I have a couple of friends in the pub trade....they were landlords of a pub tied to a brewery. It was a great "community" pub, with real ale...unfortunately, they made the mistake of being too successful, so the brewery tripled the rent for them as a reward...the pub closed, surprise surprise!
The same happened at a number of other pus in our area (we even played at a closing down party once at Tow Law, in similar circumstances)....it smacks of greed by breweries, squeezing every last drop out of the landlord...
On the smoking ban, well I'm afraid we could not play in smoking venues...simple as that. Andy is asthmatic, and when we've tried in the past, it took 2 or 3 days before he could sing again. The smoking ban has been a breath of fresh air for us (sic). Without it, I don't think there would be a Brother Crow...
KFFC is a great little club, I really hope that Paul can find some way for it to continue.