Jump to full article: TheJournal (uk), 2009-07-01
Author: Jo O'Donnell, The Journal
Intro: . Jo O'Donnell has met with doctors and landlords to see how the rules have affected smoking - and drinking - habits across the North East
TWO years after smoking was banned in bars, pubs in the North East are reporting huge losses in custom and alcohol sales.
Across the country pubs and clubs are calling time and closing at a rate of 50 a week.
And now the full impact of the change has been felt, landlords say they have been let down over promises non-smokers and families would pour in to their clean-aired taverns.
The smoking ban came just months before the economy peaked, then came the recession damaging sales at a time when supermarkets are offering more cheap drink offers. . . .
Mr Le Clercq said: “Foody-gastro pubs, where they sell more on a plate than in a glass, are not affected and custom has increased.”
One such pub is The Beacon Hotel, Earsdon Road, in Whitley Bay. Bar worker and smoker Ewan Sutherland, 27, of North Shields says the hotel has got busier since the ban.
He said; “It is a good thing for the Beacon and good for all pubs, and the working atmosphere is better as you’re not breathing people’s smoke.” . . .
Meanwhile, pro-smoking campaigner Derek Platten, 56, of Gosforth, Newcastle, opposes the total smoking ban and has set up his own political party called the We Can Smoke Party (WCSP).
He said: “The smoking ban is only right if the Government is prepared to ban the sale of tobacco products, but they don’t because they know they wouldn’t get away with it.”
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