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Originally Posted by SlackDad
Why would it take time for the effect of non-smokers to return? If there was such a demand for it, coupled with some well placed ads etc, you would think the place would have been heaving.
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People are people. They get into a habit of going certain places and doing certain things. There's nothing controversial about that.
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I think this is a nice attempt to discredit a good example which doesn't fit your argument. Presumably the problems with the Lounge we're referring to occured quite recently, therefore in the context of prevailing attitudes towards smoking and the lead up to ban, not 30 years ago.
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Not in the slightest. Rather, it's an appeal for evidence arising out of a context that bears at least *some* resemblance to the matter under discussion. For complete refutation of The Lounge as an adequate example of anything in this topic, why not look to Ireland, where the outright smoking ban has signally failed to bankrupt every pub in the country (or even most, or many, of them). So, we want to establish what might happen to business when smoking is excluded. We are confronted with the choice of examining one bar in Swansea, competing against a couple of dozen others where smoking is still allowed, or examining all bars in Ireland, where a ban has been introduced. I know, let's choose the example that fits the circumstances, not the one that fits the point we want to make, shall we?
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Self-selecting or typical pub/club goers. If your statement is true then what does that say. You would still think that the non-smoking policy of just one out of many alternatives would have drawn enough custom to remain viable.
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I would not have thought so at all, for the reasons I posted previously.
What makes a typical pub-goer? Is there something in the genes of a person who likes to socialise in a public house with a glass of alcoholic drink that predisposes them towards being a smoker, or one who doesn't mind smoke?
You have only to write that proposal down to see how ridiculous it looks. Back to Ireland, where a post-ban drop in drink sales of 15% has been more than compensated for in new food sales. It seems (though it is admittedly early days) that the clientele is beginning to change.