Last refuge for smokers
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PVP
Posts: 271
Joined: Mar 2005
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22-11-2007 02:22 PM
Given the wet and windy times we are experiencing, I was interested where / if other members have found any pubs which are good for a little social smoking? My main find is the Mudlark by London Bridge, heaters and big parasols, very good. I'm interested in se23 and beyond, hence posting in the beyond section.
Given the lepper status of smokers, could this expose a division even more bitter than the residents of UDB against the plebs from the other side of the tracks?
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robwinton
Posts: 335
Joined: Jun 2006
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22-11-2007 02:46 PM
Much as I hate to condone the activity (not being a smoker myself) but ... I have noticed that the Railway Telegraph on Stanstead Road have put up a parasol with heaters as well. You do have to sit on the South Circular side, but it is in relative comfort
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Ian
Posts: 75
Joined: Oct 2007
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22-11-2007 03:36 PM
The Hob isn't bad with a small outside area and the Dulwich Wood House on Sydenham Hill have an undercover area with heaters and a perspex screened wall to keep the heat in.
One loud voice can make a difference !
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thenutfield
Posts: 235
Joined: Nov 2007
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22-11-2007 11:14 PM
dont encourage pvp, you lot!
Those patio heaters are terrible for the environment (even worse than smokers), and their surge in use since the smoking ban is bad news for us all.
Come on pvp, do the right thing and give up. The people of Forest Hill are behind you!
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PVP
Posts: 271
Joined: Mar 2005
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23-11-2007 10:23 AM
See, even hounded in a virtual world.....
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Ian
Posts: 75
Joined: Oct 2007
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23-11-2007 01:28 PM
A clever person would have bought shares in a patio heating manufacturer before the
smoking ban came into force and they are now seeing a nice return for their money.
Turn those heaters up lads.
We need more co2 not less, it's getting colder now, we did have warmer winters, but
now everyone is cutting back it's getting cold again ! This green issue is all a con.
I hope the smokers continute to annoy the 'non-smoking starsi' and after all if you
want fresh air and a healthy life, don't live in London go a live in the countryside.
One loud voice can make a difference !
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shzl400
Posts: 729
Joined: Oct 2007
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23-11-2007 03:21 PM
I hope the smokers continute to annoy the 'non-smoking starsi' and after all if you
want fresh air and a healthy life, don't live in London go a live in the countryside.
Having just disagreed with you on another thread, now I heartily agree with you. The more they pressure you me to give up, the more I'm determined to say [something that might be disallowed by admin]!
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admin
Administrator
Posts: 427
Joined: Dec 2002
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23-11-2007 03:23 PM
[something that might be disallowed by admin]!
Not at all.
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thenutfield
Posts: 235
Joined: Nov 2007
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24-11-2007 04:16 PM
See, even hounded in a virtual world.....
not hounding you pvp, just want you to live long and healthy. enjoy your weekend.
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ana
Posts: 27
Joined: Jan 2007
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27-11-2007 07:11 PM
Smoking ban, I have no intention of putting out CO2 emitting heaters, from a business point of view, I would prefer the atmosphere to stay in the bar and not spill out onto the streets. I also have the added problem of late night services and trying to keep noise levels down. I prefer to keep customers in the bar drinking then outside comfortably smoking. We limit the numbers in the early hours outside the bar. I hear this is common practice in clubs such as Fabric where you have to queue an hour just to go out to smoke as numbers are limited outside. So to get a quick turn around we cannot let them be too comfortable. Sorry smokers ...it's because you let ASH bully this legislation through that publicans are having to face all kinds of problems.
As a non smoker, I think there could have been a compromise too. I hate it when on the few occassions I go out with my smoking partner, that I am abandoned only to be approached by strangers while he is having his fix. A 10pm lifting of the ban would be a good compromise, diners are protected, non smoking staff can end their shifts if they choose and adults can enjoy a bit of atmosphere. Of course if the government were really serious, cigarettes should go up to ?10 a packet a become a true luxury product, many people will dramatically cut down and those who are real die hards, well at least they are funding their future healthcare. In terms of early evening business our chain smoking couples now just go home to smoke in front of the kids with their cheap booze from Sainsburys but don't get me started on that...I think there will be no mixed drinks after 9pm next. Mind you, I think a lot of money was made in Prohibition...
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Ian
Posts: 75
Joined: Oct 2007
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27-11-2007 09:03 PM
Nice post Ana
The publicans and brewers should have put up a bigger fight against the government, now they will both pay the price. The smokers had no say, so don't blame them.
It's a pity we have lost our back-bone here in Blighty, unlike the French who take no rubbish from their "Overseers" they just carry on as before. Over here some little do-gooder would go running to the council if a bar owner broke the ban.
One loud voice can make a difference !
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Sherwood
Posts: 1,419
Joined: Mar 2005
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27-11-2007 10:15 PM
Someone is defying the ban. The man who wears a pink suit.
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Applespider
Posts: 285
Joined: Feb 2006
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28-11-2007 09:42 AM
Just to stick up for the drinking non-smokers. I'm enjoying going to the pub and not stinking of smoke the next day or washing my hair before I go to bed to get the smell out of it. The 10pm compromise sounds horrific to me - the eating areas were rarely the problem anyhow (unless like Ana's it's quite a small space). I'd rather enjoy an adult convivial atmosphere with laughing and talking at 10pm rather than it suddenly being smoky. I recall one pub (pre-ban) on the Thames which was smokefree til 4pm. By 4.05, there was a fog inside so you could barely see the bar. And having to drink up just so you could breathe was a pain.
Good on you though for not going with the mass heaters outside. It defeats the purpose of the ban in some places by forcing you to run a gauntlet of smoke to get into the clean air in the first place; not to mention the environmental impact.
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baggydave
Posts: 390
Joined: May 2004
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01-12-2007 08:57 PM
Interestingly the best pub in Forest Hill, which was maybe the most smokiest, is still doing good trade. They have built a canopy on the side garden, but I was surprised that this was empty (unlike the pub) on Thursday. Also interesting is that some of my chain smoking friends, who vowed not to use pubs once the ban came into force, have been seen drinking in them uniterrupted for a good hour or so. Not that I of course would dare to comment on the 'interfering govenment' (and it was under a previous regime that smoking was banned on the buses and tube), but interesting to see how stricter controls have affected habits.
BD remembers at his workplace when they allowed smoking before 10 and after 4, when there was a whiff of burning sulphur as the matches were struck. Ah those long of sepia tinted days.
Baggy Dave, putting the communal back into community.
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baggydave
Posts: 390
Joined: May 2004
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01-12-2007 09:10 PM
My other local, the Moore Park Tavern, has taken the ban one stage further, by banning drinking as well. New posters may be able to help, or better still start a campaign.
Baggy Dave, campaigning for a return to the 1950s, when life was great, and people new their place in society
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Ian
Posts: 75
Joined: Oct 2007
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02-12-2007 10:36 AM
"Baggy Dave, campaigning for a return to the 1950s, when life was great, and people new their place in society"
Hear, hear!
You wouldn't have liked the MPH in it's final years, a grubby and dirty pub with naff beer.
Through the 70's and early 80's the place was rammed at weekends, couldn't get in the door sometimes. It was always busy during the week as well. Prime pieces of "Totty" dolled up in the latest fashions made very nice eye candy and it was the place for any young man to go to pull a nice piece of skirt.
One loud voice can make a difference !
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baggydave
Posts: 390
Joined: May 2004
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02-12-2007 10:54 PM
Ian, at last after four years of campaigning I have found a sympathetic voice. If you see an earlier thread of mine, I discovered that Gail out of Coronation Street used to drink (and no doubt smoke) there - did you date her? And why with a good catchment area was it allowed to go belly up (Mr Butcher next door told me it was dodgy landlord/s)
Baggy Dave, every bit helps
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Ian
Posts: 75
Joined: Oct 2007
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03-12-2007 11:21 AM
Ian, at last after four years of campaigning I have found a sympathetic voice. If you see an earlier thread of mine, I discovered that Gail out of Coronation Street used to drink (and no doubt smoke) there - did you date her? And why with a good catchment area was it allowed to go belly up (Mr Butcher next door told me it was dodgy landlord/s)
Baggy Dave, every bit helps
Gail out of Coronation Street was a tasty looking 'bird' when she was younger but I never knew she drank in there.
I didn't go in there much to be honest as it was too clostaphobic for me.
I would only go for a drink there on a Monday night and meet my cousin who was a Freemason, his Masonic Lodge had their meetings in the upstairs room.
Friday and Saturday nights plus Sunday lunch times was standing room only in both bars.
The small public on the right and the saloon on the left with the bar being in the middle of the pub and it was a Charrington house if I remember righty ? Even my Dad stopped drinking there because it got too packed!
The demise of the MPH was bad landlords who took over in the late eighties. A female friend of mine was going out with one of them.
It used to have after hours drinking and one hot Sunday afternoon in the mid nineties during a lock-in there was a fight and someone got stabbed.
The air ambulance landed in the 'bone-yard' and took the guy to hospital.
The pub lost it's licence and closed down.
Before it was converted into flats there were a couple of rumours.
One was Wetherspoon were looking at re-opening it and the other was it was going to be a drug rehabilitation centre.
So now you know the full story.
One loud voice can make a difference !
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davidl
Posts: 180
Joined: Oct 2007
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03-12-2007 11:43 AM
So... the secrets have been revealed. If this is all true I am disappointed that this highly rated and dearly departed public house was, after all, a Charrington pub.
BD - standing up for tied houses with exceptionally poor beer?
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baggydave
Posts: 390
Joined: May 2004
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03-12-2007 08:17 PM
Ummhh
Very odd post DL, the big brewers got out of pubs in the 80s and 90s following the MMC report that was supposed to increase choice, ho hum it failed, their place was taken by the pub chains that will only decrease choice and turn most pubs into souless places such as P&P, S&L, Allbarone, Yates etc which have pathetic beer if any at all, but of course morons who are easily inflluenced by advertising and style over substance are happy to dilute their 'designer' cider with ice, and their pear cider (what???) with lemon.
Tied pubs of another era at least had an interest in serving decent beer, even if they generally did not appeal to all.
Please put a bit more thought into posting if you are trying to wind me up. Others seem to be able to do this on the site.
Happy to do you a proper essay on the failure of the MMC report if you want. Helped as I worked there.
Thanks for the interesting post Ian. Always good to hear about a bit of history.
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