What gets me about this ****, it's rightly his choice to have a smoke free pub and garden, but it should also be a matter of choice to have a smoking pub - then people can choose without all this bolloxs.
I guess the argument is the staff get exposed to it though suppose you could then say staff have the option to work there or not. It’s an interesting USP and I can see certain chains going for it. Pubs want to attract families to eat. It makes business sense in theory.
Pubs started banning smoking indoors before legislation came in and as you've said it was mainly chains with restaurants. I've not smoked for 5 years now, but for me it's not the point, too much legiislation telling us what we can and can't do - they could have left pubs without restaurants alone, most the ones that have now shut down or had to adapt.
Not many pure drinking pubs can survive anyway. The odd smoking pub probably would do well if there were no others nearby but turning a profit on just drinks is tough.
What used to be my local in St Albans, the Lower Red Lion on Fishpool St, has banned kids ... but dogs are warmly welcomed https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2rp4dmxv2o.amp
It's a real oldy worldy pub with loads of real ales etc (always has been) ... used to work for KPMG (offices almost opposite - now closed - back in the 90s - to early 2000s) and we'd usually end up there of a lunchtime... all historic round there ... in the shadow of the Cathedral ...
Not on that street ... they film a lot of period dramas etc on and around ... most buildings are listed ...
Tbh I'm surprised there hasn't been a few more cases of people seeking damaged for being exposed to 2nd hand ciggie smoke in the workplace. Maybe when the last generation of folk who were exposed to it all get emphysema in their old age we'll see an avalanche of claims But I don't see the problem with a pub banning smoking. There are plenty of places to go and have a ***, at all other times. Like you say, these places want to attract families to come and eat. Smoking is a dying pastime and it's only a matter of time before it's banned from most public spaces.
