Jap2Scrap

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...845077,00.html

davegtt

Most of the typical pub grub is at chains like Weatherspoons/Brewers Fayre/Tom Cobblers, these types of places centre their business around food, in my town we have ALOT of pubs but most are either pubs or the typical place to go eat and have a drink.... Nowt will change round here IMO.

Frosty The Snowman

From what I understood about pubs these days they generally make their money from the food unless they are a freehouse. A guy who worked here part time and ran a pub with his wife certainly gave me that impression.

Edited to add I'm talking about normal village pubs not the big town centre places.

Jap2Scrap

That's undoubtedly true. The mark-up on beer is very small relative to the 65% Gross Margin most places work to with food.

There's a new factor in the equation now though; smokers won't be welcome at eateries so the potential for earning from specifically not selling food has just escalated by a factor unknown.

Frosty The Snowman

Well it's seemed to work in other countries, but I have only the press to base this on and we all know how reliable and unbiased their reporting can be!!

davegtt

Well its good news for me, means I can go enjoy a meal in the pub whilst drinking my relatively cheap beer and go home smelling no worse than when I came out.... OR I can go to the pub where theyre not serving food, buy overpriced lager (to up their profits because theyre not making anything anymore) and go home smelling of ****

Sounds good to me

Flatcapdriver

The 20% of publicans who said they'd stop serving food in preference of smokers would have gone out of business anyway if their ignorance of their market is that bad. Darwin at his best.

Jap2Scrap

On the face of it I'd agree. Many pubs though (including my local) serve food as a token gesture. I've never seen more than one person eat in there in my lifetime! I believe they used to have to offer food in order to get a late license for special occasions but with the introduction of 24hr licensing imminent that hardly matters any more. My local is very much a Sky TV, Pool, Jukebox, Table footy type place and certainly not a restaurant. I hope it stays that way.

Oh, Carling/Carlsberg is £1.65 a pint too

Flatcapdriver

We have the opposite problem round here in that there are some pubs that are serious eateries and not just your typical pub grub but my point about these short sighted publicans is still valid. What they fail to grasp is that they can still serve food and utilise their outside space by using Patio Heaters which will keep the smokers happy as well as the non-smokers and probably (with halfway decent marketing) improve both their wet and dry sales.

OllyK

Surely this is a good compromise. Those who complain they can't go to a pub without smoke, now can and those that want to smoke can continue. But, of course, some people don't like compromise and want anything they don't like banned to oblivion, but god help anybody that tries to ban something they like doing

Leslie

I'll stick to my home made sloe gin

Les