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Originally Posted by clarie
The point I was making was that people were saying the non-smoking pub was losing out to smoking pubs. This would not happen if all pubs banned smoking. People were saying that given a choice, landlords would not ban smoking for commercial reasons. I say, this may be true, but my major concern is not for the profits of the landlords. If a blanket ban is introduced, the pubs, as I said, will all be in an even playing field.
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I always thought that successful companies prospered because they gave their customers what they want at a price that they like. I thought that competition enabled those objectives to be met. I now realise that I was wrong and that government legislation should level the playing field so that companies who don't give their customers what they want at the right price shall not be disadvantaged.
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Originally Posted by clarie
Furthermore, why should the non-smokers have just one, out of 30 pubs to go to?
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Non-smokers would still have the choice of 30 pubs to go to but I know that you will counter that by saying they are excluded from all because there is no smoke free sections in any of them. Perhaps they should all be forced to have a sealed no-smoking room or outhouse with its own bar and non-smoking staff to cater for their needs. In the interests of fairness I would make the point that non-smokers having a 1 in 30 chance of finding a smoke free pub would be in a better position than smokers who would have no choice of pub where they are allowed to drink, socialise and have a smoke.
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Originally Posted by clarie
If it were a choice between all pubs allowing smoking, or all pubs banning smoking, then surely you can see the logic for the blanket ban?
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You are forgetting the third and IMHO better choice that pub owners should be free to decide whether smoking is allowed or not. Logic appears to have vanished from the dictionary of some people who are against something that cannot possibly harm them if they take their rightful decision not to enter a place where smoking is allowed.