub
 

mmmmm - always had my suspicions about Nug.....

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Wheres ned when you need him :D

Re: smoking and the pub
 

England, welcome to the rest of the civilised version of the UK.

Anyone been out to sample the clean air yet? :D

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Okay....... just been to work and obviously the smoking ban has kicked in.

I'm really annoyed, not because the manager has taken our outside smoking area away (we expected that anyway) but because she has decided that the people lucky enough to have a car can smoke in those at set times.

Discrimination anyone??! Plenty of the staff don't have that luxury, i see it as putting a divide amongst the staff, how is that fair?
I have no issues with the smoking ban, but this is one rule for one, one for the other. I would have thought/hoped that this is not allowed, i'd rather she banned it for everyone.

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Just taken the family for a pub lunch - it was great not tasting, or smelling of, the smoke. :tu:

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Well according to the Times today SOME councils are considering extending the ban to parks and children's playgrounds..I can understand the latter but not the former.

Also some councils are calling smoking near children as a form of abuse...Do I hear the impending arrival of a new charge against parents warranting the removal of children from the parental grasp?

Then I wonder will we see the removal of children from obese parents..

I'm also thinking about double standards..all those thousands of children across the nation who are the sole carers for a parent or family member which is given a wink and a nod by social services because it cheaper to leave them where they are rather than actually provide the money to pay for professional care.:mad:

Never mind me, I'm just depressed by all this bluddy rain... :cry:

Re: smoking and the pub
 

I would take all this much more seriously if the government at least stopped taking tax from tobacco or ban it completely making it illegal to smoke at all (i mean wouldn't that be the best thing for everyone) instead of making a fortune off smokers and doing their best to make smokers feel like ****. I am a smoker and i find it hilarious that from this government which bangs on about choice this has been imposed on us supposedly for our benefit.

As a smoker and a teetotaller can i just say that alcohol has far more impact on me then smoking ever did i smoke 20 cigs i am still the same person or i am more relaxed same can't be said for alcohol. Also after 20 cigs i am unlikely to cause disruption or harm to others directly but alcohol well i have lost count the amount of times i have nearly had fights because some moron that had drunk too much thought i was looking at him funny.

But for those of you that are enjoying seeing smoking banned what do you think the next target is going to be then us non drinkers will be having a laugh and it will certainly bite more for drinkers then this has to us smokers.

Oh and before someone drags up passive smoking as what i do to others there have always been no smoking establishments for years that non smokers could have gone too but they were always strangely empty which given how many non smokers seem to bang on about it ruining their evening lunch whatever always puzzled me.

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Yep, it's great, isn't it.

There's an aspect to this I don't suppose folks in England are going to experience though: When the ban had been in force a while in Scotland I travelled back down south to visit family and the shock of walking into a restaurant or a pub in England was astounding. I couldn't believe that it could smell that bad, and I couldn't believe that, with that gift of hindsight, the overwhelming majority (i.e. the three out of four people who don't smoke) had put up with it for so long.

Now everywhere is smoke-free you probably won't get to experience the contrast in quite the same way, but perhaps that's no bad thing!

Here's to a cleaner, healthier UK. :tu:

Re: smoking and the pub
 

Then, you go outside and breath in all the pollutants left by vehicles/factories/power stations etc.