Pubs Closing

[thirdcrank]

Because of the 24/7 nature of the work, I have often ended up working when maintenance jobs like painting have been going on around me. I have often remarked to painters that the constant exposure to solvent based paint cannot be good for them. Invariably the answer was on the lines that you get used to it. Not any more and this is just another area where the attention to health and safety was long overdue.

[chambo3413]

the pub industry was pretty much on its knees before the smoking 'ban'( it wasn't a ban really just redirecting people to smoke in areas that wouldn't cause harm to non smokers). the real causes are many , industry closing down as there were often many pubs just outside factory gates, pubco's selling off pubs that 'ticked' along for a quick buck by selling the plots off to developers, people staying at home to watch knock off dvd's ,sky,digital etc whilst drinking cheap drink from supermarkets.
yes I smoked ,no I don't anymore, to be honest I couldn't care either way but lots of people do.
I like this " cigarette smoke is the residue of your pleasure , it permeates my lungs gets on my clothes and into my hair... I like a drink the residue of my pleasure is urine would you object if I pissed on you after each drink" or words to that effect.

[hubgearfreak]

I like a drink the residue of my pleasure is urine would you object if I pissed on you after each drink"

if you wished to do that, along with other members of your community in an establishment that chose to allow it, i wouldn't see any harm in it, but neither would i choose to visit. if people sought employment in a such a premises, i'd be happy for them to decide whether to take up such an employment opportunity for themselves.

i certainly would not be wish to see your enjoyment banned and would disagree with any government that sought to interfere.

[hubgearfreak]

it wasn't a ban really just redirecting people to smoke in areas that wouldn't cause harm to non smokers....staying at home to watch .......

if there's little children at home, i can see something of a discrepancy here

[glueman]

Rory McGrath had the best solution. He said when people lit up on a train he'd ask to borrow a match and set fire to a newspaper. When the carriage filled with smoke and people complained he asked what the fuss was about.

[hubgearfreak]

Rory McGrath had the best solution. He said when people lit up on a train he'd ask to borrow a match and set fire to a newspaper. When the carriage filled with smoke and people complained he asked what the fuss was about.

again, if there was a carriage for people who choose to be paper burners, i'd have no problem with that, nor would i want it banned. i'd simply not go there.

[Ambermile]

Yes, Voltaire was it not... "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. "

Laudable, right up to the point when someone advocates a new hobby of chasing/annoying/robbing/killing me - when I most definitely will not uphold your rights. There's always a point at which you have to stop saying "So long as it bothers me not, get on with it." and be counted.

Arthur

[kwackers]

The problem with smoking is it doesn't just affect the smoker. Smokers imo are generally anti-social when it comes to their 'hobby'.

I've had fag ends and fag packets flicked on me (not on purpose I assume) cycling past cars with open windows.
It's not that long ago that people would occasionally try to light up without asking in my house and the looks I sometimes got when asking them to go outside...
Going out for a meal and they'd all light up immediately after without asking.
Sitting on a bench in the great outdoors enjoying the sights,sounds, smells only to have someone sit next to you and light up.

Who remembers trying to make out the screen at the local cinema through a purple haze? Similarly buses and other public transport? Even aircraft! We wouldn't want any of that back - so why pubs???

Personally I think they've had it too long their own way always confusing the fact that people were too polite to complain with social acceptance.

[Ambermile]

The problem with smoking is it doesn't just affect the smoker. Smokers imo are generally anti-social when it comes to their 'hobby'.

<snip>

Personally I think they've had it too long their own way always confusing the fact that people were too polite to complain with social acceptance.

... and that was the point I was making above - that the "live and let live" attitude can only be pushed *so* far.


Arthur

[glueman]

I'd class them alongside fireworks as a hobby except they're basically an addiction so their advocate's reasoning is never totally objective and nor is the manufacturer's. I feel sorry for the addiction but I wouldn't want adults shooting up on a park bench legally either.
There were lots of ideas that seemed sensible when they were thought of - kids cleaning chimneys, opium dens (also making the British empire a packet) and driving without needing a license but they don't fit today's mores.

[hubgearfreak]

I've had fag ends and fag packets flicked on me (not on purpose I assume) cycling past cars with open windows.

there are smoking and non smoking litter bugs, as well as smokers and non smokers who don't litter. i'm in full agreement with you that throwing rubbish out of car windows is unacceptable behaviour, but to imply that the blame is due to the litterer smoking is not on.

[kwackers]

there are smoking and non smoking litter bugs, as well as smokers and non smokers who don't litter. i'm in full agreement with you that throwing rubbish out of car windows is unacceptable behaviour, but to imply that the blame is due to the litterer smoking is not on.

Lots of people do litter, but I've yet to be hit by any other form - and trying to extract a smoking cigarette end from my groin isn't top of my list of favourite activities.

It's nowhere near as bad as it used to be, but smoking litter still represents a fair bit of the litter seen on our streets.

However my point is that it's one aspect of smoking that SOME smokers do, in exactly the same way that SOME smokers do the other things I mentioned too. I never claimed every smoker I know behaves that way, but a lot do (or did).

[reohn2]

Whilst the title of this thread is "Pubs Closing" the debate has come to smoking (in public places) IMO it is wholy right to stop smoking in pubs and public places
to discourage this smelly and aweful habit in public,in the hope that it will encourage people to give up the habit so as not to damage their health anymore than they already have and perhaps in the process over time it may become such an antisocial activity and as such help stop others starting to smoke therebye endangering their health and other peoples health ie pub staff and the general public.
How anyone can argue against that on the basis of freedom is beyond me.
I get sick of hearing about the minority of people dictating to the majority of the population on the grounds of "freedom"
I heard on the local news today an item that public toilets in Manchester university buildings are to be relabeled on toilet doors as toilet(instead of Ladies) and toilet with urinals (instead of Gents) so that,wait for it...... transgender students won't feel embrassed the worst of it was that the majority of female students interviewed didn't agree with this madness!!!!!!!
This is another instance of lunacy that we have to suffer.
Smoking is bad for the human being and discouraging it in public buildings a wholly right thing to do for the majority of the populous, the madness has gone on long enough.
I also believe one should be 21years old before they shoould be allowwed to smoke penalty £1000 and if the offender is under 16years the fine should be paid by their parents.

[thirdcrank]

The problem with smoking is it doesn't just affect the smoker. Smokers imo are generally anti-social when it comes to their 'hobby'.

The effect on others is not confined to second-hand smoke, tab ends and fag packets.

My younger brother died following a massive stroke caused by smoking when he was only 47 in 1995. A widow, three adult sons, an elderly mother and an elder brother still grieve for him. (Several hundred colleagues attended his funeral.)

My two grandsons' other grandmother died in her forties of a smoking-related massive heart attack a few months ago. She never saw her younger grandson who was born almost a month prematurely (probably caused by his grieving mother's stress) and a few days after the well-attended funeral.

Last weekend he was rushed to hospital with croup. We looked after his elder brother (2 years old) who explained to me how much he missed her concluding with 'Grandma (familiar name) died.'

[kwackers]

<snip>

A friend of mine died a couple of years ago from lung cancer - he was 47. When he heard the diagnosis he said "well - it's my own fault, I knew the risks".

The most amazing thing was after the funeral, the number of people who lit up! People who'd watched him spend 18 months dying in the most horrible way.