NWB - Community Blog

The pub closure/smoking ban debate aside, I'm glad too. I hated stinking of smoke, and smoke filled rooms even when I DID smoke.

Didn't tend to get many fags at our gigs anyway!!!

It's had an impact I reckon, but not so much as the greedy brewery bosses driving good boozers to the wall. And faceless soulless chains trying to take the fun and entertainment out of everything!

Frankie

never smoked agree with both comments,but i think bars and pubs should have the final choice,why not a seperate room with modern ventilation systems,if the govt are so against it why dont they ban it fullstop,or is the monies recieved too great

As Mick said, debate aside, I think back to coming home from a gig at 2 in the morning, putting my clothes straight in the washing machine and myself in the shower.
And then my drum cases would stink.
Absolutely hate the smell of it!
All in all, glad it happened.

By the way, the only bars you can still legaly smoke in are in the House of Commons!

AYP

i aint been out socially since the ban, and won't till its sorted.

it should have been left down to the decision of the landlord/lady to have a smoking pub or not I do think it hit the pub trade hard it defo affected my teatime trade, its also caused noise and litter pollution and made our jobs harder we now have watch the outdoor areas instead of having everyone inside i dont think it was thought out well at all.

@ steve c i agree i said the same thing 3 years ago!

"# Posted by NIGHT TRAIN - 24/08/2010, 13:38 (GMT)


i aint been out socially since the ban, and won't till its sorted."

If by sorted you mean allowing people to smoke in bars again, I wouldn't hold your breath mate. ;o)

Speaking as someone with chronic asthma, it's a much welcome relief. I'd regularly have massive asthma attacks on night outs or even in the middle of gigs! Great for shareholders in ventolin, not so great for me - especially as I nearly ended up in hospital a few times because of it.

I think it was handled in a slightly OTT way. I agree with the other posters that perhaps a special room, just for smokers inside would've been a far better way to deal with it than a blanket ban.

I'd be quite happy with a special room for non smokers....with a special shelf for various perfumes that they could sprinkle over their clothes in case the whiff of cheese and onion crisps or (God forbid!) beer got on them :D

I've never smoked so selfishly I am happy,but realistically it has blitz the pub trade,massive difference to 3yrs ago in audiences.
Feel for you film one, lets be fair though Roy Castle never smoked,did he?

Well testament to the smoking ban in terms of improving health for me has been that I've barely used my ventolin on nights out since, in fact I can't remember the last time I had to - outside of wheezing myself to bits playing football.

Perhaps the "smokers' boozers" might be the way forward, for publicans who like a tab and landlords/ladies and staff who don't mind working in that environment. Then the rest of us can avoid them and their brown and yellow walls like the plague!

If they allow smokers pubs, I won't be playing them. I gave up for a reason.

doesn't bother me now-did at first -then adapted (thanks, alec!!). now use e-cigs(electronic cigarettes)-safe, legal and can sit and watch the band all night.
they are the future, methinks.

Never been a smoker, but it has driven some of my favourite pubs to the wall.
It should have been left up to the publican to decide if they want Smoking/No Smoking or a mix with facilities for both.
We were fed a load of shite about America and Europe being Smoke Free, what a load of bollocks.
Would rather they banned bloody kids from pubs.......

Smoking is cool and makes you look hard.....

But yeah I agree...I remember the lingering stench of ciggy smoke on all your clothes and gear etc.....
Funny thing is, I usually went outside of a ciggy anyway.....just smoke the occasional cigar these days.....now they do fuckin' stink.

Life is, and should be, all about freedom of choice. I hate it when an inconsiderate smoker blows his cancerous exhaust in my direction, especially when dining.....but I defend his 'right' to do so.
Ban smoking....
Ban drinking...
Ban drugs...
Ban religion...
Ban Teenage Kicks...
Blah, blah, blah...

Unfortunately, the majority of people haven't got the intelligence to realise WE have the power.....if all the smokers 'lit up' at the same time in a public place there's fuck all the authorities could do about it.

I'm not even touching this one! I'd be here all night! :D

I will also defend anyones right to kick themselves repeatedly in the cock!

@bad horsie (mick)-now-that is a feat (see what i did there?) i'd very much like to see-flexible or what!???? lmao!! ;-D
@LAST GANG IN TOWN-ah! then they could be asked-
"you don't smoke, you don't drink, you don't pray to a supernatural entity, you don't have pubescent masturbatory fantasies-what DO you do???" ;-P

We, the Government, must protect you, our people, from this hideous practice. But we'll still profit from it thank you!

I have very very strong views about this particular subject but won't go into them here as I'll be bombarded with the usual half truths, inconsistencies and downright lies.

However, yes, I believe it has had a negative influence on the pub trade. Yes, it is nice to come home of an evening and not stink.

Oh also
"Castle, a non-smoker, blamed his illness (lung cancer) on years of playing the trumpet in smoky jazz clubs" Wikipedia ........ and joined that long list of non smokers who've played in smoke filled clubs for over 40 years and died of lung cancer ....... yes that'll be, er, er, well you know who they are!
And while we're at it - Roy Castle's death was from Lung Cancer, but HE himself attributed it to passive smoking.

Oh oh ... and ... go and lock yourself up in you garage in your car and attach a hose from the exhaust into the car, Bye bye
Go and get 5 mates to sit in your garage and smoke all night. Hmmm ... hiya, you look a bit shite and smell awful!!

Oh fuck see what you did now!!

Willow

p.s. not a smoker, never have been, but as an endnote do we not think government policies should, where possible, accomodate all interest groups not just one?

p.p.s. Roy Castle never smoked a cigarette ..... since leaving school ... but was partial to a cigar.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Didn't know that Big Fish ee learn something new everyday, so passive was prob just part of his illness Havana the other mmm

It has obviously hit the pubs much harder than the Government would have us believe. I think it is great for non smokers but for me it has definitely killed atmosphere at gigs. Half the audience nipping outside for a fag while your playing doesn't help, also I kind of like playing in a smokey room even before I was a smoker.

I believe in some countries in Europe they now have a license system where the bar can buy a smoking license. If that ever becomes available over here we will see which the public prefer but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for landlords to stick to non smoking once the pub down the road buys a license.

The three areas of extreme persecution for our near fascist governments in recent times are -

Drinkers, smokers and motorists.

Fact - House of commons bar is FREE
Fact - MPs do NOT pay for their petrol
Fact - The only place other than prison where you can legally smoke indoors is.............yep, you guessed it...The House of Commons!

Until those bastards practice what they preach I will treat the law with the contempt that it deserves.

Daytime drinkers like the old chap who walks home via the pub with his shopping have given up. He can't sit down and smoke his pipe and put his bet on anymore and why should he pick up his bags and walk to the back yard to smoke?
50 pubs a week are shutting and it is the traditional boozer which is most under threat. All those in favour of the smoking ban had better get used to town centre wine bar/eating houses because soon that is all that will be left. The pub at the end of your road with a great atmosphere and live band once a week is seriously under threat.

Social engineering falls (only just) short of fascism.

Angry Cottonhouse the non smoker.

Some of you slightly older members may remember the pubs when they had seperate rooms, ie lounge, vault, snug etc. The idea of having a seperate room for smokers would be great if the pubs were like they used to be, but the powers that be decided that open plan pubs would be better, so walls came down and seperate doors to go into the pub were bricked up. Now the people say, lets have a seperate room for the smokers - I think you can see where this is going.
Personally, as a smoker I find the non smoking in pubs a pain but as a landlord I can see the benefits - better atmosphere for eating, less cleaning, no holes in the carpet after a good sat night.
Less rules for the smoking shelters would be the ideal gig - if you,ve got the space, build a smoking room instead of the bus shelters we have to live in. Unfortunately the street pubs will always be the hardest hit as can be shown by the amount closing.
The arguement for pubs to be either smoking or not unfortunately will hit the non smoking pubs hardest, especially if you want to keep it as a pub, ie live bands, pool, darts etc. As a smoker where would you go, and lets face it, they are millions of smokers out there.

I detested it before the ban. Don't know about other singers but my mic by the end of the ban was covered in this brown shit that tasted awful. Sometimes I couldn't see or breath my eyes and back of throat were raw. Then your clothes would reek and even midweek you could open your gig gear without the stench. I was praying for some intervention, thank fuck it came.

I played a marquee recently which was open to the side. This I guess gave some people the green light to light up. The stage was quite high and the roof kept all the smoke in so I ended up breathing it in. It reminded me of how bad it used to be.

I think passive smoking is basically what you breath in whilst in a room with smoking friends or whilst inhaling extraneous smoke through a trumpet or similar wind instrument. Slipstream smoke released from the end of a cigarette is a lot worse for the passive smoker than it is for the smoker as slipstream smoke is unfiltered.

I used to have extreme views myself on smoking before the ban but I think some sense has been achieved. I know loads of my mates say they like going outside to the smokers club, plus they get the beer gardens.

As Mick said if it ends up with smoking and non smoking pubs I deffo won't be playing smoking pubs.

'And curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid get'.

I think you should thank sir walter raleigh the tax off cigs pay for the nhs remeber that next time you pay a visit to the hospital.

as for yellowish brown walls suger soap every other month easy good exercise aswell

thought that was national insurance? Doesnt tax pay for the dolies and spongers?
We accommodate smokers by playing Teenage Kicks mid set so they can go out for one!!!

beer without fags is like fish without chips, and dont forget 100% of non smokers die too!!!

I think the financial state of the country has got more to do with pub closures than the smoking ban. As a smoker, I miss one with a pint, but now I probably have 5 all night instead of 20. Pubs smell so much better now.
Smokers have pretty much got used to the ban by now.
The worst thing for a band is all the smokers and their friends stood outside and an audience of 3 watchin the band.

My two pen'eth

Mark

@ Eddie, on the topic of smoking and fish, dont forget.. smoking kills... but it cures kippers!!!
(ive got me coat...)

@AndyMacca
"whilst inhaling extraneous smoke through a trumpet or similar wind instrument."
I'd sack your horn section mate, they're supposed to be blowing 'em!!
:0)
Willow

I'm not sure I'll be thanking Sir Walter for the tax on fags, seeing as I pay a small fortune in tax each month, I think I cover my own costs and lets not mention prescription charges, aka "you're well enough to work and won't go on the sick, so you can pay for your pills!"

It's a myth that all the tax on cigs goes to the NHS, you'd be surprised how little of it actually gets there, look at how fuel duty and road tax has constantly gone up over the last few years, yet the conditions of the roads we drive on have got much worse. I think they're probably saving it all up for some shiny new nuclear missles - either that or subsidising cost of duck houses, second homes and the only free bar with smoking permitted in the land.

I think ultimately its a question of, are you a smoker? If yes, you'll feel hard done to. If you're not and you don't like coming home smelling like an ash tray, or smoking really doesn't agree with you, you think it's great. The idea of smokers' venues is obviously not to everyone's tastes, but then that'd be the point of them - it's offering a choice. In this country they assume we're clever enough to choose our supermarket, favourite cuisine, favourite car and energy company, why can't we choose whether to go to a smoking pub or a non-smoking pub? I'd avoid a smoking venue like the plague, but then I've got plenty of mates who really miss having a smoke and a pint.

Though to give it a historical twist, I'm sure there were quite a few people up and down the land who were a bit pig sick when the opium dens got shut down. Now how alien would a pint of beer and bag of McCoys followed by a quick chase of the dragon seem to us today? Well maybe not to ex-Libertines frontmen, but to everyone else!

We have to work twice as hard now just to get a whiff of smoke smell, I used to patrol the tables whilst singing, helping myself to ciggies from desperate old boilers who thought they were in with a chance, now we have to stand by the door mostly in the rain smoking our own! This eats into any potential profits from the gig and is giving our drummer a bad case of "I would/wouldn't" throat as he feels he should make a comment whenever any female passes throught the portal... poor old bastard...