Quote:
Originally Posted by freezin
I appreciate clothes that don't smell of cigarette smoke after a night at the pub too, but no one makes anyone go to a pub. If there had been a demand, there'd have been more smoke free pubs, and the ones that did exist prior to the ban would have been profitable enough for the idea to expand.
|
This is a somewhat fallacious argument. There could be any number of reasons why smoke-free pubs didn't take off in the absence of legal compulsion. You can't conclude that the lack of them *must* be due to lack of demand, just because that's the conclusion that best suits the point you want to make.
Fear of losing customers is a very strong motivation for any business. Publicans may have acknowledged a demand for smoke-free environs, but concluded that the risks associated with going down that route were too high, especially when the status quo was demonstrably profitable already.
On the other hand, banning it in law has ensured a level playing field has continued.