Why ban smoking anyway, especially in a pub, when everyone knows a pint and a smoke for most drinkers go together, you can-not have one without the other. And another thing have you noticed the state of the streets since this smoking ban, everywhere you go you are treading in dog-ends. I know we have to keep everyone happy, but to ban smoking in a pub, especially when the sort of people that moan about smoking “would never be seen in a pub”. I can remember a couple of years ago being out for lunch, which was only one of these microwave cremate it-in a bag type places, anyway it had smoking and non-smoking, needless to say everyone was crammed into the smoking section of the establishment, along with one non-smoker, who sat there winging and whining about the smoke, why were they there, why did they not go in the non-smoking part, anyway they were eventually told, “nice-one”.

It all happened in those three pubs, you wanted a plumber, you went and asked around in the pub, needed a builder, he would be in the pub, at that time everybody knew everybody in that village all because of those pubs. I can remember visiting them with my father, possibly a little too often at times.

The village and the atmosphere changed in those three pubs once people started moving into the area, snapping up what were then cheap houses. At this time you could see the village was changing, people who had lived in the village for years were moving out, the atmosphere in the pubs was not the same, the people moving in were not so chatty or friendly, things were changing, not for the good though. This was the end of village life as I knew it and the local pub.

I think the pub game in these times must be hard, the generation of agricultural workers that visited these places after a hard days work are long gone, most have tried the microwave cookery book, but very few have succeeded in the food game. I suppose those that do make a go of it are relying on the younger generation to spend the parents hard earnt cash on a Friday or Saturday night, and then for most there is the expense full stop of a night on the razzle. I mean at the end of the day there are better places to spend your cash than a pub, though I will be the first to admit it took me a few years to realise.