Pub & Club Closures

Is the smoking ban really such a major cause of pub and club closures, or is this a myth?

With the high closure rate in the uk pub trade since the smoking ban was introduced, we have been inundated with one false scapegoat after another. At first it was a wet summer, next it was cheap supermarket booze, and now it's the recession.
All these excuses are feeble attempts at deflecting attention from the real and obvious cause (The smoking ban). Wet weather is only a deterant to smokers that don't relish standing outside in the rain. Cheap supermarket booze has been available for years, and now the smokers are drinking it at home rather than pay good money for their own humiliation of being forced outside like lepars.
And as for the recession, this has yet to bite, yet we've seen the closure of over 2500 pubs in England since july 1st 2007. Even the chancelor, Alistair Darling, recently admitted to reporters that the smoking ban has been a factor in these closures. A small confession, and too late for 2500 landlords, but it's not too late for the government to admit they were misslead by the anti smoking lobbyists and overturn this draconian and unjustified legislation.

According to snivelling hypocritical antis with zero debating skills, pubs are closing because of bad weather, or cheap supermarket booze.

Heres the truth : Britain has always had bad weather, and pubs have always sold booze at higher prices that supermarkets, and people have always gone to pubs. The reason why people used to pay higher prices for pub booze was because of the atmosphere of a pub. That has now gone. Pubs are crap now.

Do the math, slimeballs. Its simple : The smoking ban is the major cause of people saying fuck it i cant be arsed to go the pub, lets stay at home. As a result, pubs close. 2,500 of them and counting.

Nazi antis love to say that smokers dont support pubs. But wheres your support? The fact is that smokers and non smokers (the normal ones, not the rabid antis) love pubs, but they cant go to them anymore because they suck.

Which is quite a coincidence, because antis suck. They suck arse very hard indeed.

History has shown that despite wars, famine, depression and competition pubs have survived, certainly small numbers closed but the numbers closing since the end of 2007 are far greater than the numbers that closed during the great depression of the Thirties!

Supermarket competitiion has been around for decades without having a major impact on pubs, The Luftwaffe failed to put the pubs out of business and likewise the great plagues of the middle ages, I wonder why so many pubs are closing today, competition is the same, the current depression is nowhere near as bad as the Thirties, there is no longer a bubonic plague to cull numbers of customers and we are not at war, that leaves us with the smoking ban.

I remember some time back debating with antis and telling them what i found out, which was that on average 5 pubs were closing per day since the smoking ban started.

They laughed and said it was all nonsense.

Some said that perhaps pubs are closing but the smoking ban was not a cause, or if it was, it was only a minor cause, and that there were other reasons.

Now, even the mainstream media has no choice but to admit that yes indeed, around 39 pubs are closing every week.

But, the given reasons are : credit crunch, cheap supermarket booze, and the weather.

The fact is that people have always gone to pubs even in time of poverty, so the credit crunch excuse is a fallacy.

Also, just like supermarket food has always been cheaper than restaurant food, supermarket booze has always been cheaper than pub booze. The simple reason is that pubs are not just for drinking in. They are there for the social atmosphere too and people are always willing to pay more for that. So, saying that its the price of booze is an excuse.

As for the weather, thats ridiculous. This country has always had less than ideal weather and it has never stopped people going to pubs in the past.

Therefore, its clear that these are all excuses.

The reason why pubs are closing is hugely down to the smoking ban.

Its simple : People want to go somewhere where they can relax and have a drink and a smoke and socialise. When one of those things is taken away, they dont go to pubs any more, or spend less time and money there. The pubs suffer, and eventually some of them close down.

Wake up, antis, the smoking ban is causing the closure of pubs more than any other reason.


I challenge any anti to dispute this, in light of what ive said. It cannot be done.

I hear the sound of crickets chirping and tumbleweed, as the antis cower from those questions. Very selective, these antis.

Weekly pub closures in the UK (from http://devilskitchen.me.uk/. Scroll down and follow the link) :



2005: 2


2006: 4


2007: 27


2008: 39


2009: 52


Pop quiz :

- When did the price difference between pub and supermarket booze become considerable?

- When did the weather in this country become less than ideal?

- Which year did the smoking ban get introduced?