For what it's worth there are a number of reasons why the pub trade has saw a reduction in profits and patrons.

It's not all down to the smoking ban, so stop fighting.

Yes the smoking ban has had an effect, but so has cheaper alcohol in supermarkets. Drinking habits have also changed. More men now enjoy a glass of wine with their partner at home in the evenings than going down the local.

Then you have the changes in social life. A lot of couples have large mortgages, two cars on the drive and a child or two heading to university. So the days of the bread winner throwing his house keeping on the kitchen table are well and truly over. Both salaries go directly into the bank and the wife knows what you are earning !

Public houses now target those with the extra cash and no commitments, the 18 to 25 age group, who meet up in a house before they head out and kill a few bottles of supermarket wine, then head into a pub with a jukebox or disco and burn the night up.

Pubs can not stay open selling a few pints to the like of me of a night, employing staff, heating and electricity costs plus crippling council rates.

So it's not just the smoking ban, it's a load of things.

So stop fighting and bitching.