argyllboy wrote:Five pubs a week in Scotland are closing their doors for the last time, and that's before some daft new rules come into force on 1st September when they've all got to be re-licensed. Rising expenses, extra rules' and regulations, smoking ban, door stewards , and the red-tape involved in employing staff nowadays have all combined to make being the owner of a pub, or any small business, an utter nightmare. That Campbeltown can buck the national trend and keep all of its pubs going is, in my opinion, lunacy personified. Local "watering-holes" have closed in the fairly recent past (62 Club, Hall Hotel, Babbettes, Dillons) and more will go in the future, the best hope is that the premises that do close do not remain as redundant eyesores that the rest of us have to live with. So continue to support your local bar, and remember that it's not just there for the last two hours on a Friday and Saturday night.
The trouble with this is that it is becoming increasingly expensive to drink in pubs, and if any of us want to smoke we have to stand out in the rain. It's little wonder that folk get kerry-oots and sit in the house where they can smoke if they want to, without being criminalised, and get more alcohol for their money. There's also the fact that a kerry-oot in the early evening gives you a head start when you go out and spend the "last two hours on a Friday and Saturday night" in the pub, if it is actually your intention to get blootered.

Of course, the alternative to this is to spread out the drinks you buy in the pub and have the half-bottle in the inside pocket or the handbag and frequent visits to the toilet facilities.

Folk just want to get the best value they can from their available disposable income.

Merda taurorum animas conturbit. Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur