Category — Pub Life

It’s been a long time coming but it’s finally here. England is now smoke free. To celebrate we went down one of my local pubs. This is the one, which before, i couldn’t stand going to. I would always end up coughing and smell like an ashtray afterwards.

Funnily enough they’d decided to put on a karaoke tonight.. as an attempt to make sure the hardened smokers returned. Although i don’t think loyal smoking locals would stop going just because of a smoking ban. At the end of the day their main motive, apart from escapism, is to drink beer.

Walking in the pub was strange. It didn’t smell of smoke but there was still the same old musty smell that most oldish pubs retain. All the original smokers were in high spirit although there was a few jokes made. Most popular being “here… take £50 from my card so that i can light up”.

As we know a lot of faces both behind and in front of the bar it was good to hear the landlady’s opinion. She was saying that because of the lack of smoke it meant that people could smell each other more. Now in many cases this was fine… you smell other people’s aftershave and perfume… but it was people with, how shall i say, have a lower hygiene regime that was causing a little problem. This pub has a wide range of age groups although does have a large contingent of male 20-somethings. To combat this additional dose of B.O. in the air the landlady had added air freshener to the air conditioning system! I didn’t notice it personally and i’m sure this would be easily rectified by adding more window vents. Or maybe by putting deodorant vending machines in the men’s toilets!! Quick… i better patent that! lol

All in all i loved the new cleaner experience.  I just have to try and remove my smoke-induced stigma attached to the pub name whenever i here it! Here’s to the future, when i’ll be able to go to the pub with my ultra anti-smoking bro!

It’s almost here! I’ve been enjoying going to various pubs breathing in the last smoke riddled experience. I think a lot more people will come to pubs now which can only be a good thing. It’s a liberation of human rights.

Also clubbing/raving will be a whole different experience too. Gone will the days where you had to dodge dancefloor smokers damaging your garms as they ambled through the crowd.

I wonder whether the smoking ban will have benefit to the environment too? It’s probably negligible, but with less people needing to wash their clothes after going to the pub/club will surely mean less washing machine usage.

Not exactly a significant amount of days left but i thought i’d do a post any how.

I’ve recently been on a long camping weekend near St Davids in South Wales. It’s one gorgeous place. The whole time i didn’t realise there was a smoking ban. I went in a few pubs while i was there and i’ve got to admit that i didn’t even notice the lack of smoke. This i feel is only a good thing. Going into a pub without having smoke enforced upon my lungs and clothes was truly great.

I cannot wait to go down the local smoke fest for a pint. Bring on a cleaner existance!

Well i finally realised that my other countdown timer was blatantly wrong so i now has a simple one which works. So just over a month to go.

Was down the local pub last night and the pub smoking shelter is now finished. Walking into the pub i was thinking about the difference it’s going to make. The different people that will come to pub.. including my brother for one!

Was down at the pub during the week. A new construction had appeared in the garden of our beloved local. That’s right it’s the new smokers accomodation area. This area will no doubt get it’s obligatory outside heaters ready – well we wouldn’t want smokers getting cold would we.

So with going green being high on the agenda at the moment i wonder how many pubs will be creating these outside heated havens? With around 60,000 pubs in the UK that’s a lot of World warmers. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realise patio heaters are bad for the environment and not mention a waste of limited natural resources. A few weeks ago Wyevale, a large DIY store in England & Wales, announced it will stop stocking them. The Market Transformation Programme says that patio heaters already produce 140,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. That total’s likely to ramp sharply after Joe Public installs his shiny bank of ice melters.

So what’s the solution? Could we maybe provide smokers with insulated smoking jackets? These could be equiped with skins and lighters too. The Guardian article also mentions recyclyed wood burning stoves. While not a great alternative it’s certainly greener.