Don't Be So Defeatist

An article in The Publican magazine caught me eye this week. A pub company named Pubs ‘n’ Bars state they will be badly hit by the smoking ban. Now apart from the fact it’s clearly a dreadful name for a company and a company I’ve never heard of I thought: “Serves you right”.

I gave them the benefit of the doubt though and visited their website to see if I recognised any of their pubs and if they were worthy of surviving the smoking ban. Lo and behold I see they include the Hobgoblin chain. These pubs were previously owned by Wychwood brewery and served a decent range of beers especially the one in Reading which was one of the first pubs in England to sell more than 1000 different real ales. So they do have some decent pubs which are worth supporting. There are one of two other pubs I have heard of, and despite the name they don’t seems to be catering for the youth market.

So why do they think they will be badly hit? They are preparing nicely by creating smoking areas outside with the legal levels of cover, and even providing heating and lighting They estimate they will have spent £30000 by the time they have done all this work, but the company made £1.07 million profit last year, so surely they can afford it.

I wish them well as they have some decent pubs and they are thinking about the ramifications of the ban. But why are they being so negative? Embrace the ban and make the most of your internal premises.