Monday, 28 December 2009

More or less going to the pub

I recently concluded a poll asking the question: “Do you visit pubs more or less often since 1 July 2007?” There were 73 responses, broken down as follows:

I didn’t go to pubs before but have now started: 1 (1%)
Much more often: 10 (14%)
A little more often: 10 (14%)
About the same: 11 (15%)
A little less often: 2 (3%)
Much less often: 29 (39%)
I have completely stopped going to pubs: 8 (11%)
I never went to pubs before or after: 2 (3%)

Quite a wide divergence of opinion there, whereas I suspect a real-world poll of a representative selection of drinkers would cluster much more strongly around the options of “about the same” and “a little less often”. As we know, the smoking ban is an issue that arouses strong feelings and many responses on both sides may have had something of an axe to grind. But it is notable that by far the largest single group was those who said “much less often”, and combined with those who said “I have completely stopped going to pubs” they account for over 50% of the total of respondents. So it’s hardly surprising that so many pubs have closed, and so many of those that remain are visibly struggling. For what it’s worth, I was one of only two who said “a little less often”.

on

3 comments:

  1. DaveA28 December 2009 at 18:54

    Hi PC Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

    Without wishing to bang on about the smoking ban, but I was chatting to Anthony Worrall-Thompson and he was saying that smokers spent more per head by a factor of 20% in his pubs and restaurants. I for one could pop in at lunchtime and be thrown out in the early hours.

    In this weather I have not been down the pub all week and can just about endure 2-3 hours before irritation takes over.

    The Irish model who's ban began in 2004 is 33% of pubs closing and 50% not thought to be over the top.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cooking Lager29 December 2009 at 09:30

    A little less often? Then your letting the side down Curmudgy. The likes of you have to up your game to make up for likes of me sat at home with a can of lout.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous18 January 2010 at 11:53

    Hi, just a quickie.

    Unless you can control all variables (credit cruch, price rises, and many others) you can't relate changes in pub-going to the smoking ban

    Is scientifically unacurate and could not possibly be accepted as argument.

    What about asking the reasons for any changes to people.

    That may be more useful

    Kind regards

    ReplyDelete

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