Just one example of the benefits to the community of a local pub & one I know well. There are others in the area & more further afield. A quick google search shows other similar stories around the country. Go see the people who use these pubs & tell them they have no value.
https://packhorsebath.co.uk/our-story/
https://www.limpleystokecbs.org
When I first started in nursing it was usual to smoke on the wards
Really? Without being rude when was that?
That's totally unimaginable!
Could they smoke in bed?
I see this as the thin end of the wedge. The government are “protecting us” from harming ourselves
Leaving aside, as kerley says, this already happens for illegal drugs its only partially the case here. Its just as much about protecting others from harm.
I used to work in the hospital laundry, 1996 on for a few years. Stag could smoke in the break room, it was horrendous, a thick cloud in there every brew time. There was a yellow tide mark round the walls at head height!!
Moved across to the labs in 2000, the old staff in there tell me there used to be ash trays on the benches. Culture of TB or gonorrheoae in one hand, tab in the other!
Disclosure - I'm an ex smoker, used to bloody love smoking and probably still would, but it's best left in the past.
tjagain Full Member
When I first started in nursing it was usual to smoke on the wards – both patients and staff
Really? Without being rude when was that?
Really? Without being rude when was that?
That’s totally unimaginable!
Could they smoke in bed?
When you think about it, the attitude towards smoking and how it has changed in a relatively small amount of time is astounding – remember a time not so long ago when Rows 1-34 on a plane were non-smoking and Rows 35-70 were smoking (so the poor sods in the rows immediately in front got next to no advantage of being in non-smoking) – some airlines were still allowing smoking until the late 1990s! Or sitting in a restaurant eating a meal and having someone on the table next to you light up a post-meal cigar, or working in an office where someone at every other desk was chain-smoking. Not to mention having to wash all your clothes after a night out in the pub because they all stank of smoke the next day.
I don't recall smoking being allowed in hospitals though.
I vividly remember going to the cinema as a kid in the 70s and looking at the screen through a thick blue haze of smoke. Thick enough to partially obscure your view, as well as guarantee a sore throat and stinking clothes. That was at the kids Saturday morning cinema club, never mind an adult film!
we’re in the Teign Valley about 6 or 7 miles west of Exeter, just inside the Dartmoor National Park.
Which pub? When I lived in places around Bovey, my friends and I made a mission of drinking in every pub within about twenty miles to work out which was best, and who served the best ham, egg and chips. I can't remember which pub won! After a couple of years of country pubs with farm implements on the walls it was nice to find a metal pub in Totnes. (The Castle, iirc?) I wonder if I ever drank in yours?
About 10 years ago, I was in Antwerp for work.
I had no work on the Saturday but had to work Sunday.
Had a wander around the City.
Walked into a small bar, ordered a pint, then realised that everyone was smoking. Apparently, in Belgium, if the bar is below a certain size you can still smoke.
I sunk the pint quickly, only there minutes but by the time I made it out , I was stinking of smoke.
Seems incredible now.
I have a picture of my dad when he was a fitter on the line at RAF Gutersloh standing with a pilot in the QRA hut both of them tabbing away, there's a fully fuelled Lightning complete with missiles standing not twenty feet away in it's hanger. It's OK though, there's a door between them and the plane. This would've been the early 70's
I have found the past five pages on this thread quite interesting because of the vehemence of the positions it has engendered. I just can’t get that worked up about it either way.
I have never smoked, not even a single drag. None of my family smoke and few of my friends beyond a ‘social fag’. I admit that the ban on smoking in enclosed spaces was a huge relief for me as I hate the smell of the cigarettes and the people who smoke them. I definitely started frequenting my local more often( but certainly not daily) when the ban came in.
I was not brought up in a culture of going to the pub, my father or his friends very rarely went to one. He is 92 and I have never ever seen him drunk or even close to it. He enjoys a social drink still, but a nice red is his thing rather than beer. so I didn’t go into pubs until I was 18 at university and hadn’t been brought up to equate drinking with having fun.
So to me the concept that the pub is the hub of one’s social life doesn’t ring true because I was never brought up in it. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy going to pubs and used to go once every week but for a number of reasons I haven’t been regularly for the past five years or so and tbh I can live without it. So some might argue that my opinion isn’t important as I am not invested in that social scene. But….
On the occasions that I have had meals in beer gardens I would move if someone lit up near me, but to be honest that was not very often as most people who smoke seem to be considerate in my experience. So a ban is not likely to alter my behaviour but it might just change others. It may be a good thing in the long run but getting there is problematic.
I do think it’s going to be very difficult to enforce any ban without the cooperation of the people who run the pubs and how likely that will be must depend on their clientele.
I don’t recall smoking being allowed in hospitals though.
In the corridors yes but never on wards ime
When I first started in nursing it was usual to smoke on the wards – both patients and staff. Ashtrays on beside lockers, Ashtrays in the kitchen or a storeroom for the staff. Seems incredible now.
One time I got a rare glimpse into the None Shall Pass area that was the staff room in high school. You literally couldn't see to the back wall and it wasn't a large room. As a kid it staggered me that someone would go in there and think "You know what this place needs? More smoke."
I have found the past five pages on this thread quite interesting because of the vehemence of the positions it has engendered.
Honestly, my biggest bugbear with it these days is normalised littering. An ex was (is?) a smoker, she used to carry an empty fag packet or a ziploc baggie to stick butts into in case she got caught short of a bin. If you're a smoker it shouldn't be difficult to not be a ****ing tramp about it.
I was going to mention school staff rooms.
Quite literally a puff of smoke would be released when the door was opened.
My junior school headmaster, would be smoking his B&H at his desk, give you a bollocking, before assaulting you with a leather strap.
There should be a complete ban on smoking. It does no good to anyone, not the smokers, not the non-smokers.
When I worked on a building site, it was unpleasant to have to work with someone who smoked. Often tools in hand, fag in mouth. I shouldn’t have had my workspace contaminated by a smoker, whether outside or not. As others have said it clings to your clothes.
When I lived in a tenement flat, it was deemed acceptable for another resident to walk by everyone else’s door while smoking until he got to his flat.
There is no nanny state in improving health.
I might fall of my bike and get injured, but even if i do the bike has contributed to health and well being, unlike smoking.
As others have said, why is it acceptable to leave a non biodegradable cigarette butt in the street?
I had a tradesmen round in April, he was a smoker. I saw him flick is cigarette butt into the garden and it was also acceptable to leave an empty cigarette packet hidden in the garden. I didn’t find drinks cans or any other litter from the rest of the team which were doing the job. Some/most smokers are inconsiderate. Even if you are allowed to smoke in a beer garden, it is still inconsiderate. Have a drink and smoke amongst smokers.
Completely ban smoking. I guess if you smoke you don’t see it that way.
I was going to mention school staff rooms.
Quite literally a puff of smoke would be released when the door was opened.
I started teaching in 1984, none of the three schools that I taught in allowed smoking in the staff room, each had a separate room for those that smoked to keep them away from the students. Perhaps I was lucky
There should be a complete ban on smoking.
Which would be as successful as the complete ban on cocaine
Smoking on wards - I saw the very end of it in the early 80s. Literally ashtrays on bedside lockers.
why is it acceptable to leave a non biodegradable cigarette butt in the street?
That's a point in itself. In the days of the War On Single Use Straws And Carrier Bags why do we not have cigarette filters which disintegrate after less than 20 years?
Which would be as successful as the complete ban on cocaine
Username checks out.
pothead
Free MemberAnd quite possibly sit in their living room smoking while their kids are present
They should have their kids taken away from them
And quite possibly sit in their living room smoking while their kids are present
They should have their kids taken away from them
No argument from me on that point, same goes for smoking in cars with their kids inside but there's been no mention of banning such things from politicians as far as I'm aware
Is it only me that remembers smoking on airliners where you had a smoking and no smoking sections. Ban smoking altogether including vapes .
£7-£8 per pint in a pub,walks of shaking head and mumbling.
"You’re going to deny that in your day kids didn’t get drunk at houseparties and make out awkwardly on the sofa and instead went to drink Boddingtons bitter in the Dog And Partridge"
Don't be silly, in my day we did both, I said these days kids don't tend to mingle intergenerationally in pubs whereas in my day they did.. I didn't deny that we also got drunk at house parties and the local parks.
And in my day it was Holsten Pils because the adverts were cool, not Boddingtons.
Oh, and a shout out for Wetherspoons. When I go out in Chorlton Wetherspoons is the place where I still see all the generations, the trendy bars sell beer at nearly a fiver a pint and are generally populated by single track types.
Wetherspoons on the other hand has beer at exactly half the price, so that's where the kids tend to go as well as the old folk.
I go to both by the way, live and let live etc.
Wetherspoons on the other hand has beer at exactly half the price, so that’s where the kids tend to go as well as the old folk.
@inkster Chorlton spoons is the venue of choice for my daughters and their mates for pre-loading on the cheap before jumping the tram into town where the prices double
Threads like this make me not only want to start smoking again, but get back on the class A’s too
No argument from me on that point, same goes for smoking in cars with their kids inside but there’s been no mention of banning such things from politicians as far as I’m aware
Fairly sure that it's illegal to smoke with kids in the car these days.
It’s been illegal for since 2015. You’ll know that because of the thousands and thousands of prosecutions for it
Oh… hang on a minute…
Apparently nobody has ever been prosecuted
Still… I’m sure the whole beer garden thing will be much more successful
next week: the law making it illegal to eat cheese in your bathroom
Still… I’m sure the whole beer garden thing will be much more successful
If it happens, isnt it just going to be a re-run of the indoor ban? Which is largely adhered to.
Or at least it was until I stopped going to pubs regularly. Might have changed in the last 5 or so years.
My youngest son reckons it's just being floated to distract everyone from the budget.
Ban this or ban that!
The sign of a clueless govt.
I am a smoker (tobacco roll-ups only) but seldom smoked near people, and certainly never smoked where people eat.
Pub drink or eat? Nope. Too expensive for me nowadays .
How much a pint you say?
Hence, I only go for drink about 5 times a year.
just being floated to distract everyone from the budget.
I can't offer an explanation for the motive behind the suggestion but the next budget is still two months away
The motive is odd indeed. If it cuts down on smokers then great but the effects of reduced smokers won't find their way into lower demands on NHS for what 30-50 years?
Not what I would call a pressing matter to be raised so soon.
80,000 people rooughly die from smoking every year, take action now and you'll still have an impact. at just a couple of months, your risk of heart attack drops, and lung function improves.
There's going to be other factors in that equation, air quality for one.
All your nasty diesel and petrol fumes must be really playing a part in that number.
During the pandemic lockdown with much fewer traffic on the roads, the air was a lot cleaner. But now its back to breathing in those car fumes.
Buy hey, as long as you have 2nd hand tobacco smoke somewhere near you, you can think yourselves hard done by.
Wear a mask?
The existence of something bad is not lessened by the existence of something else bad. One could equally say:
"During the pandemic lockdown with much fewer smokers on the pavements, the air was a lot cleaner. But now its back to breathing in those cigarette fumes.
Buy hey, as long as you have diesel smoke somewhere near you, you can think yourselves hard done by."
... and it would be equally pointless an argument.
Just listening to the discussion on Any Answers on R4.
Someone just said that amongst Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin and Hitler, only Hitler did not smoke.
Let that sink in.
tbh, if Nigel Farage is against a smoking ban, that's good enough for me to think it must have merit.
There's nothing quite like robust evidence, is there.
There’s nothing quite like robust evidence, is there
We left the EU with less evidence than we have for the dangers of smoking in pub gardens. And that was completely fine.
Well, it wasn't fine, was it.
All the outrage is about maybe include some regulation of outdoor smoking. Have a consultation, get the age-escallator through with some not-too-controvercial restrictions around the school gates and the likes and it looks like good politics. Beer garden smoking is in the public conversation and will help what is already the direction of travel.
Just as an aside to the folk saying the smoking ban was disastrous for pubs. The pub i am in right now is heaving on a monday night. Before the smoking ban it was a moribund bar with few customers
Now its standing room only on a monday night because its moved with the times serves goid food and is hip and trendy.
I haven't seen a single person go outside to smoke.
So what youre saying TJ, is many pubs have shut down because of this ruling, and smokers who previously visited have stopped going, which as a result has lost them business.
Now its standing room only on a monday night because its moved with the times serves goid food and is hip and trendy
Why you there? ?
