There was a little back-street pub called the Beech where I used to meet a friend on odd weekday evenings; it was never packed but always reasonably busy.

A few years later - after the smoking ban came in, coinciding with the much greater availability of cheap supermarket booze - I started going back to the Beech for a fortnightly singaround. O tempora, O blimey. On a quiet night for the singaround there are ten of us in the snug; on a good night there are 20+. On a good night for the rest of the pub (two large rooms), there are ten other people in the place; on a bad night there are three or four. I'm not saying the singaround is keeping the Beech open - apart from anything else, I'm not certain the singaround will keep the Beech open - but we're certainly propping up their takings during the week.

I think smaller town pubs (in particular) were hit really hard by the smoking ban (in particular), and some of them have gone into a downward spiral as a result. I'm not convinced the Licensing Act had anything to do with it one way or the other. The other club I go to was given a licence which specifically said we had to be finished by 11.00 and out by 11.30, which was a bit of a shock to the system; it's had less of an effect on the ambience of the club than you might thin,