A bitter blow for the pub trade

Published Date: 09 January 2008  Source: Scarborough Evening News

By Chris Nixon      

     

END OF THE ROAD Tap and Spile landlord Ian Kilpatrick says the smoking ban, combined with other factors have forced him to close the pub 080216a Picture: Richard Ponter

MORE pubs in Scarborough will close this winter as the cold weather and the smoking ban begin to hit trade even harder.

The warning comes from leading licensee Kath Duffy who said pubs were also being hit by rocketing costs.

Mrs Duffy has spoken out just days after the Tap & Spile pub in Falsgrave shut its doors with landlord Ian Kilpatrick facing bankruptcy after chalking up debts of around £40,000.

The last few months has also seen the closure of the New George in Newborough, the Barrowcliff pub and last week, The Shakespeare in St Helen's Square.

Mrs Duffy, president of Scarborough Licens-ed Victuallers Association, said: "They won't be the last. I've been at the Newcastle Packet on the seafront for 25 years and trade has never been so bad. We've all been hit by high rents and then came the smoking ban. The government wasn't stupid when it introduced the ban in the summer when the weather wasn't too bad.

"However, people are not going to come out at this time of the year and stand outside in the freezing cold for a smoke."

Last summer Mr Kilpatrick put the lease of the Tap & Spile up for sale because he feared the knock-on affect of the ban on lighting up in public places. "We kept going over Christmas and new year, but even that didn't make enough difference because I was still losing money," said Mr Kilpatrick, 48, who has run the pub for the last 15 years.

"We have been hit by high wage bills and rising energy costs. Smoking and drinking used to go hand in hand in pubs, but that, and the traditional pub, is now finished.

"We had people coming in here every day for years, but now they are drinking at home because of the smoking ban."

Some customers are believed to have defied the law by lighting up in the Tap & Spile before time was called on Sunday.

The smoking ban has led to dozens of d

rinkers having to stand outside in pub doorways. However, many pubs have created special smoking areas for their customers.

The former White Horse pub was converted to a Tap & Spile in November 1993.

Ironically the Tap & Spile was one of the first pubs to provide a non-smoking area for customers. It is owned by Enterprise Inns, but there was no-one available to say, if, or when the pub would reopen.

Here are just a few of the many photos available of recent pubs which have closed due to the smoking ban