Has there ever been such a stupid notion as the smoking ban?
The smoking ban was never going to be good for many businesses.
The main business affected, was of course the pub trade.
1409 pubs closed in 2007.
Or, to put it another way, nearly 27 pubs per month.
This is not a trend that seems to be showing promise of improvement.
The worse the weather got in the run up to winter last year, the more people were not prepared to spend all night nipping out for a ciggie.
Whereas you used to go to the pub, get rained on on the way there, but then stayed dry all night, you were suddenly getting soaked in the rain on the way to the pub, and then getting a fresh soaking every time you want a cig.
The result of this is that more people stayed at home where they could smoke as much as they please.
During these winter months, these people discovered they COULD have a good night in the house in front of the telly, with perhaps some friends round, and some cheap cans from the off licence, for a FRACTION of the cost to have a night out in the pub.
When the better weather comes back, why should these happy souls leave their couches and come back to pub life?
So that they can pay an arm and a leg to stand at a bar and still be relegated to smoking outside?
But it not just the pub trade at stake here, and this is where I feel the government have been very short sighted in what it has tried to achieve.
Although not
entirely dependent on it, a big portion of a lot of cabbies wages come from people going on nights out.
But again, people are not happy to go into town in their best get ups, only to stand shivering in doorways of night clubs.
Sometimes there are issues of people being refused re-entry because they've gone outside for a fag.
And so the taxi game is suffering a massive blow because there are less people going out, and less people wanting lifts home.
Entertainment.
The entertainment game is also dying a death.
With pubs losing so much money, they have to do something to curb their spending.
Naturally, the first thing to go will be the karaoke on a Saturday, or the DJ on the Sunday, or the singer.
The fact that there are 1409 less venues to play since last year is bad enough, but the fact that entertainers are the first with their neck on the block is doing nothing for the industry.
Not just the entertainers are suffering here.There are entertainment agents who are not getting their fees because their acts have nowhere to work, and there are roadies who have no work because the act they drive isn't getting gigs.
Ashtrays.
Yep, you heard it.
Ashtrays.
Although not exactly a massive industry, somebody is paid to make those plastic ashtrays for pubs.
Or should I say
were paid.
Somebody was paid to pack them.
Somebody was paid to deliver them.
The lighters and matches that used to be sold in pubs for crying out loud......
These might seem like trivial matters, but a lot of trivial matters can add up to one hell of a mess.
Now the big problem.
People who ARE still going to the pub are tending to smoke a lot less (my own smoking is less than a third of what it used to be in a pub) so that's a lot of tax that is no longer going to the government.
I find it very very hard to believe that the government, who are known to claim up to 80% in tax on a single pack of cigarettes, did not think of the massive hole that would leave in the tax income.
It appears that's what's happened
So what then is the logical solution?
You've lost money, you need to make more
INCREASE TAX ON BEER AND FUEL.
Congratulations, you've been screwed by your country again
England has always had a bad deal compared to most when it comes to paying fuel tax.
Now, with so much tax money lost from the tobacco industry, it's up to the beer drinkers and the drivers to put their hands in their pockets.
Predicted results?
Beer tax.
Higher costs of beer.
More people buying cheap cans and staying at home.
Adios to more pubs, professional entertainers and taxis
.
Fuel tax?
You really have to feel sorry for the cabbies here.Everyone is out to screw them out of a living
Not to mention the average car owner who is spending more on fuel (which also leaves less free cash to throw away on that night out. Closing time for more pubs
)
Seems to me that the smoking ban must be one of the great financial blunders of living memory
