[SlackDad]

Originally Posted by Chris T

People are people. They get into a habit of going certain places and doing certain things. There's nothing controversial about that.

Robots?

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?

Oh don't be ridiculous. Of course an outright ban is not going to bankrupt every pub in the country and I have never suggested it would. People will aways frequent pubs ban or no ban. The point, which is still a valid one, is that when punters were confronted with a choice the non-smoking establishment folded. In the lead up to the ban this is worhtwhile analysing as it demonstrates what much of the clientele seemed to have preferred. Deal with it.

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.

I'm not a geneticist, but no doubt there is a genetic link to an addictive personality, and introversion/extroversion. Doesn't sound so ridiculoius couched in those terms.

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.

Ah, so where are the smokers going? Puffing away at home probably. Do you know whether smoking cessation rates have gone up?
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Originally Posted by clarie

Please remember that we have no way of knowing if the pub closed purely because it was non-smoking. Furthermore we have no way of knowing the answer to your rhetorical question.

It was a hypothetical rather than rhetorical question so we can at least hazard a guess.

Not living in Swansea

Can't argue with that